One day in April I hoped on an early morning bus from the centre of Aberdeen, heading for the University Library. Despite being exam season, I’d been given permission to take photos in the Sir Duncan Rice Library, but they advised me to arrive early to avoid the busiest study times. The building is open 24 hours a day during the exam period so I got there soon after 7.30am, when I knew it would be quiet thanks to the University’s website which has a webpage showing the current occupancy levels - very handy!
The exterior of the building seems like a giant sugar cube, albeit with a wave blue and white glass coating, and I was lucky enough to catch some photos of this the previous day when the blue sky was full of white, puffy clouds.
From the exterior you might expect similarly crisp lines inside, but the reality is completely different - a symphony of swooping curves! With seven floors to explore a strategy was required so I took the lift to the top floor and slowly worked my way back down, one floor at a time.
Looking down from the top…
I found so many ways to photograph the library - the curves showed themselves in different forms from different angles. Shooting from a level perspective revealed elegant ellipses.
Looking up towards the roof lights offered lots of possibilities too…
Click on any image to see it enlarged.
Even the stairs contained interesting photographic details, although less curvaceous!
Looking down into the lower levels these study pods added a striking pop of colour to an otherwise subdued interior.
Using the handrails as lines to lead the eye…
I purposely avoided including the students in my images, apart from this semi-silhouetted figure where I couldn’t resist the low straking light.
A place to study with a view…
Two more colourful study areas.
I can’t recall another photoshoot when it’s taken me so long to select my final images, but as you can probably imagine, there were lots of photo to choose from. One thing’s certain - libraries have changed since I was at college. Ours was a single windowless room in the basement, although I can’t help feeling a building like this might continually distract me from my studies!
Photos taken 25 & 26 April 2024