In 1999 Kent County international Airport was renamed in honor of Grand Rapids native son and former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.

The Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) recently underwent a major face lift with the addition of a new parking structure with enclosed walkways to the terminal building and a beautiful new canopy that sweeps across the area between the parking structure and the terminal building, covering the entire pick-up and drop-off areas.

I was hired by the architects to photograph the project. There were a few interior photographs on the shot list but the majority of the required images were exterior photographs.

The architect flew in from Texas for the shoot. We met him at the information desk at 10:00am and did a quick walk-through of the facility before beginning the photography.

We began the architectural photography in the late morning with the sun shining through the canopy and striking the “Welcome Wall”. I did a variety of exterior photographs throughout the day, finishing the exterior photography well after sunset. At 11:00pm traffic had slowed so we did a couple of interior photographs of the nearly empty terminal building before the next plane arrived and the building filled with people. By midnight we were finished.

Twilight photo shot 20 minutes after sunset

One of the first shots of the day. The sunlight through the canopy was very cyan.

I used six florescent fixtures with cool white tubes for fill.

        

Because there are so many variables with an architectural photography project, whenever possible I try to do a walk-through (scouting trip) prior to photography. Whether I’ll be producing interior photography , exterior photography or both, a pre-shoot walk-through is always helpful, especially if my client can accompany me. This gives us the opportunity to walk the project, study the building and see things as they really are, which is not always as the architect intended. If something is not finished or is installed incorrectly, it’s much better to find out during the walk-through than to be unpleasantly surprised on shoot day.

 

While doing our walk-through prior to the interior photography of a soon-to-be finished project, my client and I were startled to find a body on the floor in a small office of an otherwise empty building. On closer inspection we realized that a painter was sleeping on the floor. Apparently he had come in very early to finish up a few things on the punch list and was just taking a short nap.

 

This photo was not used in the architect’s AIA awards submittal!

        

What do you shoot for fun? Forget your portfolio, your website, your school assignment or that new marketing piece that you’re working on. I’m talking about shooting just for fun, just to make images that you think are really cool. Don’t worry if anyone else likes the images. What would you shoot if you won the Super Big Ass Freaking Lottery and didn’t have to worry about money ever again?

I would shoot black & white infrared. I was probably 10 years old when I first saw black & white infrared images and I was blown away! And while infrared photography has very limited commercial use, I have always had a couple of black & white infrared images in my portfolio and on my website. They just look so cool!

In the “days of film” I would always keep a few film holders in the refrigerator loaded with Kodak High Speed Infrared film. I dismantled my black & white darkroom shortly after Kodak announced that they were discontinuing infrared film in both 35mm and sheet film.

Digital photography makes it easier than ever to produce really nice IR images. Just for fun, I removed the low-pass filter from a D70 and shot a few test images. This is the first shot with my newly modified camera. I’ve always preferred the look of images shot with a dark red filter over images shot with an opaque IR filter. For this image I used a red #91 B+W filter over the nikkor lens.

How about an entire portfolio of architectural photography done exclusively in black & white infrared? That would be fun!

*Note that removing the low-pass filter will void the warranty on your camera!

        

The client who needs architectural photography of his/her project will often want aerial photography done as well. Cityscapes, industrial and commercial buildings, golf courses and resorts; these are just a few of the project types that may require aerial photography.

Unless you are terrified of flying, there is no reason that you should not offer aerial photography service to your clients.

When planning your aerial photo shoot you’ll need to make the decision between a fixed wing aircraft (plane) and a rotary wing aircraft (helicopter). Your budget may well make this decision for you since planes are much less expensive to rent than helicopters. My favorite plane for aerial photography is the Cessna 172. In southwestern Ontario and the U.S. Midwest I usually pay in the area of $150 per hour for the plane and pilot. The 172 has it’s wing over top of the cabin (a necessity!) and with the window fully opened (do not try shooting through the glass!) you have a fairly unobstructed view for shooting.

Since you will not get good photos shooting through glass, be sure that the window will open all of the way before you leave the ground. The Cessna has a bracket on the window that allows it to open only a couple of inches. Removing a small screw from the bracket will allow the window to open all the way, but this must be done before take-off. Be aware that the wing, wing strut and landing gear can all end up in the photo when using very wide lenses. Even though a plane cannot legally fly as low as a helicopter, with an experienced pilot this is a very good and safe way of shooting aerial photographs.

I love helicopters but I’m not a fan of  small 2-seat helicopters for aerial photography. These small machines are at their maximum capacity with 2 people on board and flying at maximum capacity leaves very little room for error. The larger 4-seat helicopters such as the Bell Jet Ranger or Robinson R44 are at approximately half capacity with two people on board. This provides surplus power making it much easier for your pilot to recover from problems or errors.

I usually have to pay at least $1200 per hour for one of these machines with pilot. But when shooting from the back seat of an R44 (or Jet Ranger) with the door removed and a good, experienced pilot at the controls, you will be able to produce far more and better photos in much less time than is possible from a plane.

I recently did a two-hour shoot over the Detroit River from an R44. We had a long shot list of photos that needed to be done in full sun between 8:30am and 10:30am. To attempt this shoot from a plane would have required several days of morning photo-flights.

I like to bring two DSLR camera bodies; one with a super wide zoom and the other with a mid-range zoom. I use a polarizer on the mid-range zoom, a skylight filter on the super-wide and camera straps on both bodies. I almost never use long lenses when shooting from the air as movement and vibration are magnified by their use. Using two camera bodies avoids the possibility of dropping something in (or from) the aircraft while changing lenses. And airtime is expensive! You need to spend your time shooting, not changing lenses and digging through a camera bag.

There is a lot of planning that needs to go into an aerial photo-shoot; aircraft and pilot availability, site orientation relative to the sun, weather conditions and your equipment. Be sure to bring everything that you will need, but nothing more.

Don’t forget to check on conditions at the site you’ll be shooting. Make sure that the property is cleaned up. Do you want parking lots empty or filled with cars? Is there equipment or machinery on the property that should not be there? Any of these could cause an expensive re-shoot.

If you have properly planned your photo-flight you should have a good time and come back with some great photographs.  For me personally, few things are as much fun as hanging out of a helicopter taking photographs on a beautiful morning.

Detroit River

Bob-Lo Island

 

        

Here is my Top Ten List of the very best architectural photography and interior photography books available. This list is not in order of importance; that will depend largely on the photographer’s situation and skill level. 

Not all of these books are “how to” or photography technique books. As important as technique is, more important is the way in which a photographer approaches and views his subject.

For that reason several books featuring the work of Julius Shulman (1910-2009) are on this list. Understanding how this master of architectural photography worked and approached his subject can have a tremendous impact on the work and career of an aspiring architectural photographer.

Also, the last book on the list is not an “architectural photography” book, but it is a book that no professional architectural photographer should be without. Best Business Practices for Photographers is about the business of photography and the practices that will allow one to build a successful career in photography. This book should be mandatory in all photography curricula!

And so, without further ado, here is today’s Top Ten List:

-Architectural Photography: Composition, Capture and Digital Image Processing    by Adrian Schulz  (a must-read book!)

-Architectural Photography: Professional Techniques for Shooting Interior and Exterior Spaces by Norman McGrath  Norman McGrath’s first book, “Photographing Buildings Inside and Out” (published in 1987) was a classic and one of the best books ever published on the subject of architectural photography. This latest book features discussion on the use of digital cameras and digital post-production techniques in professional architectural photography. The section “Masters of Style” features five top architectural photographers (including the late Julius Shulman) with accompanying photographs and a discussion of the working methods of each photographer. I would recommend this book even if you have already read “Photographing Buildings Inside and Out”. If you do not have McGrath’s first book, this is a must read!

-Architectural Photography Inside and Out by Jim Lowe

-Architectural Photographers Sourcebook: A Showcase of Exceptional Architectural Photographers   by Sandow Media

-Architectural Photography The Digital Way  by Gerry Kopelow

-Lighting for Interiors   by John Freeman  John Freeman presents the work of some of the U.K.s finest interiorsphotographers in this excellent book.The variety of photographs and thevaried techniques used by the 14 photographers whose work is presentedin this book makes this an invaluable resource for anyarchitectural/interior photographer. All of the images were shot on filmand rely 100% on lighting and photographic shills. A diagram and adescription of the photo and set-up accompany each photograph. Highquality reproduction and printing by Switzerland based RotoVision. My #1 interiors photography book.

-A Constructed View: The Architectural Photography of Julius Shulman    by Joseph Rosa, Julius Shulman and Esther McCoy

-Julius Shulman: Chicago Mid-Century Modernism   by Julius Shulman and Gary Gand

-Julius Shulman: Moderism Redicovered   by Pierluigi Serraino and Julius Shulman

-Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition   by John Harrington  This is a must have, must read book for any professional or aspiring professional photographer! If followed, the business practices recommended in this book will help any photographer achieve greater professional and financial success. In these days of $1.50 royalty free images photography is becoming a commodity. If you allow your work to become a commodity than your only leverage in the marketplace will be lower pricing. If that happens you'll need to make sure that mom & dad won't mind you living in their basement for the next couple of decades. Please follow John Harrington's advise!

 

 

        

I had a meeting recently with the marketing director of an architectural firm whose niche is educational facilities. For several decades this firm has specialized in schools, particularly K through 12. While they do occasionally do commercial and residential projects, this firm is well known for their work in the educational field.

Once the main business of our meeting had concluded the conversation turned to photography in general. We discussed the “old days” of film, Polaroid’s and C prints. The marketing director then handed me a large envelope containing several 8.5” x 11” ink jet prints that had been dropped off as samples by an aspiring architectural photographer. Each print had a single image surrounded by a large white border that contained the photographers name and contact information.

The overall design and look of the prints was very nice. Unfortunately for our young photographer, these prints will not be earning him any commissions from this architecture firm.

The photographs were of empty, crumbling industrial buildings. The extremely oversaturated colors and unnatural tones screamed HDR and looked like images from a photography students FLICKR page. Photomatix, anyone?

He may as well have shown a portfolio of food photographs! The first rule of marketing is to know your market. This architectural firm specializes is very clean, bright, modern educational facilities. Their advertising and marketing is directed toward and reflects their specialization. When hiring architects and interior designers, they look for people with education experience.

The samples left by our aspiring architectural photographer showed the marketing director that he did not understand her firm, her firm’s clients or their architectural photography needs. Before sending samples or showing a portfolio, it is imperative that the photographer understands the needs of the potential client. Architectural Record and Architectural Digest contain much better samples of the type of work required by the majority of commercial architects and interior designers.

There is a place for very artsy, edgy photography, but it will not earn you many commissions from architectural firms.

        

A recent architectural photography project had me shooting something a little out of the ordinary.

This building is a switching station for a cellular phone company and will be filled with computers, batteries, power systems and other state-of-the-art equipment.

My client wanted interior photography of the space before the cellular service equipment was installed. They also wanted photographs of the very specialized mechanical work they had done, much of which was in the ceiling. The photos below show some of the sheet metal work and support hardware that will help provide electrical and communications wiring/cabling and also temperature and humidity controlled air.

Architectural photographers often use ladders, but this is the first time that I have used a 12’ step ladder to take photographs in a ceiling. Once the tripod was positioned on the suspended steel girders, I did a custom white balance for the florescent lighting and then did a bracketed set of exposures to capture highlight and shadow detail. The final images were produced by layer masking in Photoshop. This was not a typical interior photography shoot, but it was an interesting one.

 

        

This interior photography was done during a two-day shoot in January for the Florida based interior designer. One of the main features of this room is the view through the large windows, but on this day the view was not very pretty. Instead of a beautiful snow covered winter day, we had a gray sky and patches snow, brown grass and bare trees.

Architectural photographers must make the best of whatever situation they are faced with, and interior photographers are often faced with such situations. Rather than strip (Photoshop) a spring or summer photograph into the window, I decided to overexpose the outside view and give the room a light airy look. Soft fill light was provided by electronic flash bounced into two large (60”) white umbrellas.

When photographing any project, architectural and interior photographers must always use great care and try to be as unobtrusive as possible. This is especially true when working in an occupied private home. Due largely to the trust and rapport between the young family of six who live in this home and the interior designer, we were allowed complete access to the home and worked from 8:00am until 10:00pm for two days to complete eighteen interior photographs.

        

The marketing director of the steel siding company was looking for an architectural photographer to photograph the exterior of the Romulus Athletic Center (Hey, I do architectural photography!). I was contacted and asked to produce several overall exterior photographs and a few detail photos.

I checked the weather forecast at accuweather.com and scheduled the photography for a sunny late summer day. Since the main entrance side of this building faces northwest, and at this time of year the sun sets south of 270 degrees due west, I knew that the hero shot would be a twilight photograph with the glowing sunset reflecting off of the steel siding on the front of the building.

I arrived mid-morning at began shooting overall and detail photographs of the rear and south sides of the building as the sun moved slowly across the sky toward the front of the athletic center. As the sun began to set late in the day I set up my camera for the hero shot. With the camera facing southeast I framed the photo to show the main entrance and the steel clad front of the building receding off to camera right. A few short minutes after the sun dropped below the horizon the southwestern sky began to glow and was reflected beautifully across the front of the building by the steel siding. I did a bracketed set of exposures as the light levels dropped, and then called it a day. A very good day!

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The interior photography of the new Black Box Studio was a bit of a challenge. To get the true feel of a black box studio I would have preferred to light the stage with a few spot lights and then let the light fall away, leaving the rest of the room in complete darkness; just a stage sitting in a black void.

 

However, this photograph was done for the architects and it was important to them that the entire space and all of the details and features be visible. Producing photographs that are not only esthetically pleasing but also show all of the details that are important to the designers is one of the biggest challenges faced by architectural photographers and interior photographers.

Our lighting consisted of several tungsten spot lights (fresnel and open faced) at heights of 12 to 15 feet. All light were placed at camera left. A black space like this really sucks up the light, so our exposures were much longer than we would use for a more typical interior space.

 

When you compare the photo of the new Black Box Studio with the black box studio at the old school, it’s easy to see why the students love their new school.