A photographer who saw the light
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I was saddened to read the news ["Photos put buildings in a wonderful light," obituaries, Oct. 31] that architectural photographer Robert C. Lautman had succumbed to cancer at the quite respectable age of 85.
I can't say that he and I were close friends, but his large-format photography was a magnet that drew us together from time to time, usually for lunch. He was an outstanding architectural photographer who started, as many of us did, with a box camera in grade school and never got over it.
The Post chose an excellent photo of the Washington National Cathedral by Mr. Lautman to accompany the obituary. It is a fine example of Mr. Lautman's lifelong philosophy that two things make a good photograph: "Knowing where to stand, and knowing what time to stand there."
In the photo, a leafy branch hangs over one of the two main towers but does not obscure the small spires of the towers, providing a frame for the subject. The "crossing" tower toward the rear of the building stands free and is not at all concealed by the northwest tower, showing clearly that the Cathedral has three towers.
Mr. Lautman chose the perfect afternoon light and the spot that would provide a perfect photograph. The light rakes across the southwest facade, creating wonderful shadows that cause arches and recesses to leap out to the viewer. The sun sweeps across the broad lawn, and shadows extend to the front foundation of the cathedral, bringing the eye to the building without occluding detail and emphasizing the mystique that is a hallmark of Gothic church architecture.
The use of a lens filter softens the hard stone and helps create a darkening around the entire image. I would not doubt that his image of the cathedral was built in his mind's eye over many weeks or months, culminating in two or three hours on the chosen location producing one more wonderful Lautman photograph.
Jack E. Boucher, Silver Spring
The writer was supervisor of the National Park Service's architectural photographic documentation for the Historic American Buildings Survey from 1958 to 2008.
