My March 2014 Photo of the Month is Beaumont Tower, a photograph made on the campus of Michigan State University.
Beaumont Tower Background
In preparation for a conference in 2015, I trekked to Michigan State University with friends. While doing some of our preparatory work at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, I ventured out to do some architectural photography. I was mainly limited to night images due to our work during the day.
Being at one of the oldest universities, there was plenty of architecture to photograph. Few are as distinctive as the Beaumont Clock Tower, built in 1928. This was a difficult image to process realistically. The incident light from several cast a warm orange light on the tower, picked up even more by my Nikon D800 camera. Through some advice from friends, I have toned down the light balance. Using a more “natural” white balance, I found the mood to be way too cold. I do like to warm up night images, especially with clouds, and I hope I found a happy medium.
I also photographed other locations that while not my Photo of the Month, were still fun and interesting to me. To the left is one such image of the Michigan State Union building, which we used at our 2012 conference.
I originally wanted to select that image for my Photo of the Month, but the wide angle from below meant that I did not have enough room to due true perspective correction. That is a must for architectural photography. Nonetheless, I think the building stands out beautifully in the twilight sky.
Another key spot to photograph is under Farm Lane, where the Red Cedar River flows underneath. This is a creative graffiti location that appears to be tolerated by the university. You can photograph this spot many times and the designs will be different.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the images.
Further Viewing
Click this link for my images at Michigan State University
Click this link for my latest Photos of the Month Portfolio Gallery
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.