Curves and Drama, Kyoto Station – Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is an ancient city with an abundance of temples and shrines. It was also the Imperial capital of Japan for over one thousand years. With ample history, and the accompanying old architecture, I like the contrast to the modern and striking central train station. There is a noteworthy station building, but I found this little gem even in the hallways below.

Whenever I see architectural curves like this, I immediately think wide-angle. Not only to get more in frame, but I like to use the distortion created by wide-angles to add more interest. I shot a few variations but I like this one with a tourist, most likely, acting as a foreground element.

The black and white conversion too, adds additional drama with shadow, reflections and highlights bouncing off the curved ceiling. It’s the kind of big city architecture I really like as a photographic subject. Unlike in the past, however, when I would shoot HDRs to illuminate the shadows and tame the highlights, I just embrace and extend them in monochrome.

Shadows add mystery. Shadows add interest. Shadows are my friend.