Saturday, October 31, 2015

More gallery reflections

click photo to enlarge
I recently read that the film, "Ben Hur", is being re-made. There's an old joke about the 1959 version, starring Charlton Heston, wherein someone who is asked what they thought of the film replied, "Liked him, hated her."!

I was reminded of this  witticism (though in reverse) on a recent  visit to a Lisbon gallery dedicated to two painters, the Hungarian Arpad Siznes (1897-1985 and his wife, the Portuguese Maria Helena Viera da Silva (1908-1992). I very much enjoyed the latter's work, especially the abstract city landscapes, but really could not find much that I liked in her husband's work.

The gallery itself has been made from an existing building that faces a square near a section of the large aqueduct (Aqueduto das Aguas Livres) that traverses this area of Lisbon. Its interior is painted white  (see previous post) with the exposed roof timbers and the tiled floor adding natural and muted colour. However, its origins in a pre-existing building mean that it has multiple levels, stairs, walls, lifts and corridors. Walking through the main exhibitions I came upon this glass wall and photographed my framed reflection. When processing the shot it occurred to me that a high key treatment might work with the essentially white details, so I converted it to black and white and then made the necessary adjustments.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 67mm (13mm - 26mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/20 sec
ISO:6400
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On