Perhaps My Least Favorite Sculpture
I don't know what it is about the State of Liberty... I've always been bothered by this French gift of art. Don't get me wrong, I love French art and architecture but the Statue of Liberty bothers me deeply for some reason... it creates conflict within me when it really should create welcoming warmth...
Perhaps it is the horrendously ugly and overbearing cyan color... perhaps what bothers me is the prison-like facilities on this tiny island and its sister island, Ellis Island, used to process our poor immigrants... perhaps it is a cluttered, poorly arranged harbor that has bothered me... perhaps the vision of a monstrous, overbearing "Lady Liberty" to greet our east coast immigrants bothered me... perhaps I agree with some movie-makers and think this piece of art is more aptly suited to be featured in movies like Planet of the Apes... perhaps I just find this monstrous piece of "art" a bit unappealing or even hideous (of course, my own personal opinion)... most likely, it is all of the above. (I can't help but think that France is still laughing at us after successfully unloading this thing on us under the guise of a noble piece of artwork.)
All that being said, you can't cruise New York Harbor and not shoot a few photos of this Godzilla-like artwork. I found that when I remove all color, she doesn't look nearly as bad so maybe the overwhelming cyan coloring is what really gives me the heebie-jeebies the most about this artwork...
This image might very well be my absolute favorite photograph of the State of Liberty of any photograph I've ever seen (and I truly am my own worst critic so that is saying something!)... beautiful tonality and clarity... under spacious skies... no distracting colors... Lady Liberty standing tall over fortress walls and huddled masses below...
A black and white image was definitely the correct choice for this subject.
Perhaps it is the horrendously ugly and overbearing cyan color... perhaps what bothers me is the prison-like facilities on this tiny island and its sister island, Ellis Island, used to process our poor immigrants... perhaps it is a cluttered, poorly arranged harbor that has bothered me... perhaps the vision of a monstrous, overbearing "Lady Liberty" to greet our east coast immigrants bothered me... perhaps I agree with some movie-makers and think this piece of art is more aptly suited to be featured in movies like Planet of the Apes... perhaps I just find this monstrous piece of "art" a bit unappealing or even hideous (of course, my own personal opinion)... most likely, it is all of the above. (I can't help but think that France is still laughing at us after successfully unloading this thing on us under the guise of a noble piece of artwork.)
All that being said, you can't cruise New York Harbor and not shoot a few photos of this Godzilla-like artwork. I found that when I remove all color, she doesn't look nearly as bad so maybe the overwhelming cyan coloring is what really gives me the heebie-jeebies the most about this artwork...
This image might very well be my absolute favorite photograph of the State of Liberty of any photograph I've ever seen (and I truly am my own worst critic so that is saying something!)... beautiful tonality and clarity... under spacious skies... no distracting colors... Lady Liberty standing tall over fortress walls and huddled masses below...
A black and white image was definitely the correct choice for this subject.
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