Photographer: Maxine Schnitzer
Submitted By: Ennis Electric, Manassas, Va.

Schnitzer’s photo captures the monumental staircase in the atrium of the new Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Schnitzer says she crouched as close to the edge of the stairwell as possible. “I chose this angle so as to show the enormity of this seemingly floating staircase and to convey the feeling of soaring height that you get when you are actually standing in the space,” she says.

Schnitzer’s image also shows how much work electrical contractor Ennis Electric has put into the project, including on the stair landings—shown in the foreground—which will have recessed lighting installed underneath.

Ennis Electric CEO Kevin Cole says workers fed the lights by running metal-clad cable inside the stair stringers. He also notes that the “enormous and very dark” space required his firm to install task lighting that helped all of the trades to complete their work. “Those lights can be seen throughout the image,” Cole says.

“The swing stages on the left of the image were being used by multiple contractors to accomplish their work on the project,” Cole says. “In the background, where coiled-up cabling hanging from the first-floor ceiling can be seen, [we were] in the process of installing specialized linear lights.”

Schnitzer used a Nikon D810, fitted with a Nikon 19 mm PC-E, perspective control lens. Her camera settings were f5.6, 1/50 of a second and ISO 6400.