Nelson Atkins Art Museum (Bloch Building)
With fall color right around the corner, I have been searching out spots that may have the best ‘fall’ potential. One place that quickly came to mind was the Nelson-Atkins art museum. Unfortunately the trees in the front lawn do not show signs of the transitioning season. Although I was a bit disappointed I decided to focus more on the Bloch Building designed by Steven Holl. It turned out to be a beautiful night to be outside shooting.
Architecture
For this post, I thought I would let you know a few tips on how and this is the key, when to shoot architecture. Obviously I am stating my preference, but I will tell you why this is my beilief. When you shoot architecture, you should always at least try to inclued something that gives you scale(people, cars, lightpoles, trees, etc.). If you are shooting for details, then just make sure you use your compositional rules, but other than that have fun. The best shots for architecture show depth which means high contrast light, small aperture, and again contrasting light. For the past couple of shots I have done I have chosen to shoot at twilight. This is because most street lighting, or building lighting has a natural orange or yellow hue to it, and given that the sky between night and day has a very strong, rich blue you get a natural pallette of complimentary colors. Also, lengthened exposures give you the ability to have car trails and things that give your image movement. Here are a few examples of what I am talking about. 
Ryan Estes Photos 