Art Bench – Proud Souls

The Woodlands, Texas is home to one of the largest collections of public art in Texas. This collection consists of over 50 pieces of public art, including mosaics, sculptures and 23 art benches. Each art bench is a unique piece of public art designed by local, national, and international artists. Some benches are interactive, some are a reflection of the surrounding environment. All are above and beyond the usual concept of a bench. These are more than just benches; they are sculptures, they are art. As art, they surprise us, confuse us, and amaze us. As a result, it makes us stop and think which is what art is really about.

Proud Souls

The “Proud Souls” bench, designed by Gaston Carrio, overlooks the Woodlands Waterway. Carrio has described Proud Souls as “Everything starts with the union of two strong souls, coming together and raising families who work together to build communities that nurture future generations to repeat the process. I envisioned this bench as a place for individuals to reconnect and recharge with each other, a place to rest and reflect on the people and the community who supported and inspired them. The Woodlands itself is a symbol of success. My hope is that this bench serves as a tribute to such triumph, the wings like arms reaching up to the sky in victory.”

The Composition

Since the concept of art benches abandons the conventional thinking for a bench, I wanted my image to also be a bit non-conventional. I wanted to highlight its beauty and place within its environment rather than just be a conventional documentation of the artwork.

I first noticed this art bench from the walk at the Waterway. Looking at it on the hill above, it was set against a backdrop of trees. The dappled sunlight was also highlighting the ridgelines creating nice leading lines taking our eye to the sculpture.

The Shot

For this shot the gear and settings were:

• Canon 5D Mk III, Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L is II USM Lens at 105mm
• 1/60 seconds at f/16, ISO 100, on tripod

Post-Processing

The scene was fairly monochromatic resulting in the shiny metal surfaces to standing against the green grass and trees. As a result, I thought a high-contrast black and white image would work well.

I started by converting this to black and white using the Nik Silver Efex Low Key 1 filter as a starting point. Within Silver Efex I adjusted the brightness of highlights, midtones and shadows. I also used the green filter to bring out a bit of detail in the grass and trees.

Most of the effort was adjusting light in the various areas of the photo including dodging along ridgelines to make them lighter.. I likewise did some dodging on the art bench to increase the contrast with its background to make it really stand out.

Wanting to add some drama to the sky, I copied the image layer and darkened the sky with curves adjustments, adjustment brushes in Lightroom and some dodging and burning.  I then blended this “sky” layer back with the original using the eraser brush to achieve the desired combination.

Finally, I inspected the sky closely for sensor and dust spots and used the spot healing brush to remove them. I prefer to do this as a last step as the black and white processing can bring out spots that aren’t apparent in the original color files.

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