P#34: A Unique Look at Seattle's Space Needle

I Did it My Way

Terry Donnelly: This photograph, which is labeled Urban Icon, is of Seattle's Space Needle. I work quite a bit in the city and I do a calendar of Seattle each year. The publisher and I, Brown Trout, have this ongoing debate...

I would much rather shoot obscure, very personal, private little locations. Well, they're places that anybody can go to, but when you see the picture the response that I would like to see is, "Wow, that's a really interesting scene. Where is that? I've lived in the city forever and I don't know where that is." (click the image for a larger version)

The publisher on the other hand wants the big iconic elements of the city so we have this ongoing debate, and I have to come up with new pictures of objects that everybody has seen so this is one of my versions of the Space Needle.

It uses the monorail and it uses the Experience Music Project building, which is quite a beautiful building and it's got some really intricate and interesting forms. I just thought this composition was interesting. It's also a study in form.

To Conclude

Oftentimes getting a unique shot of a common subject is just a matter of creative photo composition. Terry needed to capture a photo of Seattle's Space Needle, but he didn't want a shot that's already been done a hundred times over. That's when he used creativity to get the shot he wanted of a subject his client called for.