This Villa Renovation in the South of France Inspired Adrien Guitard to Jump Into Architectural Photography Full Time

This gig was part of a long-term collaboration with GSLN Architects,” Adrien Guitard starts. “They have been and continue to be a really great client to work with. I’m so grateful they gave me a chance early in my career. GSLN trusted me with photographing their projects; since then, it has been a pleasure working with them!”

Adrien is showing off his photographs of GSLN’s renovation and extension of Villa Malka today – a 478m2 home in Montferrier sur Lez, France, near Montpellier.

“This shoot was special to me because it was the first of its kind. As an early career photographer, it was the first time I had the chance to shoot a project like this, so I wanted to make it as beautiful as possible in order to have it as a reference and portfolio piece in the future,” he explains.

“The project is even more special to me because this shoot made me realize I wanted to move full-time to architectural photography.

Taking time to analyze the light on site, arrange furniture, and create all the scenes – I remember telling my girlfriend at the end of the day ‘ok, it will take time, but from now on, I want to do everything I can to become a professional and full-time photographer’.

Even during post-production, I remember enjoying retouching this set. The colors, the smooth light, and the geometry of the project – it is definitely one of the best projects I have had the chance to photograph so far.”

Adrien goes on to explain, “the shoot was complicated because of the weather conditions.

We initially planned it for spring. Here in the south of France, it is a really nice period because of the light and vegetation. Plus the days are shorter so there is no need to stay 12 hours on site!

It turned out to be a horrible spring this year and rained every day. We waited the longest we could to have a beautiful sunny day, but the client needed the photos for a press release. We had to meet a tight deadline so we just went ahead and set a date.

I had just one day to photograph the entire project. Unfortunately, it was very windy which made it complicated to do the exterior photographs and hard to fly my drone.

Somehow, when you think conditions are against you, it turns out to be very special! At the end of the day, everything changed and an amazing pink sky appeared! The luck of being here that day with windy conditions provided a cloudy sky for sunset and we managed to shoot amazing photos.”

If it was tough to fly the drone, you’d never know. Adrien’s aerial views provide an interesting perspective to this shoot and he times them well, with nice shadows and great compositions.

Inside, we are greeted by soft light and a tranquil air.

Adrien does a lovely job showing off the geometry of the house. There are loads of great shapes, light, and rhythm here.

He offers us a mix of compositions to relay a sense of space, place, orientation, and materiality.

I love this photograph of the staircase. The inclusion of the sculptural overhead light, the massive window, dappled light on the wall, and gentle gradients of light wrapping around the curvature of the staircase are just all so gorgeous.

“There are many shots I like in this set, but I think my favorite photo of the shoot is the one below. I love the atmosphere, the warm light of the sun on the pine trees reflecting on the glass surface of the railing and windows. This shot represents the whole project in my opinion: a Californian architecture style surrounded by pine trees, typical of the south of France. We can directly feel the vibe of the place,” says Adrien.

He goes on, “Also I need to thank Laura, one of the architects, who stood on the balcony for me! I think it adds a nice dynamic to the scene. I was alone on site so I couldn’t place human figures on many shots, unfortunately.

Regarding post-production, I usually tell myself to let the image be as pure as it is in reality. I don’t typically blend exposures, and strive to do everything in one shot. The only time I blend photos is to add several human elements or on some interior scenes. On this one, I succeeded in shooting all I wanted in one single shot. Then I use essentially just Lightroom to correct perspectives, frame as I want, and work on HSL. I usually spend most of the time on the sky. I like to have a smooth sky, erase all the color distortion we can get from the lens, and most importantly, I try to blend the light into the scene. Skies are brighter than the rest of the scene during this time of the day, so I use the awesome tools in Lightroom to select my sky and work on it independently.”

At sunset, we see the beautiful clouds and sky that Adrien referenced earlier, all made possible by the windy day.

What an idyllic scene. Thanks so much for sharing this with us Adrien!

View more of Adrien’s work on his site adrien-guitard.com and on Instagram @adrienguitard.studio

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