Working with Wonk

Exhibit A: As shot.

The Sage concert and learning halls on the banks of the Tyne in Gateshead is yet another one of those glassy, curvy structures appearing on city skylines all over the world. The Silver Slug as it’s known locally, the external structure is all wavy steel spines. Even its blue-green viewing barrier wriggles and writhes its way through the space.

The top photo is as shot, with a point-and-click GR film camera, on the run. My companion was anxious about his train, but I did think the light was good, so took the chance. Correcting in Lightroom (or Photoshop, or iPhoto), following the grid system, which of the horizontals or verticals would you follow?

Exhibit B: The picture directly above uses the top of the blue-green barrier as it’s nominal straight line. The steel skeleton is no help at all, and neither are the chairs. It’s a wide angle 28mm lens, so there is some keystone distortion, visible mainly in the shapes of the humans, but it’s not too disruptive, or at least not to my eye.

Exhibit C has been straightened against the perpendiculars of the table legs and the visually important spire of All Saints Church across the River.

Which one of these looks straight, to you?

There is a fascinating discussion going on about wonk on Mrs Deane’s blog here. After looking keenly at the exhibits in Street and Studio at the Tate, I’m convinced that for many genres, wonk doesn’t matter at all. The Dutch Angle is big wonk used in cinema to add drama. There’s a copy of The Third Man out on DVD which makes intensive use of the device.

In architectural photography, the intent surely is to make the most of the perspective elements, the position of the horizon, the deliberately vertical uprights in the structure or its surrounds. In these cases, straightness with accuracy is important, isn’t it? And just to show that it can be done:

Exhibit D above was taken with the camera held resting on the table, so there’s more chance that it’s straight, and Lightroom says it’s level against the blue barrier, but it doesn’t look straight, does it? It is possible, even given the challenge the Sage presents. But does it really matter?

For those who like to know, the film is 400ISO Vista colour neg, developed at Asda in Hartlepool for 97p. I like the colours, and the contrast is right, the daylight was very bright and shiny.

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