La Coupole de JacquesCopyrighted Digital Photograph

This magnificent Art Nouveau cupola is the 1912 work of the architect Ferdinand Chanut, and his glass artist Jacques Gruber, who was also a cabinet maker and painter. Built around 10 metal pillars supported on a magnificent, operatic, circle of balconies, it translates the sky into a psychedelic frenzy of colours and shapes designed to excite the eager shoppers below, winding them up into a frenzy of buying, their minds bent to the will of the commercial geniuses who commanded this exotic beauty, an architectural ode, worthy of Shelley’s Ozymandias.

Framing

This was a two-phase exercise. Firstly on-site, as I sought an interesting, non “architectural” angle of a much-photographed edifice and secondly, on-screen, as I sought to fine tune the architectural elements of the image in the most aesthetically satisfying way.

I therefore avoided symmetrical, centred framing and twisted the viewpoint leftwards, to include a slice of the near edge of the balcony where I was stationed. This was emphasized by my 24mm optical choice whose wide-angle, “dog nose” distortion created an enlarged, left-side frame for the dome. For the same reason, the pillars were also distorted, introducing a dynamic, live feel to the shape. 

Trompe l’Oeuil

I don’t know about you, but my eye plays tricks on me with this image. The central, highly-coloured top of the dome seems to “pop” in and out, when I lose track of what the original point view showed me. Most of the time it seems to me as if that part of the structure was built to hang down from the centre, when, in fact it is a small, separate dome rising out at the top.

Equally, my mind morphs the shapes of the pillars to create a spider-like sense of the legs of a monster arachnid. Does that happen to you too?

La Ville Lumiere

Jacques the glass master, was obviously also a Master of Light. His subtle treatment of the clear panels is wonderfully visible thanks to the restoration for the centenary in 2012. The beautifully subtle daylight of Paris creates a constantly evolving effect of filtered light through an enormous artwork.

In pixel-peeping my images, I notice that the light reflected from or transiting through the surface of the glass panels is filtered through a kind of netting, which seems to cover the structure? I don’t know whether this is an original element, a more recent conservation-oriented addition or an insurance-driven protection against anything loose falling on the bedazzled shoppers below, but it seems to add an additional level of subtlety to the visual effect.  

Settings

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70mm f2.8G Zoom
Focal Length: 24 mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
Autofocus Area Mode: Single
Aperture Priority
Aperture: f/10
Shutter Speed: 1/100s
Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority
Exposure Compensation : -0.3 EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: 800
Held on the glass edge of the balcony

Other wonderful photographic opportunities in Boulevard Haussman’s temples to Mammon are the roof terraces of Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. Don’t miss these opportunities to drink in the roofs of “Paname”.

Copyright Paul Grayson 2015