Architectural Photography Almanac
A resource for working professional photographers and design industry professionals featuring news, commentary, equipment resources, and original articles
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.
Beloved British Baking Show Contestant YouTuber Tom Scott is known for his short, humorous, informational videos covering everything from sending garlic bread into space to navigating the interior of the brain with neurosurgeons. In one of his most ambitious projects to date, Tom Scott tackles a topic that is close to the hearts of every artist: copyright.
I photograph a lot of homes for a lot of different clients with a lot of different end uses for those photographs. While in a perfect world I’d get a photo credit every time my work was submitted, sometimes that doesn’t happen and it’s up to me to get it fixed. Whether or not you think photo credit is important (it is, don’t @ me), you should always have any errors or omissions in credit resolved as soon as you can.
I think it’s safe to say that the current pandemic sucks for everyone involved. Short of toilet paper manufacturers, pretty much everyone on planet earth is dealing with ramifications and fallout of the ongoing…issue. A few days ago I asked a group of photographer colleagues how they were being impacted, and received a wide range of responses and opinions.
As a professional airport architect, HOK‘s Peter Ruggiero designs airports for a living, and he has been hard at work for years to improve New York’s most notorious, and Joe Biden’s favorite airport, LaGuardia. So what actually goes into optimizing the design of an airport terminal? This incredible video walks us through the wildly complex process.
San Francisco photographer Peter Lyons has been working all over the Bay Area for years now, and since the advent of cameras using built-in GPS, he’s geo-tagged nearly every photo he’s taken. Peter recently shared a screen shot of his work history and I was blown away.
As far as I’m concerned, Peter embodies the image of a classic working photographer.
No.
Today, I jump into a large 3-part question that I have strong thoughts on.
With over 800 staff working in five offices spanning the globe, RJ Models may be the undisputed leader in architectural model making. Countless major architects from Foster + Partners to Zaha Hadid to Arquitectonica and more have commissioned RJ to create models of their planned architectural projects.
A scout is an integral part of the architectural photography process, but one mistake I see a lot of photographers making is that they agree to a scout before they are in contract to complete the shoot. It’s gone pear-shaped on me enough that I implemented a policy requiring a deposit before any scouting takes place; here’s why.
Throughout our careers we find photographers and artists who inspire us at a deep level, and I am so happy to be able to bring you an interview with one such photographer today. Christopher Payne, who was educated as and practiced as an architect, has long been one of my favorites not only for his prowess as an architectural photographer but as an embodiment of the personal project and its ability to bring incredible opportunity for pursuing one’s interests, exploring incredible places, and shaping your career into something entirely your own.
For the last decade, I’ve been dealing with varying levels of on-again, off-again back pain and the associated frustrations that come along with it. From almost non-existent to “I literally can’t even get out of bed,” the pain has been with me in some form daily, affecting work, relationships, and so much more.
As architectural photography becomes a more popular genre both on and off the internet, the number of people taking part in critiques (whether warranted or not) has exploded. As a member of a number of groups and fora frequented by thousands of architectural photographers from all around the world, I’ve noticed an alarming trend over the past few years.
Mike Kelley