4. Beautiful Lighting

This first image is from New York’s Grand Central Station, taken around 1935-1941. The reason I find its light to be beautiful and compelling is the prominence that light takes in the photograph. Instead of warm pools of light illuminating the subjects, or a blanket of ambient light granting visibility to everything in the frame, we see powerful shafts of light striking diagonally through the picture. These well defined, bright columns seem to almost have a physical presence in the room. What I find beautiful, however, is the way that this type of light enhances the impact of the photo. These solid beams bestow a sense of the vastness of the space. Almost like a measuring stick, they span the great distance from ceiling to floor and we realize just how enormous this architectural marvel is. Moreover, the powerful shafts of light conjure up thoughts of god and higher power sending light to earth, which serve to compare this massive vault (a train station) to another type: a cathedral. And in a way, this is what this picture depicts: a new cathedral, worshipping and ushering in a new era of travel and technology. With this powerful, beautiful light, we can almost hear the echoing taps of shoes on the floors and feel the hushed, awesome power of such a grand place.

This next image is the painting Impression, soleil levant (“Impression, sunrise”) by painter Claude Monet. Hailing from the year 1872, this painting differs greatly in both years and style from the previous photograph, but in a starkly contrasting way. What I find beautiful about this image is the way the whole frame is almost composed of and seen through light. What I mean by that is that we see the atmosphere of the painting as the way light shimmers through the dawn haze, and we see the water as the reflection of the blood orange sun on its surface, and we see the boat as a silhouette thrown against a lit backdrop. If it wasn’t for the way that the painter saw this subject – as a result and property of the light thrown upon it – it would be an entirely unremarkable landscape. As it stands, the fact that we cannot clearly see the subjects with artificial, clear lighting grants an air of mystery and wonder to the painting. Who are these lonely men, poling along the river? What lies in that land of smokestacks, masts, and foreboding shapes in the background? Under the watchful eye of the sun, the day unfolds but not all of it is clearly visible to us. This mirrors the meaning of sunrise: as a new day dawns, who can say what lies ahead.