“Staying true to our vision of capturing spaces that resonate with the presence of those who inhabit them”

I never expected to say this sentence in my life, but I am in love with a set of photographs of a polymer factory! UAE based architectural photography group Deed Studio is back on our Project of the Week column with their dramatic, moody, rich photographs of the Omide Alborz Factory – the Process Department of Shamim Polymer Factory designed by Davood Boroojeni. Deed Studio’s Masih Mostajeran & Naghmeh Olfat collaborated to bring this beautiful set of imagery to fruition.

Deed Studio does an amazing job of highlighting the shapes, textures, and interplay of light throughout this project. These photographs are a masterclass in adding in figures (in this case, factory workers) for scale, purpose, and storytelling.

Deed Studio’s Masih Mostajeran starts, “This shoot felt special because it allowed me to explore the interplay of simplicity and complexity within the architecture. While the project’s form was straightforward, the architect’s use of materials and shapes provided me with dynamic opportunities as a photographer.

This approach helped me find compelling frames and experiment with shadows and light, especially as we focused on portraying one worker as the central persona within the space. By capturing their journey, we aimed to convey the human experience of working in a setting carefully designed with their needs and experiences in mind.”

Masih explains some of the challenges they encountered along the way, saying “One of the main challenges we faced was the intense heat and strong winds, which made it difficult to control our drone—eventually resulting in damage to the equipment.

Additionally, the lack of facilities at the new factory posed logistical issues for the team. Despite these obstacles, a fortuitous element lifted our spirits: the stunning sky and the way the natural light illuminated the facade’s materials. This beautiful lighting helped us push past the challenges and stay focused on capturing the project’s essence.”

The character that these images sport is just wonderful. What an incredibly interesting scene!

“One of the images we truly loved captures the worker standing at the center of the factory shed, bathed in a single beam of light from above, while the rest of the space remains in darkness,” Masih says.

“This lighting creates a powerful visual, making the worker appear as a central figure—the heart of the space. The contrast between light and shadow emphasizes the worker’s importance, underscoring their role in the environment. On location, I carefully positioned the shot to amplify this effect, and in post-production, I enhanced the shadow depth to keep the focus on the worker’s silhouette, accentuating their presence as the defining element within the architectural setting.”

He continues to explain, ‘As architectural photographers, one of our core principles is to integrate people into the architecture, using them to bring out the soul of the design. We believe that architecture truly finds its meaning through its users, and this project was an opportunity to apply that approach. By incorporating the worker into key shots, we aimed to give the architecture a lived-in, purposeful feeling, staying true to our vision of capturing spaces that resonate with the presence of those who inhabit them.”

Great light, great use of figures, beautiful compositions, and wonderful tones and colors. I can’t say enough great things about this project.

Many thanks to Masih and Deed Studio for sharing this gem with us!

See more of Deed Studio’s work on the web at deedstudio.com. If you’re on Instagram, you can check out @deedstudio and @deedstudio.uae.

If you have a project you’d like to be considered for Project of the Week, you can submit it here.