Grand Chandeliers

April 15, 2009

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Last week I traveled to Washington, DC to photograph the installation of four chandeliers in the US Senate caucus room. What an amazing assignment – witnessing a crew of 8 people from Acu-Bright working like a well-oiled machine, working with confidence even while using pipe wrenches above delicate glass structures, swaying in the air as they worked some 40 feet above the floor. All the while being surrounded by the history and power that is in the room.

John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert announced their Presidential candidacies in the ornate room with chandeliers and vaulted ceiling. . Although originally intended for party caucuses, the size and grandeur of the room made it a likely site for major public hearings. For the past eighty years the Caucus Room has served as a stage for some of the most dramatic Senate investigations such as the sinking of the Titanic, the Teapot Dome scandal, Pearl Harbor, the Kefauver Crime Committee, the Army vs. McCarthy, the Vietnam War, and Watergate.
And in the face and force of all that history my task was to light and photograph the installation – and more importantly, the room and chandeliers. No small task since the room is about 75 feet long, 50 feet wide and nearly 50 feet high.

Four monolights and a lot of experimenting later and here are some of the results. 4-8-09-acubright0258___tonemappedrt 4-8-09 ACUBRIGHT