The Glass House Photo

Photographer’s Note

This was the result of a little playing around. At first I had the full color version. Then I decided to emphasize the lines of the buildings by black and white. But I wanted the flags in color so I went in and individually made layers for each one. And finally I decided the Ford Oval should be in color as well since that is what links them all to this place. The color version is in the workshop .

This is the headquarters of the Ford Motor Corporation, the sixth largest corporation in the world. They have operations in over 130 countries world wide. They own 12 brand names including Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, Ford Credit, Genuine Parts and Services, Motorcraft and Hertz.

This is at least the third headquarters of the Ford Motor Company in its 101 year history. Originally the automobile companies placed their headquarters near their factories. Ford built their early headquarters in front of their Highland Park Plant . You can see what remains of that building here . The next headquarters was built near the Ford River Rouge Plant in Dearborn in the 1920s. This was a beautiful neo-classical building designed by Albert Kahn. Unfortunately that was razed about a decade ago.

The current headquarters was built in the 1950s in the new "International Style" which was still uncorrupted at this point. SOM, designers of Lever House, also came up with this building. The design gave the building the name "The Glass House". It was removed from the factory by some 3 kilometers and was situated in green fields in Central Dearborn.

In front of the building are the flags of all the countries Ford does business in.

Some of the flags visible in this view include

(on the near side)
Venezuela
UK
Turkey
Taiwan
Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Looks like the Danish flag)
Sweden
Spain
South Africa
Slovakia

(on the far side when I was viewing the original sized image)
Italy
India
Greece
Germany
Japan

Most interesting to me is the Military Order of Malta flag. This is a small fully independent group located in a palace on Rome's famous Via Condotti. Some say this is the smallest nation in the world. You can learn more here .

I've decided to add this to the Fall Hunt as a symbol representing my country. The blue Ford logo and the automobile industry is one reason. All the flags and the corporation representing globalization and just full giant corporate capitalism in general.

kajenn, phi729, Endy, orme, bpelvan, DonQ, Spoony, jhm, mdchachi, Kenny10pin, carper, harold, gaetantgp, elihesamian, ma-tibou, rage_tm, pulezan, Rinie_Hoff has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4138) 2004-10-03 19:05

I am so very impressed it must have taken forever to do all the PP work. Your work paid off because the photo is ver effective and the black and white is infinitly more powerfull than the colored version. I'm glad you decided the oval should be in color.
I'm so jealous of your skills.

phi729 (2099) 2004-10-03 19:38

Hi Paul :)

Another good architectural shot. The post-processing is well seen : It highlights two topics in same time : The archicture of the building and its surroundings, and the international influence by Ford in the World. The communication impact is well transmitted. And the PP has been well-made. I also like, the color version. An unusual composition by you. Good Job, Paul.

Hu! it is time to be going to sleep (2h09, local hour)... Good evening, Paul.

kajenn (2323) 2004-10-03 20:12

Well, you've done some real 'petitpoint' work here, Paul, and you've accomplished a very special image. The full color is very good too, but not as special as this. The strict architecture of the building goes well in B&W and the trees aren't that dominant. And the enhancing of flags and the Ford logo bring them very much forward and I understand that's what you were going for. I also find S.M.O.M. fascinating and find their connection to the Ford company very intriguing. A 'nation' in Via Condotti - that sounds like a 'tale' to me - never heard of it. Now you've made me curious with your excellent note. Very well done!

Endy (1025) 2004-10-03 23:48

Nice partial desaturation Paul! I am a big fan of this kind of photos and this one, it is really well done. What I see in your picture is the globalization of the business, now it is not a local affair. The Ford building is well framed and I like the idead to keep the logo in color.

orme (6741) 2004-10-04 0:53

The composition is very good, Paul. I like the angle at which you took the building. Your post-processing is excellent, and as Philippe said, it really shows the international aspect of Ford. Well done.

bpelvan (3786) 2004-10-04 2:06

You took me back to my days in GM Paul. This is far beyond being a good architecture photo. It also shows the borders and the size of the global economy and business. Good message you have here.
Very good composition and admirable PP.
Thanks for sharing...

Spoony (3539) 2004-10-04 5:54

Very nice desaturation work... I like a lot this kind of photos. Great final result, no doubt!
Well done Paul.
Spoony.

jhm (81589) 2004-10-04 6:18

A very modern architecture Paul, the vertical lines are nice, but the flags in colour and it another in black and white is wonderful, but a pity the Belgium flag is not present.

DonQ (2623) 2004-10-04 9:45

Very interesting PP Paul. Composition is very clean and from good angle taken. I like also original, maybe even more the this one. Good work. Bravo.
Regards, Don.

carper (63877) 2004-10-04 9:47

This is a very good one Paul,
Very nice lines in the composition, lovely those flags and the emblem in colours, very nice job

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-10-04 9:47

great work here, I like the flags, they are in all good view and direction, very good ps work here too, well done

wilkinsonsg (8644) 2004-10-04 12:07

A good image was taken and via PP made into something special, the small additions of colour realy make everything stand out - great notes as well :)

harold (2271) 2004-10-04 14:53

Très jolie image en noir et blanc + couleur avec un superbe cadrage du très joli boulot .respect Harold

hdl (6733) 2004-10-04 16:48

Keep on playing around with that, Paul. Everything in grayscales, only the flags and the Ford logo remain in colour. I like the result. Compo as such is very good too.

gaetantgp (1310) 2004-10-04 19:51

Eel done on the desaturation job here Paul! I also like the colored one very much. I seggast that you put rour name, phone number and your E-Mail right accross the pic and ofered it to Ford by E-Mail for futur publicity.

elihesamian (26091) 2004-10-05 5:20

Yes very intersting view,great PP worked,fine note ,too.Ford Motor Corporation is very famous in the world,yes,in Iran,too.specially some peoples in Iran loves Ford's products,most of them are oldmans:)

Very well composed,I like it alot,Paul.

ma-tibou (4566) 2004-10-05 6:42

Bonjour Paul, un joli travail, la vertion colorée est magnifique, mais la vertion en noir et blanc avec juste quelques notes de couleurs est encore mieux, bravo.
Amitié.

rewmind (0) 2004-10-06 11:19

A very effective result. It's good to have left the oval "Ford" in color because it gives a certain balance to the colored flags. It seems to me, that the black&white vesion lets the building come out more imposing.

Rockyboy (20580) 2004-10-06 17:29

With a plant in Genk (Belgium), Ford does business with all Europe. Here I like the partial desaturation of the flag. Nice composition!

pm22822 (0) 2004-10-09 5:56

I like the color in the flags and the emblem, very nice touch. Cool! Good POV!
I've been by there on the way to Dearborn.
Great shot, Paul!

rage_tm (623) 2004-10-11 7:21

Hello Paul, I love the PP done here. It seems the wind was in favor for you when you get this shot. Nice perspective too... I captured some ideas with this shot. thanks.

pulezan (763) 2004-10-11 13:18

I like those semi b&w photos. Coloured parts are most visible and look more important. Looking at this picture I can see the message: this is Ford, international company. The sky is nice also. You probably had a lot of work in PP. Well done.

vedran

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-10-13 4:08

This looks like it must have been great fun, Paul, though a layer for EACH flag seems like more work than was necessary. I hope you did your work with the full size image. Erasing around those flags would definitely require a magnifying glass at this resolution... ;-)

This image suits your predilections perfectly with its nod to architecture and to the history of the region you call home. As one comes to expect from your images, this one is very well composed, finely captured and nicely processed. Your choice to present it this way is whimsical and to my eye a delight. Hats off to you, to FoMoCo and to the Military Order of Malta.

sn00zie (2384) 2004-10-16 10:46

very impressive and hard work done in post production-with phenomenal results. very nice:)

Rinie_Hoff (9332) 2004-10-30 3:02

Hi Paul, when I opened this image, I really expected the flags to fly, they look SOO lively here! It was a very good choice to leave them in color, but it must have been quite a job. The B&W fits the building very good, I think, considered the architecture. It's a perfect picture, Paul, sharp and good choices.

bertolucci (11976) 2005-02-01 12:46

Hi working back in y'r portfolio to some postings I missed Paul. The PoV and general graphism of this capture is so strong and I must qualify the contrast between the modernistic textures of the Ford building and the natural ones of the trees as really stunning. Y'r desaturation game worked very well and adds another strong contrast. Ofcourse the note is vital. Xcellent job!