The House of John (Ca’ d’Zan) was built in 1925 as the Florida home of John Ringling, founder of the Ringling Brothers Circus, and his wife, Mabel Ringling. Among the most impressive features in this Venetian Gothic mansion is the massive chandelier that formerly hung in New York City’s original Waldorf Astoria Hotel. After that hotel was demolished to make room for the Empire State Building, the Ringlings acquired this chandelier and installed it high over the mansions Central Court. In this image, I photograph not only the intricacy and beauty of the historic Waldorf Chandelier, but also one of the priceless massive tapestries that hangs behind it upon the wall in the background. The lavish coffered ceiling and the Venetian imagery painted above it add additional context to the chandelier. Taken together, they express the wealth, power, and grandeur of the Ringling story. Ringling left this 36,000 square foot mansion, along with the Ringling Art and Circus Museums, to the state of Florida, which in turn has transferred stewardship to the Florida State University.

Thousands of Egyptians pay a holiday visit to the Pyramids and Sphinx just outside Cairo. I made this image in the late afternoon, yet throngs of still-arriving visitors still jam them narrow road that runs between the Pyramids and the Sphinx. These iconic landmarks, which were already 2,000 years old when Cleopatra toured them with Julius Caesar in 47 BC, are still relevant to Egyptians. They confer identity, pride, and heritage on an impoverished nation. In this image, I take advantage of the late light to abstract much of the scene through the interplay of light and shadow. Diagonal bands of overhead clouds bond the two pyramids in this image. This wideangle view is expansive, making the masses of visitors appear incongruously small in comparison. The golden light, the scale of the vista, and the antiquity of the scene combine to create an image that is rich in grandeur.

Prior to a performance of Brazilian carnival music and dance, I photographed part of the audience assembled in the balconies of this 135 year old opera house. Using a 24mm wideangle focal length, I was able to stretch the scene from the oval ceiling down to the main floor. A man stands, hands on hips, to survey the scene from the center of the second balcony, offering a focal point to the image, and providing a scale contrast expressing the grandeur of the scene.

Parts of this image lie in shadow, while others gleam in the sun. A sky laden with threats is breaking up, scattering the low hanging clouds that float above the scene. I layer the scene with first a green and then a brown desert foreground. A tiny, twisting road lies within that desert, carrying an even smaller white truck that tells us just how vast this scene really is. Three layers of rock formations comprise the middleground here, while a dark blue/gray sky provides the backdrop. Grandeur depends largely on scale relationships, and this image offers an array of them.

To express the grandeur of Istanbul, for sixteen centuries the Imperial capital of the Byzantine empire and the Ottoman sultans, one needs to stand in the middle of the Golden Horn -- a flooded river valley spanned by the Galata Bridge. I made this image of Istanbul’s most significant mosque from that bridge at sunset. Four factors converge to express grandeur here – the swirling pattern of the clouds, the soaring gull lifting its wings precisely over the minarets of the mosque, the golden colors of the setting sun, and the exotic symbol of mosque architecture. I made dozens of images in order to get this one – the light and color was changing as I shot, as was the pattern of the clouds. And most importantly, the sea gulls that fly over this natural harbor were continually entering and leaving my frame. I had to get one in precisely the right spot and in the most effective expression of flight. Some photographers would simply clone a seagull from another shot into the image, but such electronic manipulation would cheapen the photographic experience and dilute the validity of the image. We stood on that bridge for fifteen or twenty minutes and made many images, but in the end, I was able to find the combination of factors I was looking for to express the grandeur of Istanbul.

While in Jasper, I traveled in a “snow coach” into this vast glacial ice field. In this image, I express the sheer grandeur of scale by comparing the huge glacier to two tiny snow coaches at lower left, and a group of other coaches parked at lower center. Passengers get a chance to walk on the ice field for a half hour or so – if you study this image closely, you can make out a row of tiny figures just to the right of the coaches. I made this image from the base of the mountain using a 400mm telephoto lens. When we compare the size of those miniscule figures to the enormous amount of snow and ice above and below them, we can better appreciate the role of scale here in creating a sense of grandeur.