(Very) Hard Wood

There were lots of fun things to play with compositionally on this one.  First I got lucky in that I got to play a triple whammy for depth:  shallow depth of field from the wide-open lens, repetition, and diminishing perspective.  But the most fortunate thing that I had going for me is that the lighting of the museum presented an awesome chiaroscuro effect.  Chiaroscuro is a technique in painting, drawing, cinema, and photography of using light and dark contrasts to suggest depth and volume.  You see it most often as dark environments with dramatic, narrow-focused lighting on subjects, as with this photo.  But I'd never heard of chiaroscuro when I shot this.  To me, it was just a cool scene to shoot.  I didn't know what I was doing but I'm happy I recognized the potential, which seems more important.