The Broad - Inside & Out - Angie McMonigal Photography

The Broad – Inside & Out

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The Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles is one of my favorite buildings in LA. When we’ve visited in the past for workshops we’ve only photographed the exteriors, for 2022 I thought we had to get inside to fully explore the greatness of this building.

So, let’s take a brief look at what’s in store for you if you join me next February or make it there yourself another time.

First, the exteriors. The most notable feature is the “eye”.

There are many ways to photograph this. Straight on, like above. From an angle or if you get close and use a telephoto you technically remove the “eye” but its curves make for some great abstracts.

The other exterior aspect that’s interesting is this “veil”. All those angles slats allow filtered natural light to enter the museum while protecting the artwork. It’s also been dubbed names like the cheese grater, lol. Noticeable from this angle.

Taking a wider, symmetrical view of one of its corners + catch it with a few great clouds and you have a bold, dramatic perspective of the exteriors.

Now, let’s work our way inside. On the ground floor there’s a glass wall between the interiors and that exterior veil. You can get between that area for a different perspective of the veil.

Or you can use the glass to create these layered reflections

The bottom floors are dubbed the vault because the artwork that’s not on display is housed in the lower levels. Interestingly, you can get a peek inside that storage area as you go up to the upper exhibit halls.

This vault area makes for some dramatic and moody shots given how dark it is.

One of the more interesting areas to photograph inside is the ceiling of the upper level. You’re basically shooting the inside section of the veil you see on the outside. Fun angles and patterns to be capture here.