Having missed the grand opening of Oxford’s new Ashmolean Museum some months ago, I wanted to see what the project architect, Rick Mather, and sixty million pounds of refurbishment had delivered. There’s no doubt that he has created a wonderfully light and airy space with a stunning, eighty foot high, glass roofed, central atrium that floods the exhibition space with natural light. Here are a few shots from a series taken with a Leica M9 Rangefinder fitted with a 24mm f1.4 Summilux lens. This one, I called ‘Bronze Envy’.
This image was ‘caught’ while I was leaning against the wall just thinking about the geometry of the space an watching the visitors walk up and down the atrium staircase. This chap just walked straight in front of me and was obviously fascinated by something because he stood rock steady for what seemed ages. I love the way the handrail comes up from below stairs, runs into his hand; your eye is then drawn up his forearm to his head, onto the banister rail and, finally, up to the other figure at the top of the staircase! Also, that the figure at the top of the stairs, leaving the scene, is diagonally balanced on the other side of the statue by the girl entering the scene on the floor below.
I called this shot ‘First On The Right’ for obvious reasons. This chap just looked lost for a moment and then turned into the frame and was kind of ‘surprised’ to catch the eye of the statue, and I liked the way the kids looked similarly ‘surprised’ in the wall poster below.
