Soaring 125 feet into the sky, the Astoria Column was built in 1926 to commemorate the triumphs, conflicts, and turning points of America’s northwestern frontier. The sky provides much of the drama here, and the 14mm superwideangle lens extends the thrusting clouds perfectly. I moved close enough to the huge column to portray the intricate historical illustrations on its surface, yet I can still fit all 126 feet of the column into my horizontal frame. I could have even moved even closer by using a vertical format, but then I would have lost the sweep of the clouds behind the column. The final element of expression here is the tourists. I waited for the first silhouette in this group of six to reach the area between the column and the railing, and made this shot as he turned to go down the steps in front of me. The 14mm super wideangle lens makes him look as if he is thirty feet away from my camera, but he is actually only about five or six yards away.