Portrait

A photographer friend of mine suggested that people needn't be afraid of taking "portrait" oriented images, suggesting that most folks miss good shots because the "landscape" orientation is the easiest to understand.  That seems to make sense.  To me, though, I decide between portrait and landscape based on my subject.  Take this staircase leading from the ground level to the first floor of the Supreme Court of the United States.  Portrait orientation seems to be the only way to shoot this.

Taken with an iPhone 5s, there's a dungeon-like feel to this shot, where the stairs up from the darkness to the Supreme Court courtroom lead to freedom and light.

Stairs of Symmetry

Left is the Russell Senate Office Building, Right is the Supreme Court Building.  There's a joke in here about the two equal branches of government (Congress and the Courts) being like a square peg and a round hole.  The Left is looking down, the Right is looking up.  When I build my own house, I'm going to have to get a staircase like one of these.

Both of these are taken with an iPhone 5s on separate occasions.