A resource for working professional photographers and design industry professionals featuring news, commentary, equipment resources, and original articles
Knowing how to accurately represent space as seen by the human eye into a bidimensional media is relatively new. Early art depictions tend to focus on the spiritual and not on a literal representation of the world. Size and proportion of the subjects responded to hierarchy levels. It wasn’t until the Renaissance (circa 1415) that Brunelleschi’s proved a rational system to precisely represent depth and space, the linear perspective.
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects has always been esteemed for their mammoth landmarks. All around the globe, their colossal beauties stretch into the sky. One of their particular designs that I love — The Salesforce Tower —stands 1,070 feet tall in downtown San Francisco. Who better to capture this sleek and sexy skyscraper than an architectural photographer who also calls San Francisco home, Jason O’Rear.
I must confess that I have never pressed the record button on my camera. Lately, the growing number of video platforms and the demand for architectural video has made me think twice about dabbling in video. Watching or re-watching films paying special attention to the role of architecture is a powerful tool and source of inspiration available to anyone interested in both architectural photography and video.
Do I need a tilt-shift lens to photograph tall buildings? It’s a question I get a lot. The quick answer is pretty straightforward. Do you want to do it professionally? If so, yes, you need one (actually you need two). Do you want to do it as a hobby? Then no, you absolutely do not need one.
Peter Dixie is a wonderful architectural and landscape photographer who calls Shanghai home, and operates under the name LOTAN Studio. This week we are exploring his photographs of The Zentral Kitchen by Lukstudio.
The Zentral Kitchen is the first location for Shikaku — which strives to lessen the environmental impact of dining and food delivery.
The guys at Roehner + Ryan are much admired around here, not just because their photographs are off the wall gorgeous, but because they are such bulldogs for the architectural photography industry. Jason and Dan are great advocates for proper pricing, sharing knowledge, and lifting our little community.
I am absolutely infatuated with tall buildings. Mike Kelley has his airplanes, I’ve got my skyscrapers. Or so I thought. For more than two decades, China (where I am based) has experienced unprecedented growth in the number of constructed high-rise buildings, but alas we may be seeing the end of an era for skyscrapers in the Middle Kingdom.
Francis Dreis is my newest architectural photography crush, and it’ll be easy for you to see why after checking out this stellar set of images he crafted for Woods + Dangaran Architecture of their Clear Oak Drive project. Here you’ll find rich warm tones, dynamic light, and a strong inclusion of human element.
Ishita Sitwala is an architectural & interiors photographer from Ahmedabad (Gujarat) in India. Her passion for architecture was borne by her father’s own keen interest in architecture and dissuaded her from following the family’s footsteps of becoming a doctor. Through architecture, photography came as a way of documenting the day to day life.
Architectural photography is one of those genres that tends to have quite a high entry cost. Although there are inexpensive gear options available, wide-angle and tilt-shift lenses generally come with a hefty price tag. For someone just starting out, a $1,900 lens might be a little out of reach.
Today we’re checking out one of Dezeen’s 2020 longlist pieces, Su Vertical Nos Retiene.
Su Vertical Nos Retiene is a sculptural artwork in Santiago, Chile, designed by Fernando Prats and architecture studios Elton_Léniz and Cruz Mandiola. This urban art is longlisted for architectural lighting design in Dezeen’s 2020 awards thanks to the beautiful work of Limari Lighting Design.
Roland Miller is a documentary and fine art photographer hailing from Chicago, Illinois. He has been documenting the various test and launch sites NASA and the United States Air Force had developed for the early space missions (Gemini and Apollo) for 30 years. Partway through this journey caught the attention of NASA that gave Roland unprecedented access to some of its projects.
Taran Wilkhu is a London based Interiors and Architectural photographer whom I had come across during the Zoomed In Festival. He has to be one of the most interesting photographers I have come across because his professional career has taken many different trajectories before finding his true calling.
A question that we receive at APA regularly goes something like this: I shoot predominantly real estate with a basic contract and would love to hear more about how established architecture and interior photographers went about creating and modifying their contracts.
You’re not alone.
When Canon first released the EOS R, one of the most compelling things they did was to also release an EF to RF mount adapter with a drop-in filter feature. This meant that you could adapt tilt-shift lenses to your EF camera and use drop-in filters whenever it was necessary. The only problem was Canon’s limited amount of filters available on the market.
Welcome to the ME Dubai Hotel at the Opus, designed by architectural legend Zaha Hadid! Taking us on a little ole visual tour today is Lisbon based architectural photographer Francisco Nogueira. Francisco photographed this project just days before COVID19 forced the borders to be shut down, and fortunately so, because this series is a masterpiece.
It’s been four years since my last educational photography project, and I am happy to announce the release of my first ever e-book: I’ll just Fix That in Post, And Other Lies I Tell Myself, a combination of group therapy, an epic self-roast (plenty of laughs at my expense) and technical manual to architectural photography.
Imagine being on the frontline of the 20th-century transition in the artistic world of photography. From the pristine landscapes captured by Ansel Adams to man-altered landscapes through industry and construction, there was so much changing in the world. This was the reality that Hilla and Bernd Becher had to face.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it another one hundred times; Brazil’s architectural photographers and the wide gamut of projects that they photograph are incredible. Today, Brazilian architectural photographer Nelson Kon is sharing his photographs of Fazenda Rio Verde — a massive coffee farm outside Saõ Palo — with us.
This short and poignant video by the B1M highlights the increasing propensity for renders to exaggerate the truth, leading to disappointed clients and impossible design goals for projects. Not only do these renders mislead the public, setting them (us!) up for a lackluster new building, but they also have ramifications for photographers tasked with capturing these projects.
Dane Alonso
Lexi Taciak
Justin Szeremeta
Veeral Patel
Usman Dawood
Brandon Vogts
Mike Kelley