I enjoy capturing symmetry in my images. Upon entering an interior space, my first instinct is to place my tripod in the center of the scene to ensure that everything in the frame is as balanced as possible. During my most recent road trip, I found that I still do this. However, in addition to that standard perspective, I've made a conscious effort to seek out other vantage points--particularly those from the corner of a room.

Here's an example from Day #1 of my trip. I photographed the Grand Staircase before in the Iowa Capitol back in 2013. This is the image from from three years ago:

"Westward"The mural painting, "Westward" extends the full width of the east wall over the grand staircase. The painting was completed shortly after the start of the 20th century by Edwin H. Blashfield. Photo captured in the the Iowa State Capitol building at 1007 E Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa on August 19, 2013. This photograph consists of three exposures blended together using HDR Efex Pro2 software to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. This image is symmetrical. It's balanced and provides a clear view of the impressive mural (titled "Westward").

I returned to this location last month. Since I had already captured the above image, I was determined to try something new. Here's what I came up with this time:

Grand staircaseGrand staircase in the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa on July 16, 2016. Extending the full width of the east wall over the staircase is the great mural painting Westward, an idealized representation of the coming of the people who made Iowa. By moving from the center to the left of the staircase, I'm able to create two very different images. It's not that one image is necessarily better than the other. But, I find that the second image conveys a greater sense of depth. It makes me feel more like I'm actually there--which contributes to a more interesting composition in my opinion.

So far, I've only processed photographs from the first day of my 32 day road trip from Chicago to California and back. As I go along, there are many more examples of this approach to capturing interiors in a variety of ways.