On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the iconic Gateway Arch turns 50.
The indelible symbol of St. Louis, instantly recognized across the country and around the world, is also one of the most photographed landmarks in the region. It has served as a brilliant backdrop for wedding photos, family portraits, selfies and artistic, creative shots.
Recently, an undergraduate student at Washington University in St. Louis won the grand prize in a special photo competition showcasing the Arch on its 50th anniversary.
Corban Swain, a senior in biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, won the Readers’ Choice Grand Prize in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s 2015 Arch Photo Contest. His winning entry, titled “Glass & Steel,” shows the Arch reflected in a wine glass filled with water.
Swain recounted how he produced the image:
“Just browsing on the Internet, I had seen a photograph that used water-filled wine glasses to create a similar effect,” Swain said. “Being inspired by that, I carried around a wine glass with me for a couple of months, taking pictures of different cityscapes with the background out of focus and the warped, upside down world of the wine glass in focus.
“One weekend, I was at the Arch and I filled the glass with water and held it on top of a small post in front of the monument. Originally, I wanted to capture the entire Arch in the background, but I was too close and my lens wasn’t wide enough. In retrospect, I think the cut-off framing allows the photograph to speak to the size of the Arch and allows the viewer to focus on the strange geometries of the image within the wine glass.”
Swain’s photo was featured in the Oct. 25 special section of the Post-Dispatch. To see all of the winning photo entries, click here.