Looking through the photographs section of the collection over the past week or two has been a lot fun. There are thousands of photographs in this collection, and though many of them are similar (straightforward architectural shots, or details of brick or stone), you never know what you’ll come across. I’ve mentioned before that Van Nice was always fascinated by the animal life in and around Hagia Sophia. He documented it in many ways–in drawings, tracings, writing, and apparently in photographs, as well!
Footprints in the snow. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
More footprints. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
A small bird inspecting the architects’ work. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
A makeshift scare-crow to protect the drawings from curious creatures. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
An unlucky mouse. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
New life in an old building. Robert L. Van Nice Collection.
The architectural photographs comprise an extremely thorough and useful set of documents for anyone interested in the building, and I plan to feature many of them here in the future. But you have to look a little harder in the Van Nice collection for hints about what daily life was like for the fieldworkers. It’s difficult to capture the atmosphere of work in such a large, intricate building, but I really love the perspective that these photos give. I especially like the use of the black and white photo scale in some of these pictures, and, of course, the architect-scare-crow.
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