NHM: Up To The Sequoia HDR

Lots of details, shapes, and tones: better in large ("L").

This is one of my favourite NHM views to explore photographically, but I'm rarely satisfied enough with the result to blip it. I must return with my tripod (I say for the about the 20th time...) because I'm was more pleased with the framing and timing (inc. people!) of another shot, but the 5 frames didn't align sufficiently to form a crisp HDR composite picture.

This particular view intrigues me because it brings together so many facets of the NHM's architecture, and has that wonderful Escher-esque feel that comes from the angles of the stairs, and the various repeating patterns and shapes. It can be said of many places in the museum, but standing in this one place could keep me amused for an unreasonably long time. Terracotta monkeys, many varied terracotta hues, arches galore (under the stair balustrades, over the balconies, around the doors, forming the roof supports), the wonderful ceiling tiles, the terracotta ornaments that adorn the stairs, the variou columns, the Sequoia itself at the top of the stairs...

The more you look the more there is to see; the attention to detail in the design was spectacular.