Last night I typed out quick notes on approaching this week's Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I did some reading on the three types of symmetry; translation, rotation, reflection, and glide reflection.
Symmetry is "the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis" or "correct or pleasing proportion of the parts of a thing".
This afternoon, I was inspired to visit the Princeton University campus, specifically, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, which is now called the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
In 1963, the psychology and sociology departments were relocated to Green Hall on the corner of Washington St. and William St. The building had been previously occupied by the School of Engineering. In 2013, the Princeton University psychology department moved again to Peretsman-Scully Hall. I parked on William Street, stopping to photograph the Washinton Road entrance to Green Hall. It took a lot of work to position the camera to ensure that the scene was evenly balanced.
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs is a short walk from Green Hall. I'd like you to please read my previous post to learn more about how the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs became the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Having photographed what I wanted, I walked around the Princeton University campus, observing other examples of symmetry at the Princeton University Chapel and East Pyne Hall. There are numerous doors to the Chapel, so many that one wonders if they are escape hatches for some purpose.
I looked down the middle between the east and west entrances of Pyne Hall, taking pains to line up the arches to showcase the symmetry. Inside the archway, the ceiling details continue the gothic style of architecture found at the University, one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.
It was submitted for the 100DaysToOffload project.
If I am seeing correctly your first image - East Pyne Hall - it seems as though the art structure in the background offers a bit of symmetry.
It does. I regretted not walking down that way. I missed several other items.
May be interesting to undertake a photo walk across the campus during a snow fall in the early morning.
Soon. It’s been about five years since I’ve done that.
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It is an amazing campus...thank you for the brief tour. The minimal image of the leaf in the snow is beautiful.
Fabulous examples of architectural symmetry, Khurt. I wish I had taken the time to photograph Princeton when we lived nearby! Your photos do justice to the beauty and majesty of the campus and surrounding area.
Excellent monochromes, superb symmetry. I will check the Wilson name-change link. Some have postulated he and his administration had fascist tendencies. "By 1909 then Princeton Univ. president Woodrow Wilson was stating “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education,” “…and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific manual tasks.”" --Lapham’s Quarterly Fall 2008: Ways Of Learning, Lewis Lapham's Preamble, p. 15.
Hi John, I’ll check out those other sources.
In Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, I found the first part of the book, through Wilson, Mussolini, and FDR, to be informative. I'm forever seeking company in the Middle of the Road!
Same here. Just be sure to look both ways so you don’t get run over.
Great photographs! Lovely mono tones!
These are truly wonderful examples, in fact they just kept getting better and better as I moved through your post. Have been there many times but never paid much attention to the amazing symmetry throughout. Beautifully captured
Hi Tina, the next day I thought about even more symmetries around campus (the two lions, the two tigers, etc.).