Architectural Photography Almanac
A resource for working professional photographers and design industry professionals featuring news, commentary, equipment resources, and original articles
As the internet’s hub for architectural photography discussion and news, we felt it was only right for APAlmanac to host its own architectural photography showcase contest. Given the unique criteria by which architectural photography must be created, it must be judged with a critical eye.
LG Asks: I am an architectural photographer just starting out my business. I have downloaded the APA contract template as well as read articles about licensing. I had a question in regards to renewing a license. For example, when I photograph for a client and all goes well and licenses photos to the client for 5 years.
After leaving the APAlmanac Architectural Photography Census open for almost six months in 2020, we are here to report the results. An incredible 1,259 professional architectural photographers from all over the world completed and contributed to the survey, which has provided an amazing cross section of how and why we’re working, where we struggle, where we succeed, and so much more.
I am so proud to introduce The APAlmanac Contract Template. In over a decade of photographing architecture, I have talked to thousands of working photographers, whether it’s for a lunch, on an online forum, here on Apalmanac, or at workshops or conferences. Without fail, the conversation leads to our shared struggles of running a business in a largely independent field.
M Asks: I’m getting quite a few requests for shoots starting late April / May. Everyone is pleading poverty, from £120m new openings (who I know had already budgeted marketing) to £10m refurbs. Every quote so far has asked for a reduction in fees. My own view is that I won’t lower my fee (mostly because my expenses & talent are same as pre-covid and I have a gut feeling that if I lower it, it will be impossible to raise later) but I am being super-flexible on pretty much all else.
Tom Harris is an incredibly talented and charmingly down-to-earth friend of mine who has worked for some of the most esteemed architectural firms in the United States documenting architecture across the country. He was kind enough to sit down with me for an hour and chat about his background and his process.
For those of us living in California and the rest of the West Coast of the US, it’s been a crazy few months to say the least. Wildfire smoke has engulfed nearly every part of the region at some point over the past two months, turning skies grey and orange from Los Angeles to Seattle.
Many architectural photographers have continued to work through the fires and the resulting smoke – myself included – to great frustration and annoyance.
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.
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.
P asks: Is it possible to be an architectural photographer without previously being an architect? My girlfriend is an architect and our first idea is to open a studio together. Do I have options in this world without having studied a degree in photography or architecture? Thank you in advance!
DBOX is an international creative communications agency that creates campaigns in the sectors of luxury residential, hospitality, commercial, and cultural property. Specializing in both renders and photography, DBOX is at the top of the global architecture marketing game and were kind enough to sit down for a chat with APA to discuss their inner business workings, their frustrations, and their efforts to remedy an industry-wide scourge.
When you’re obsessed with something, say, architectural photography, you can’t imagine a life without it, so you’re going to find a way to do it no matter what. Even in the midst of a pandemic, even if you have to use an awful camera, even if you just underwent back surgery.
In October 2019, I decided to take a break from work to address stubborn back pain that hadn’t gone away in about six years.
As the first ever ZoomedIn Festival draws to a close on Friday, APAlmanac has teamed up with the ZoomedIn crew to produce one final event: An ‘Ask Me Anything’ with all of the photographers who took part in the festival which is free for anyone to attend. If you have a question you’d like to ask the panel, we’re all ears and ready to respond, but there’s one catch!
We are happy to announce that we are opening our store this week, which includes classic pieces from APA’s storied “history” – including our emotional support mugs and bingo mugs for those days when you just need a laugh before heading out to shoot, or tote bags to carry all of your accumulated props and snacks to and from the set!
While we’ve all been stuck inside, London-Based photographer Luke O’Donovan has been hard at work curating an incredible lineup of photographers, critics, and architecture industry thought leaders to create the first ever ZoomedIn festival, a free global event targeted to those with an interest in photography and architecture.
That’s more or less the title of a YouTube video I did with Jared Polin of FroKnowsPhoto DOT COM! I know, I know, Jared and I probably couldn’t be on further ends of the personality spectrum with his outgoing rambunctious videos vs my somewhat quiet and reserved personality but the end result is a pretty great educational video for someone just getting started in architectural photography (or someone who wants to watch Jared get very politely shredded!)
There’s no time like the present to sharpen your understanding of architecture given the current times we are living in – with millions (billions?!) of us in lockdown around the world, the amount of resources being made available for free is staggering. One of them, the Harvard course “The Architectural Imagination” may be one of the best investments you can make during this downtime.
The architectural photography community is spread thin across the world, yet we are a close-knit community brought together by the internet and our shared love of photographing homes, businesses, art, and design. Currently, there is little to no data available related to the way we operate and the most frequent questions that we receive on APAlmanac relate to how people across the world run their businesses and what they can do to improve their own businesses.
Most of us are loafing around on our phones more than ever due to COVID-19, myself included. I’ve always thought it would be fun to put together a list of the best architecture photography instagram accounts to follow, so today the inspiration struck and I’ve decided to put everything in one easy list for you to check out.
Mike Kelley