Vertigo Redefined, a photo from Missouri, Midwest

Photographer's Note

This is my first post from up in the St. Louis Gateway Arch. We are looking straight down the 630 feet (192m) and you can see how tiny the people are. The river would be the Mississippi River. You can see a little bit of the arch itself at the bottom. On the other side of the river is Illinois and East St. Louis. I was lucky to be there when the fall color was still good. This shot was difficult to shoot because the windows are designed for shooting outward, not downward. I have uploaded a WS of the interior for reference.

Tue, jhm, Emile, weswang, PJE, papagolf21, ChrisJ, capthaddock, nwoehnl, aloyho, Mishe, sarju has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Tue (91478) 2005-11-13 13:29

Hej Stephen,
Wow, this is something spectacular. It's great to look so many meters down in this way. An excellent capture, very well done!
Hilsner,
Lars

premels (2400) 2005-11-13 14:00

Hi Stephen, This looks like aerial photography. The geometry of the site shows nicely. The red autumn trees like the red cars and bus stand out amazingly. I wonder why this view induces vertigo when true aerial pictures do not. It must be the knowledge that your were walking up there.

jhm (211734) 2005-11-13 14:08

Hi Stephen,
Oef, very high for taking a photo, but a very well picture the cars beneath its small, the three white strips together with autumn colours a nice composition.
Have a nice week,
John

Emile (20352) 2005-11-13 15:14

Hola Stephen.
Wow, this is an impressive shot. I never saw before any picture taken from the top of the arch. It's amazing, this picture give vertigo and your WS claustrophobia, so thank you for sharing this picture because i won't be able to get up to the top.
Very well captured. Well done.

PJE (20758) 2005-11-13 19:56

Okay Stephen I can tell you are way up...like way way up in this structure. Besides the small cars I see little specs on the grass which I gather are people. Some of them are wearing hats and there are about 35 men that are partially bald..I can see little reflections on their little dome.
This photo is so very well captured by deceiving the eye to figure this out. I see two legs on the left and right in blue. Good work Stephen. I hope to see more of this sturcture from a different angle. Awesome photo!

katya11 (334) 2005-11-14 0:22

Stephen,
Very interesting shot! I love you angle, excellent pov. I bet everyone was wondering what you are doing, the price you pay for getting a good shot! Nice work,
Katie

papagolf21 (152605) 2005-11-14 4:18

Bonjour Stephen,
Voici donc la vue que l'on a depuis cette fameuse arche. C'est tr鋊 bien d'avoir inclus une photo de l'int廨ieur, l'on se rend mieux compte des lieux. Quand la vue se porte sur le bas, l'on se rend compte que nous sommes de v廨itables fourmis, cela donne un vertige particulier et nous rend plus humbles face � la nature.
Amiti廥.
Philippe

PixelTerror (0) 2005-11-14 5:18

Hi Steve,
It does look high !
We can well appreciate it thanks to the size of the tiny cars, interesting to see only the basement of the two pillars, giving the impression you're floating somewhere in the air, and we can continue to enjoy the fall colors !
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

danyy (0) 2005-11-14 5:27

Bonjour Stephen,
je suis impressionn� au plus haut point par cette photo.
Moi qui suis sujet au vertige, je suis g漮�, tellement l'impression d'altitude est bien rendue.
Tu as bien fait d'utiliser une plus petite ouverture, la photo est nette partout.
Regards.
Daniel.

capthaddock (28790) 2005-11-14 11:05

Hi Stephen - very vertiginious indeed, outstanding symmetry, and the fall colours are beautiful. I wish the riverbanks were landscaped park instead of an ugly parking lot.

weswang (18247) 2005-11-14 11:05

Hi Mr. Steve, Thank you for bringing us to have the view from the arch. I have passed by the city, never get a chance to visit the arch. You picture together with the photo in the WS provided a very good view to the famous arch. I really enjoy this top down view, the autumn color and the symmetric inclusion of the foundation on both sides of the arch. A nice and sharp image with excellent contrast. Well done.

feather (51130) 2005-11-14 11:11

Fantastic symmetry you have achieved here Steve. I'm glad you included the Ws as I couldn't visualise how you came to be on top of the arch.
Kath

gilbriones2002 (930) 2005-11-14 13:33

amazing angle, looking at it makes me feel nauseous myself, great character, well done.tfs
gil

nwoehnl (122) 2005-11-14 13:39

Hi Steve. The ant-sized people and vehicles certainly tell a story about height in this one. Good symmetrical downward view from this impressive structure; the peaking autumn foliage is a nice garnish. I can't make up my mind about the strip of water at the top, it documents the location of the arch but I think the vertigo impression would not suffer from it being cropped. Thanks for adding the interior photo too, a good add to convey a better sense for the place.

Galmeida (12559) 2005-11-14 17:13

Hi Stephen,
Your WS is excelent and could also be a nice picture to be a Post TE primary composition in your usual quality posts. This one is also great and a great Vertigo very well captured and with a near close approaching symetric angle perspective, geometry and enquadrement. All is very well focused, fine colors and details and a aerial look!

Very interesting picture so well done.
Fernando

cessy (13647) 2005-11-15 3:29

olala... I felt vertigo, I am falling, arrgh..
:D
excellent angle, Steve
very nice composition and colors

ChrisJ (171146) 2005-11-15 3:41

Hi Stephen

Superb color, lighting, & sharpness. I like the marvellous (& highly unusual) pov, looking straight down from the arch. Well done!

jemaflor (146190) 2005-11-15 13:26

Hi Stephen,
Very impressive and you give us vertigo ! Well captured, interesting symetric shot.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2005-11-16 5:55

what a vertigo shot, it really makes one not look, very good composition and the cars here really tell us how high you were, well done

john_c (24666) 2005-11-16 23:23

Hi Stephen,
Vertigo indeed! I love the symmetry you have captured here of both the red leaved trees and the manmade objects. The unusual green design and the rising pillars give good foreground balance. Well captured, Stephen - and just the right sharpness level.
John

cam (9043) 2005-11-17 7:22

Hello Stephen
I remember one ,if not the first of your photo that I commented,from up on the Hoover dam.The vertigo effect was impressive,in fact more than from here,curious!What is the fact that you were actually outside at the dam?
The composition is very good with the symmetry at the base of the tower and a beautifl note of color with the red trees.
Charles

mumek (20226) 2005-11-17 20:10

Good evening Stephen!
Could be nice to be a bird see this kind of aerial view. This is very impressive shot with fantastic sharpness and clarity.Lovely autumnal colors of the trees in this beautiful and original composition.Thanks for another very interesting shot from inside.
best regards
ziggy

nbournas (3229) 2005-11-18 13:51

Excellent feeling of the height in your shot Stephen. The green grass and fall colors do add a lot. TFS

huynt (5081) 2005-11-18 20:12

Hi Stephen
An interesing scene in loght and color. Thanks for sharing in this series. Well done. Bon week end. huy

aloyho (6798) 2005-11-19 0:12

Hi Stephen,
A fantastic shot and the near symmetrical composition is just right. The strong red and green gives a great visual impact and I like the cars below as it really puts us in the right perspective. Very impressive!! Regards.

Jeppe (18654) 2005-11-19 3:18

Wow - Surely a fine and different view you present for us here - I wasn't aware this sight was possible.

Thanks for giving us the inside as well - just like being there self. I like the symmetry you captured - Thanks Stephen for sharing this view with us - a sure contribution to the theme.

Mishe (3533) 2005-11-24 5:45

Hi Steve!
Excellent picture and WS.
Thanks for sharing.

sarju (5324) 2005-11-30 12:26

Hi Stephen
Nice work here ...
Symmetrical, red trees, feeling of vertigo, nice day to capture good details in the photo ... i like it a lot
You seem to have captured a lot in this photo. (especially the feeling of vertigo).
I coul'nt have imagined that it was possible to inside the arch. Maybe they should start bungee jumping over here.
cheers .... Sarju
PS: I also wanted to mention that I thought about this photo of yours while walking the streets of Manhattan .... it is indeed like a concrete canyon over there (the buildings were so close to each other)

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2005-12-30 23:22

I absolutly love this it is so very cool. everything is amazing not the leas the magnificent point of view.
I never had the desire to visit missouri but your photo makes me want to see the arch. I can't believe i missed this photo.

The flip side of having a cool, and well paying new job is that by the time i come home my eyes are tired of looking at a computer screen, and I take my contacts off so trekearth is being neglected.

I hope your new years is wonderful and full of photographic and travel opportunities. Thanks for taking the time to help me with your critiques and explanation on how to use a polarizer filter.
cristina