on the level

It must have something to do with working as a carpenter and owning various tools that determine if the built world we create is a close approximation of some standard of level. When it comes to photography, many, if not all of my compositions of architecture or elements that are square or level in nature are approached in a way that preserves this “levelosity.” It's really hard for me to compose horizontals out of level. The verticals are ordinarily attended to by the view camera that has become my standard tool. It has a level bubble on it, or in the case of the Sinar, three, to make sure that I get the world captured in a level manner. In many instances there is also a symmetry issue to contend with, which one either has to consciously destroy, or submit to the designer's intent.
Mike C. at the always provocative Idiotic-Hat blog has recently written about his tendency to try to get grids square with the edges of the frame. He displays an admirable technique in that he prefers not to work with a tripod, and certainly not a view camera or tilt-shift lenses.
This recent photo is definitely a step in a different direction for me. The original concept was to approach the wall in a typical manner: head on. Eventually that's not what seemed to work best. Not that this is a radical departure, but perhaps it will help me become more comfortable with compositions of buildings that are “out of level.”
An interesting observation after the fact is that normal perspective has been reversed here: near portions of the building are smaller than distant sections. Possibly something to work on in the future.

