Roof Shoot

Over the next few days, I will be posting several new pieces about my activities of late. Expect one post every day for the next week or so.

On February 6^th, I finally managed to make my way to the top of a skyscraper adjacent to campus to do some long exposure photography. Dealing with the guards was a little tricky. It took three separate attempts and conversations with everyone all the way up to the building manager to get someone to unlock the door to the roof but in the end it was worth it.

The grouchy guard responsible for supervising me said nothing on our ride to the 40^th floor. Once there, he tersely told me that I had only ten minutes. Great, I thought. Just enough time to take about three good photos. As it turned out, the “long” exposures I was searching for turned out to only be about fifteen seconds each because of the amount of light available. In my planning, I neglected to account for the fact that I am smack dab in the middle of a giant city and there is no shortage of light floating around.

The view from the top was impressive, but less so than I had imagined. Situated in a funny little nook within an upper tier (we weren’t near the actual ledge of the building) the view was slightly restricted and so photos were long shots or nothing at all. At one point in the shoot, as I stood impatiently, hands on hips, the guard asked for a smoke. A nonsmoker, I repaid his less-than-cheerful demeanor with a Roth family maxim: “Oohgots”, I said. While he had no idea what that meant, he understood that I didn’t have any cigarettes, at least none I wanted to share. Minutes later, I packed up my things, careful not to leave anything behind and I nodded towards the door. Down the elevator we went.

Click here for a link to one of the shots from the roof shoot.