10.24/Art-itecture

Looking down the spiral staircase in the Trustee House at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Ky.

Looking up at the Texas Capitol dome from rotunda floor, Austin, Texas.

Arched walkway at Union Station, Washington, D.C.

Buildings in the World Finance Center are reflected in the surface of a neighboring building in New York City.

30 Rockefeller Plaza stands bright against a January night sky, New York City.

The hallway on the top floor of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Is surrounded by a balcony with additional exhibits.

Entrance to Bally's, Las Vegas, Nev.

The view of the towering arches of the main hall of Union Station, the historic train station in Washington, D.C.

Visitors walk inside the giant atrium of the Oculus, the centerpiece of the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York City.

Looking up at a lamp and building (515 W. 23rd St.) along The High Line, a 22-block long public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side, New York City.

Looking up at the former Enron building, 1400 Smith St., Houston.

Windows and garage doors on a hill on Grove Street, San Francisco. The address of the building is 801 Filmore St.

A view of lamps and arches on the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City.

A view through an open door to Corpus Christi Chapel adjacent to St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.

Buildings reflected by One World Trade Center, with "ribs" of transportation center in foreground, New York City.

Reading room in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Skylight in the roof of Guggenheim Museum is framed by the spiral walkway, New York City.

Walkers silhouetted near the end of Playmates Arch, Central Park, New York City.

Looking up toward skylight from under a spiral staircase, Hotel Monaco, Washington, D.C.

Windows and doors line the wall in Marble Hall, one of the rooms in Neues Palace (New Palace) in Potsdam, Germany. The palace was built in the 1760s.

The November midday sun casts long shadows from a fire escape, New York City. The building is located on the west side of 9th Avenue near West 46th Street.

Visitors stroll through the Bethesda Terrace Arcade in Central Park, New York City.

30 Rockefeller Plaza, commonly referred to as 30 Rock, extends 70 stories toward the night sky above the marquee on West 50th Street, New York City.

Doorways lead from the main hall of Union Station to the trains, Washington, D.C.

composition.

I don’t set out with a plan to add photos to my art-itecture files. Sometimes it just happens when I’m on a photo hike through a city. All the composition factors align — subject, surroundings, light, shadows — and I see art-itecture.

At times the photos are simply straight representations of the design itself, like the repeating arches along the exterior walkway of Union Station in Washington, D.C., or the futuristic and colorful entryway to Bally's in Las Vegas, or the repeating lines of balconies on an apartment building in New York City. In those cases, it’s the interesting architectural design itself that is artistic.

At times it's the position of the camera that helps to create the interesting image. For instance, shooting straight up at the atrium in the Guggenheim Museum in New York or the rotunda of the Texas state capitol in Austin.

At times it's lighting that attracts the eye, like the lighting on New York's Rockefeller Center and surrounding buildings at night.

And at times it's truly a combination of art and architecture, like photos I have of sculptures outside tall buildings or passageways in museums that frame artwork in the background.

I look for patterns, curves, angles, colors or interesting lighting and how those different elements play together.

And when I see it through the viewfinder I know I'm capturing a work of art-itecture.

I don’t set out with a plan to add photos to my art-itecture files. Sometimes it just happens when I’m on a photo hike through a city.