Wee Lilliputians

Today’s Post by Mildred Alpern

Big sculptures above

Figures standing down below

Wee Lilliputians

Including people in a scene with monumental outdoor steel sculptures provides a sense of scale. Many of the oversized works at the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, NY, 70 miles north of the city, touch the sky. How tiny the visitors appear next to these works. On a recent trip, the Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm lens was well suited for photographing the sculptures from an hour-long tram tour along the 500-acre property. The wide-angle Olympus M. Zuiko 7-14mm Pro proved perfect for the walkabout. The enormous acreage of this park is needed to frame the hundred or so imposing works of abstract art.

Walking the property, I mounted the wide-angle lens set in Aperture Priority mode, but riding on the tram through the rolling hills of the landscape, the key was to use the Shutter Priority mode of the medium telephoto lens to capture sharp images. Luckily, there were enough people walking about among the scattered works of internationally famous artists to illustrate the enormous size of these works. It was a chilly day with the first bursting of spring buds, yet there were enough bare branches for viewing the mountains in the distance.

All images were shot with the Olympus E-M5 Mark II. Alexander Calder’s The Arch with the Olympus M. Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens in Aperture Priority Mode at 14mm with an exposure of 1/3200 sec at f/4.5 and ISO 400; Alexander Liberman’s Adonai with the Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 lens in Shutter Priority Mode with an exposure of 1/400 sec at f/4.5, -1/3 EV, ISO 400; Mark di Suvero’s Figolu also with the Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm lens in Shutter Priority Mode with an exposure of 1/400 sec at f/7.1, +1/3 EV, ISO 400.

Mildred’s book Haiku and Images is available on Amazon and is filled wit h beautifully reproduced color photographs along with original haiku underneath, embellishing the image and deepening its meaning. Pick up a copy to give as gift for yourself or a friend.