Basilica Cistern Photo

Photographer’s Note

Basilica Cistern, a vast underground water store, was built beneath what is now Istanbul during Byzantine rule in 532AD. It lay undiscovered by the Ottoman Turks for the first century of their rule.

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kooreman (321) 2004-06-06 5:16

Bruce, I like the atmosphere on this one. Well captured with the lighting behind the pillars. Minor suggestions could be to crop the highlight on the left and rubber stamp the people away.
These are only mini minor suggestions to this very beautiful shot.

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pamastro (7213) 2004-06-06 13:34

The cisterns are something I really want to see if I get to Istanbul. They appear very impressive in this photo especially. It's hard to find nice, large, color shots of them like this. The lighting is really dramatic in here. It gives it a nice strong mood. One of a mysterious hiding place. I didn't know that the Ottomans took a century to come across the cisterns. And you did a very nice job capturing it, with the very nice reflections in the water. It makes it feel like a hall of glass with these stones rising up from the mirrored surface. Nicely done.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-06-06 13:58

Very impressive shot of an amazing place I never heard of ... The (almost) symmetric view is the obvious and very effective choice here, and the effects of the lightbeams give this one a quite unique atmospheric feel. Interesting textural detail in the architecture, and I like how the people on the left, though only silhouetted, provide scale. Well done, Bruce.

bfly (5737) 2004-06-07 14:49

very good picture of the place..you have found a nice angle at least with a bit of natural light adding a small blue into it...
for general info, cistern is located just across Hagia Sophia...
(I think I would crop the very left and right coloumns that are very exposed..just an idea)

patriik (1853) 2006-11-12 7:08 [Comment]

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