Empire in Black
In March, I found myself in Albany, New York for a photoshoot. As is usually the case, I made time to wander a bit beyond my primary work.
These images were captured in the Empire State Plaza. It is a space that feels both wide open and heavy at the same time. The scale is obvious, but what really pulled me in were the buildings surrounding the plaza. Tall, repetitive, and very deliberate. Once you start looking at the lines, it is hard to look away.
I did not go in with a plan. I was just working the scene as I saw it. Changing angles, watching how the lines stacked and narrowed, and letting the structure of the buildings do the work.
At some point, it started to feel familiar in a different way. The setting reminded me of Star Trek: The Original Series, specifically the episode Operation: Annihilate!. Not because it was filmed here, it was not, but because of the way the architecture feels a little removed from everything around it. Stark. Controlled. Almost set-like.
That feeling carried into the final images. I pushed the sky to black to strip everything else away. What is left are the lines, the repetition, and the way everything pulls upward through the frame.
There is not much more to it than that. Sometimes I am chasing a story. Other times, I am just trying to see something clearly.
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Technical Notes:
These images were captured using a Canon DSLR paired with a Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 24mm. The aperture was set to f/7.1. The images were processed as black and white conversions in Adobe Lightroom. Adjustments were made to contrast, clarity, and texture to emphasize the architectural lines. The sky was pushed to black to isolate the buildings and reduce distractions. Images are presented in a 2:3 aspect ratio.
