Architectural Photography- The Only Way Isn't Up

              The task we were set for Architectural Photography was to produce a series of images of a building, area or environment and to capture the essence of the place. With this in mind we were then told to first pin point our intended area that we considered worthy of a photographic study and then to do some research into the subject so as to get some idea of the construction date, function and materials used. The idea behind this research is so that you have some idea of how you want to present the chosen subject by knowing what sort of angles, textures, close ups and any individual features you hope to seek out that will help capture the viewers interest as well as acting as a historical document for years to come.                                                                               

                Personally, I've always been more of a fan of contemporary and modern architecture from a photographic point of view, but that isn't because I am not an admirer of historical buildings, I am, it's just I prefer my frame to be filled with clean lines, sharp angles and slick curves which I feel give me more scope to be a little more adventurous with camera angles than I would with say a gargoyle and a turret. Feed me steel and glass rather than stone and slate to provide me with enough visual energy to fill up a frame and return the favour of providing you with something worth feasting your eyes on. 

                Ok, so I'm aware I waffle on a bit but the point is I'd rather spend a day under sunny skies playing with shadows and reflections than under stormy skies seeking out something Gothic to add to the misery of the weather. This is of course just my opinion and I';m sure there are plenty of people out there who have, can and will prove me wrong with something wonderfully Gothic shot under a sunny sky, but for the purpose of this exercise I'm sticking with my initial thoughts.

                 With this in mind, and coupled with the fact that it's only 15 minutes down the road, I opted to do my shoot down at Media City and it's surrounding area because it's a such fabulous place for everything I was looking to shoot. Steel, glass, granite, reflections galore and as luck would have it, blue skies yet with a cold wind to hopefully keep those frame bombers to a minimum. I'd decided that along with the 5D the only other bit of kit I really needed was my 24-70 f2.8 lens as this had enough range to capture what I was looking for and more importantly I didn't want to fall into that trap of constantly swapping lenses (because it was a bit nippy) and it meant I had to think more about working with what I had. 

                 Media City is a 200 acre site built around The Manchester Ship Canal as it runs between Salford and Trafford Park and is home to both the BBC and ITV as well as the University of Salford and the Lowry Complex. It is also right next door to the Imperial War Museum North which never fails to produce something fresh to photograph as you can see something from a different angle every time you visit. I wont go into the history of the building here as there's plenty to read over on Wikipedia but I will tell you it's all about geometric patterns on a canvas of steel and if the sun is shining then you should be able to appreciate the bonuses. Connecting the IWM side of Media City to the Salford side are a couple of pedestrian bridges which are themselves a photographers dream  as they stretch majestically skyward as they span the Ship Canal in a vision of curvature as they embrace the reflective glory of the Salford side which is an abundance of steel and glass spread across a kingdom of contemporary splendour.   

                                             

                   My main aim was to capture a series of images that represent the area as a modern environment so it was all going to be about materials, reflections and geometric patterns but I also wanted a set of images that would work well both in black and white as well as colour as I was wanted to take advantage of the blue skies. The title of this post is to remind myself that it isn't always just about looking up because although it's the best bit of advice for this type of work, it's also a good idea to remember to look down. When I talk about looking down I don't mean at your feet as you'll probably end up walking into something, but I'm talking about over balconies, out of windows and over ledges because there's always plenty of scope for a different angle and it's all about seeking out these opportunities to add to the variety and quality of your work.        

Architectural Photography

            In today's lesson, Sir Richard of Gaskill invited us to explore the wonders of photographing architecture by first introducing us to a photograph with the snappy title of  View From The Window At Le Gras, created by photographic pioneer  Joseph Nicéphore Niépce at his Le Gras country estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France way back in 1826. The image itself wasn't a particularly stunning one but it serves as a document as it's reported to be the first permanent photograph and just so you can see some idea of what was actually in the photograph I've decided to include a reproduction of the image by
Helmut Gernsheim & Kodak Research Laboratory   from 1956 but if you want to know the process used and see the original then there's plenty to read way over yonder in Texas .

                              

                    Now the reason for showing us this photograph was to point out that as it required an 8 hour exposure to get the result, this time span had the benefit of allowing the sunlight to illuminate both faces of the walls which in turn increased the visible detail of the architecture within the frame which then tells us that even back in the day, architectural is all about highlighting the detail in your chosen subject to make it appeal to the viewer whatever the purpose of the final image.

                    Architecture can be defined as one of the following: 

                   1. the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. Architecture often includes design or selection of furnishings and decorations, supervision of construction work, and the examination, restoration, or remodelling of existing buildings.
                    2. the character or style of building.
                    3. the action or process of building; construction.
                    4. the result or product of architectural work, as a building.
                    5. buildings collectively.

                    Working as small groups we were asked to produce a mind map of how we would approach architectural photography by simply breaking it down into all the parts we could think of that could be considered a focal point from the photographers point of view.

                                    
                     Before I go on to discuss a few of the photographers I have used for research I'm going to point you in the direction of a short video that sheds a little light on some of the things you might want to consider when approaching architecture as a subject matter, and the reason I've chosen this one is because it's more of a personal approach to explaining a few things instead of just presenting a slide show.

                                                          

                  Architectural photography has been presented in many different ways by a variety of photographers and the first of these on my list is Henri Silberman. I wont go into loads of detail on Henri firstly because I haven't got that much information and secondly if you did want to know all the ins and outs of his private life then I'm sure you could find something somewhere on the internet but what I'd rather do is just point you in the general direction of his website and tell you a brief reason of why I chose him. If you read up on architectural photography you will pick up on things such as vertical, diagonal, horizontal and converging lines as well other things such as symmetry, attention to detail, weather conditions, using both sunrise and sunset to your advantage and also additional points such as including people in your image to either bring a building to life or simply add a sense of scale well for me, Henri does all these by the bucket load and seeing as though I forgot to mention shadows I'll start with one of those of Brooklyn Bridge.

                                                 

                               Now even though Henri features varying types of architecture in his images, for the purpose of this page I shall be staying with his bridge shots and the other shot I have chosen is this little beauty called quite simply On The Bridge. I don't think you need me to have to tell you why I really like this one but if you do then it's all about the suggested symmetry, the way the lines draw you in, the guy towards the bottom of the frame and the way the fog tricks the eye into a shallow depth of field effect that isn't really there...you can make your own mind up about the rest as I've got to crack on.

                                            

                          When it came to my second choice I made the decision to try and move away from the list that we had discussed in the classroom including such people as Simon Norfolk, Daniel Hopkinson, Candida Hofer and Mark Power to name but a few because I'd seen their images and knew what to expect but what I was really looking for was someone who worked as an archetictural photographer producing images of a more modernist/contemporary subject matter and not really knowing of any I scoured, albeit rapidly, numerous registers of architectural photographers and checked out their work but still wasn't getting what I was looking for until I stumbled upon an article on a guy called James Silverstone. Unfortunately, the only thing I've been able to find out about him is from this article here but I have chosen a couple of the images from that article just in case you forgot to click on that link. 
                                      
                                  
                                 

                        There's not a lot more to say on James's work other than I'm a lover of the crisp, clean lines and the fact that he uses a lot of lead in lines to draw you through the photograph via the wonders of perspective.

                                  


                               My final choice again came from personal taste and although I have a few contacts on flickr such as palimpsest and maxblackphotos who both produce images that I appreciate, I wanted to represent the simple mono side of architectural photography with someone I don't have any contact with but who's work I enjoy not only because of the simple, yet stunning, in your face quality to his images, but also because he shares his knowledge and explains most of his shots for those who wish to learn. His name is Joel Tjintjelaar and his images can be found on flickr and his website. If you feel you want to explore his images some more then make sure you take the time to read the accompanying text and exif information he offers on his images because there are a lot of people out there who choose to keep this sort of stuff to themselves. 

                                  

                            If you haven't already picked up on it, he is a deft exponent of the long exposure yet isn't afraid to use the noise of the sky as a way of exemplifying the clarity contained within his primary subject matter, and any shadows or reflections you'll just have to accept as an added bonus.

                                      


                     As a closing point I've chosen to direct your attention towards a wordpress blog that contains an abundance of links to a wonderfiul collection of photographers that produce some stunning images in a similar vein so do yourself a favour and take some time out to explore and appreciate azurebumble and all those it promotes.

                    So there I am on my second to last glass of red feeling I've just about wrapped up this posting when I receive an email from Behance informing me that one of the people I've chosen to follow has added a new project and it's all bit yummy so I thought I'd better share with you Matthias Heiderich 

                                  

                                  

                      This should be the bit where I tell you that armed with all the influence of those above I then set off to explore what Media City and Salford Quays had to offer but it didn't quite work out that way as I'd already visited there last weekend and had my images before writing this page but you can see what I came back with here.