Canon EOS 5D ,Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
1/40s f/5.6 at 50.0mm iso1600

This is the opening reception of the Art of Photography show.

Last year, my Apple Thief earned me a $100 credit for entering photos into this show. I submitted 9 photos, but none were chosen. They selected 200 out of 16,905 submissions! Pretty steep odds indeed!

Well, if I didn’t get photos into the show, I can still take photos of the show, right?

With this shot, I was trying to accomplish two things at the same time: show the atmosphere of the very crowded opening reception, and at the same time give a taste of the show itself, i.e. the works that were accepted and displayed.

I had expected it to be darker than it was, and since I didn’t want to carry more than one camera and lens, I brought my fastest lens, the 50 mm f/1.4. As it turns out, I would have been slightly better served by a wider lens, and there was enough light to live with smaller apertures.

However, I was still able to get a wide enough perspective from the stairs leading down into the exhibition space. I like how the picture is framed by the stark green and orange photos, which definitely convey the sense that the vast majority of works were rather abstract. At the same time, there is little doubt that this was indeed very crowded.