A Photographer’s Nightmare at the National Library of Latvia “Castle of Light”

Photographing views from observation towers or tall buildings is fun—especially if the location is designed so you can shoot freely without any obstacles in front of the camera. In Riga, there aren’t many high-rises where you can publicly take unobstructed photos. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a few: the Academy of Sciences and St. Peter’s Church. In other tall buildings, you can only shoot through glass, which isn’t ideal — but at least photographing through regular glass is somewhat manageable.

However, at the National Library of Latvia, “Castle of Light” photographers were clearly not taken into consideration. The beautiful view of Old Town Riga from the library’s highest point, the 11th floor, is only accessible through glass. And it’s not just any glass — it’s covered with a dot pattern designed to absorb sunlight.

This year, I had the chance to visit Kuldīga, where I photographed from the bell tower of a church. When I first reached the top, I noticed that all the open areas were fenced with mesh so small that it seemed impossible to get a lens through. I thought I wouldn’t be able to take any photos—but they had actually thought of that. The fence had small doors that could be opened for photography.

Last week, one morning offered a truly beautiful sunrise, and I went out to capture it. The sunrise was absolutely stunning.

In the photos, you won’t see a single dot on the glass because I shot with a wide aperture (f/1.8) and placed the lens as close to the glass as possible to blur out any imperfections. You can see the images below.