Artist: Gene Steffen, American, 1977
Gene Steffen was an amateur photographer with professional qualifications. He was involved in camera clubs for 40 years. He was a retired engineer from Lockheed when he began to take his photographer more seriously. From 1939 to 19508 he used mostly black and white prints. After 1950 he started to use color prints. He considers himself a pictorialist. He has won many awards in the Photographic Society.
Style: Photography – Two-Point Perspective
Art work: New York, New York, 1977, photograph
Media and Technique: Film and camera equipment
Gene Steffen writes about this picture, “One of the outstanding tourist attractions of New York City is the Empire State Building located on 5th Avenue at 34th Street. I had been there on several occasions in the past and have always made my way by the express elevators to the 86th floor observatory. The views of ‘The Big Apple’ from this view point are ever-changing and truly breathtaking. Occasionally, there is quite a bit of atmospheric haze. This photo, however, was made on a cool (45 degrees F.) day early in November in 1977 at about 2:pm.
There was some cloud cover over the bottom portions of the scene and this helped in controlling the contracts to a certain extent. Moreover, it had rained during the night and early morning so the air was crisp and relatively clear for this area. From this view point, we are looking northward up 5th avenue towards the area above 59th street and central park which is bathed in sunlight. Easily identifiable along busy 5th Avenue is St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 50th Street. Across the street and to the upper left rise the towers of Rockefeller Center.
The exposure was made on Kodachrome 64 film using a Nikkormat 35mm camera. A 105mm medium telephoto lens was used, and the camera was hand held. This is my favorite lens as it produces a pleasing perspective by foreshortening (compressing) the scene somewhat. By holding the lens almost horizontal, I was able to avoid the convergence of verticals (keystoning), which I find objectionable in architectural subjects.”
Other Cityscape photographsà
Chicago New York
Examples of perspective