NYC Museum Photography

MoMA, Cross and Helo. NYC, 2015

The MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim Museum…for the most part, they all allow general photography (not commercial) with the exception of a few special exhibits. Naturally, I recorded a scattering of favorite paintings and photographs for possible use as background layers in future Western Civ 102 images (see my portfolio on the Gallery page).

For fun, the other thing to try, is a little in-museum “street photography”. That is, incorporating a wandering human or two, along with a part of an art exhibit, into some sort of interesting photograph.

The above image is one such attempt.

What I like about the image…

–The rhyming of the cross on her neck and the helicopter blades.

–The rhyming of the roundness of the helo cockpit and the hat, head, collar, and even the ear rings.

–The contrast between organic human flesh and the inorganic hardness of a metal machine.

–The dark angle on the right, as well as the angles of the blades, the skids, and the small section of wall on the left, all of which add instability and tension.

What else do you see? Does it conjure up a story? A social commentary? Or is it simply a very unusual juxtaposition of elements?

Backstory…The woman was captivated with her cell phone and was stationary for a number of minutes. It was quite easy to compose a number of frames combining her with the helicopter, which hangs above the stairway entrance to the various floors at the MoMA. People texting on their cell phones are rarely aware of their surroundings (said as a sometimes texter myself).