Architectural Photography Almanac
A resource for working professional photographers and design industry professionals featuring news, commentary, equipment resources, and original articles
In an architectural photography group I’m part of, there are always questions being asked in regards to getting started in architectural filmmaking. Even though I have covered architectural filmmaking through interviews with other photographers, there isn’t anything directed towards architectural photographers who are interested in making the shift to this medium.
Many of my introductions to world-famous designers happened through conversations with friends who are very heavily entrenched in the design sphere. The introduction to Dieter Rams came by way of a friend, John Bastiras, who is perhaps the only person I know who possesses a vast knowledge of Australian architecture in the world of cycling (my other love).
Over the past couple of years, I have been following the progress of the Deakin Law Building part of Deakin University in Burwood (Victoria, Australia) which was designed by Woods Bagot. Towards the end of the second lockdown in Melbourne, I had my chance to take a stroll around this building.
I have found Bjarke Ingels to be one of the most fascinating architects who is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of maximizing site potential and what is possible architecturally. Last year, a documentary was released about the design and construction of the world’s cleanest waste-to-energy plant, CopenHill.
Ever since interviewing Peter Molick on APA, I have become very enamored with his work — specifically his workplace interiors projects and the post-production steps he takes to create very visually striking images. Even in Australia, I don’t think I have come across photographers photographing workplace interiors projects as Peter does.
Early last year, I had interviewed Pennsylvania based photographer, Jeffrey Totatro. Since 2008, Jeffrey has been hosting an architectural photography workshop in collaboration with the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.
The four day workshop will consist of two 2-hour long sessions each day and include time for questionsDue to the current COVID pandemic, his 2021 workshop will be hosted virtually over Zoom.
Tom Kundig is one of the founders of Seattle-based architectural firm Olson Kungdig. This podcast by Time Sensitive explores one of Tom’s greatest passions, mountain climbing, and how pursuit of the sport helped him become an internationally successful architect. Often when I look at architects who are as accomplished as Tom, I wonder what makes them tick in order to create such stunning architecture (for example, his Hale Lana House in Hawai with the striking cantilevered roof which got a lot of coverage in press this year).
A few months ago I had interviewed Taran Wilkhu, an architectural photographer from London. In late November, he was part of a discussion with Nick Compton, the Senior Editor at Wallpaper* Magazine. The talk was hosted by Design District London.
Whether you are a photographer, architect, or interior designer, we all have this innate desire to see our works in print.
The Architecture & Design Film Festival has taken its screening online this year due to covid. Starting November 19th, the ADFF will be presenting their final session of the year. The final session will feature 15 full-length films that come from 13 countries across both hemispheres, including a couple of short films by Jim Stephenson whom I had interviewed earlier in the year.
Last weekend, in Gold Coast (Australia), we had the Open House and coincidently, it was the same weekend as the Open House New York and Chicago programs as well. I love the Open House programs as it gives you access to a lot of impressive buildings that generally wouldn’t be open to the general public.
Copyright infringement is a prevalent issue among photographers. There have been several articles on APAlmanac discussing copyright infringements in various forms. I have noticed that whenever copyright is discussed, it is more from the North American perspective rather than an Australian perspective.
Over a decade ago I had come across Keith Loutit’s work, the Bathtub Series. It was his videos that piqued my fascination with tilt-shift lenses as a way to make the world look miniature. His unique work has parlayed him into creating numerous direct commercial campaigns globally and recently, he released his latest film, Lion City Rising.
Recently, Aputure announced its latest LED-based 7 watt smart light bulb, Accent B7c. There are a plethora of smart bulbs on the market but what sets this smart bulb apart from that rest is that it was specifically designed for filmmakers and addressing three use cases: Implementing high colour fidelity based on the RGBWW specification and flexible colour temperature (2000K to 10000K), 100% flicker-free operation and wireless connectivity through Bluetooth Mesh network.
Ikea founded in 1943 by 17-year old, Ingvar Kamprad, as a mail-order company selling office supplies in its infancy. Fast forward to today, it has become a global brand and spread across the world with 294 stores (owned by Ikea) in 40 countries. Over time, they have evolved to be known as the king of flat-pack furniture.
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.
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.
I had come across Nikolas Strugar by way of Andy Macpherson talking about Nikolas on his BAAM podcast when discussing architectural filmmaking. Nikolas is based in Brisbane (Australia) and looking at his LinkedIn page, and I was intrigued by how varied his career was and the diversity of skills he has picked up along the way, especially how he manages to fuse his various skills on projects.
Scandinavian brands like MENU have played a huge part in influencing my interior photography especially from styling and compositional perspectives. MENU has been one of my favourite brands not only because of their products but how cohesively they communicate their brand value visually.
Representation of architecture in social media is becoming more and more prevalent, as there is a trend where an architect or interior designer will design a space that will be more Instagrammble in the pursuit of getting likes. In this episode of Archimarathon, hosts Kevin Hui and Andrew Maynard both discuss how projects are now represented solely through the hero image rather than through architectural drawings in social media.
Veeral Patel