http://matthewpillsbury.com/photographs/main-reading-room-new-york-public-library/
The name of the photographer is Matthew Pillsbury, the photograph’s name is “Main Reading Room in New York Public Library.” This photo is not in color but in black and white. It looks like Matthew Pillsbury captured this photo from a distance upstairs also perfectly centered. I think that the intention of the photographer is to capture this moment with a movement. Everything is still in the photo but the people who are a blur, which means that they are in a movement position. the mood looks calm and quiet yet has A sense of a busy flow to it.
In this photograph, there are a couple of compositional principles occurring and one of the them is Leading Lines that naturally led my eyes to the door placed in the center. Another composition principle that is used in the photo is Diagonals, there are diagonals happening on the sides of the building in the photo. The door centered in the picture creates the composition principle of Frame Within a Frame. In addition, there is contrast used in the photo itself, for instance, the top part of the picture which is the ceiling, is darker than the bottom of the picture that more light is towards it because of the windows this term is called Figure to Ground. The second to last composition principle that is used in the picture are Patterns and Repetition such as the people who are working, in addition to that the way they are moving in a blur gives the sense of pattern and the white color as a repetition. Finally the last principle is Symmetry and I think that symmetry is perfectly used in this photo. These elements help create the mood by giving a type of feeling to it for instance, this photo gave me a feeling of tranquility with a sense of a busy movement.
As you say this photo is a perfect example of symmetry. Pillsbury like to set the disorder of the motion of the people against the extreme order of a symmetrical setting.
Be careful with the term leading lines. leading lines need to lead to something. This photo has the converging lines of perspective bu they don’t lead to anything.