Domain Field, Great Hall, Winchester UK, a photo from Hampshire, England

Photographer's Note

The sculptor/artist Anthony Gormley, well known for The Angel of the North (Gateshead, UK - I will post a picture soon!) has done many works representing the bodies of people. Domain Field is a set of life-size figures made from a matrix of small steel rods welded together, modelled from plaster casts of residents of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead, England. Some of the figures are dense and look sturdy, others are almost ethereal and see-through - fragile. I was really struck by the way this echoes the differences between people. I liked the fragile ones best! There are over 200 figures in total, only about 50 were in Winchester (until 29 March 2004), the rest are on show in Lisbon.
The Great Hall was built by King Henry III between 1222 - 1235 and is part of Winchester Castle. It served as a legal and administrative centre and Sir Walter Raleigh stood on trial here in 1603. It contains King Arthur's Round Table, the legendary King whose story gained popularity in the 13th century. The history of this place suited the 'presence' of the figures.
I didn't have a tripod so balanced the camera on a bag at floor level (3 seconds exposure, noise reduction on)

Edwin, Jeppe, Riz, richtersl, RobBrown, eelliott305, zorro, freddd, ronners, strathconaman, Tim, nfriedli, Isabelle, irishkiwi heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

Gael (128) 2004-03-18 16:51

The way you took this photo is excellent. I like the bottom-up perspective which gives the feeling that these bodies are alive :-)
Welcome on TE !

Jeppe (18654) 2004-03-18 16:51

Very interesting photo to select as first post - Welcome to TE Steve. From thumbnail they seamed to be solid - but now I can see the real nature - quite amazing - very well spotted and captured.

Edwin (188) 2004-03-18 17:00

Wow, what a picture and subject as a first post. Excellent note, very informative. I really like these kind of captures with a strong museum or artistic mood. Looking forward seeying more of your work Steve!

And welcome on TE! Cheers /Edwin

Riz (0) 2004-03-18 17:00

this is probably one of the more differnets group of sculptures I've seen
very original work good timed exposure
neat story too. well done and welcome to TrekEarth.!

pascalbene (1717) 2004-03-18 17:16

A very beautiful composition. You realy catched the strange movement of this creatures between the letters behind.

richtersl (3546) 2004-03-18 17:36

This is really well composed. The upward angle works really well! From the thumbnail this looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

Welcome to TE!

patrick_belaire (363) 2004-03-18 17:49

Sculptures absolument géniales, on croirait voir des fantômes !

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-18 18:12

A fascinating shot Steve. A good idea to get down low and look up at the sculptures. I like how they are so transparent. They look very spooky in the Great Hall.

zorro (530) 2004-03-18 19:37

very nice structure...informative note...very impressive...welcome to TE!

freddd (435) 2004-03-18 19:42

Very good angle of view that gives a strong impact to those "people". You got nice and sharp colors. Welcome to TE.

strathconaman (311) 2004-03-19 1:07

Welcome to TE. What a great shot, I think you have captured the artists vision very well here. I would like to see something that gives scale.

amrinolastname (223) 2004-05-04 6:08

Very attractive picture ! The warm lightning works very good with the subject. Great work.

Catli (550) 2004-05-23 0:29

Very interesting picture and note, Steve. At first sight on the thumbnail those figures looked like ghosts! Great point of view as it allows the two bigger sculptures to stand out from the darker background.

nfriedli (1060) 2004-05-23 10:41

Beautiful picture with nice exposure and composition. The point of view nesr the floor is a very good idea.
Cheers!

WoodPigeon (457) 2004-06-18 1:10

Ah yes, another Anthony Gormley! I remember his crazy work trying to make plaster casts of real human beings at the Baltic - I didn't stay long enough to find out what happened there... but I guess I do now!

This one though is just magnificent!!! I love it...!

johnhopkins (866) 2005-02-02 2:03

Magnificant photograph. Wonderful Art in a very beautiful hall that i know well. The colours from the Hall and tapestry are great. The low camera angle may have been dictated by your lack of tripod, but it has worked very well.

irishkiwi (90) 2006-03-30 0:19

Great shot. The figures lack strong edges which look eerie. Well captured.

iamysl (71) 2009-11-07 10:55

The scuptures looks alive from this view! Awesome!