P#18: A Picture of History on Ellis Island

Where the Generations Before Us Have Tread

Tony Sweet: This picture was taken on Ellis Island. This is part of a project that we did called the Ellis Island HDR Project. Ellis Island, as you know, is in New York. This was the entry point for immigrants up to the '20s actually, until passports came into fruition.

This is a great old place. It's very historic, and they're restoring it ten years down the line. We shot the entire two days in only HDR inside of there. It's an amazing, amazing place. It's chronicled on my blog, all the different places we went for the entire two days -- just an amazing place.

What makes this picture work is the really dark hallway. Then you have the real bright grass outside. Of course, if you expose for the inside, the outside is too bright and vise versa so the HDR technique was perfect for this location right here. (click the image for a larger version)

Audri Lanford: That is very interesting. We will include a link to that section of your blog because I think that would just be so fascinating for our listeners to get a look at.

The quality of this image is just amazing. I had no idea this was Ellis Island. I grew up in New York, so it's an area that I'm familiar with.

Tony Sweet: It goes back to one of the wards. If you look at the place from above, it's pretty much just one long building and then little hallways that come off to different wards -- the psych ward, contagious disease ward, all these areas, the staff housing, doctor housing, etc.

The photo ops there are just limitless. It is just amazing.

To Conclude

Sometimes it's not just scenery you need to capture when you're taking a photograph. Sometimes there's a story to tell, or a history to capture. Tony Sweet explained that this historical shot on Ellis Island is much more than just a dramatic shot of a hallway -- it's a story of the past.