Throwback

at the house of reps, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Took this in the Texas House of Reps and it reminded me immediately of something I would have shot in high school or early college. There are a few stylistic give-aways — a silhouettefeaturing geometric shapes, an attraction to subdued greens and other earth tones, lots of negative space, etc. — but the biggie is the use of a telephoto lens (300mm) from long range. Fully extended, the lenses make everything flat, almost reducing the elements to a single plane. Compare to this image, taken earlier this year, after I started to rely heavily on my 50mm.

Back in the day, I probably fell back on this technique because it kept my acne-slathered face far away from the subject. Oh, just kidding. I went back to the well often because it was easy to replicate — just zoom. It was also pretty impossible to mess up the exposure, which is a huge plus when you're using film and paying for it with student loans.