Architectural photography of the Rosa Parks Bus Terminal
The Rosa Parks Bus Terminal, Detroit, MI
As an architectural photographer, I enjoyed the challenges that this project presented. We broke the photography down into three categories, each with it’s own challenges.
Interior Photographs
The challenges of the interior photography were the huge expanses of glass combined with the high intensity discharge lighting (minus red) used inside. Also, the seating areas are lit with florescent lights, which are also minus red. The highly reflective ceiling looks awesome but added to the difficulty of the interior photography. Shooting in the late afternoon/evening proved to be the best solution.
Twilight Exterior Photographs
Always the most dramatic images, we did the twilight exterior photography at both morning and evening. The huge contrast range between illuminated fabric canopy and the interior was a major issue. When the skylight level was low enough for the interior to look its best, the brightly lit canopy was burning out. And when the skylight balanced well with the illuminated canopy, the interior was too dark. There were three possible solutions; add supplemental lighting to the interior, reduce the light levels on the canopy or use layer masking in post production. If we were doing only one photograph, adjusting the interior and/or canopy lighting would have been considered. But since we were doing a large number of views on different days, layer masking was the best solution.
Another challenge was the dreaded orange construction barrel! We arrived at 5:00am on a Sunday morning to do the twilight views of the southwest corner (Michigan Ave and Cass Ave.). Lined upon the sidewalk were about a dozen orange barrels. In the darkness before sunrise, my assistant and I received more than a few odd looks as we dragged the barrels along Michigan Avenue. A police officer driving by did stop to ask what the in the *&%* we were doing, but apparently believed our story that we were not stealing the barrels and needed to move them for the architectural photography. We did decline an offer from one of the more ominous looking street people to “guard” our camera equipment while we moved the barrels. It’s surprising how many interesting characters are out in the pre-dawn hours!
Because of the taller buildings to the east, south and west, the only sunlit views that could be done of the bus terminal were of the southwest corner (Michigan Avenue and Cass Avenue) and the south side (Michigan Avenue). Shooting at the beginning of August, we needed a clear sunny day from approximately 1:00pm to2:00pm. Earlier or later and shadows from surrounding buildings would be a problem. We had moved the orange construction barrels a few days earlier when doing the twilight photos and only two barrels had been moved back to the intersection. We dragged those out of the shot and made our exposures moments before clouds blocked the sun for the rest of the afternoon.
When Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white bus passenger in Montgomery, Alabama she could never have imaged that a beautiful new bus terminal in Detroit would be named for her.
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Categories: Lighting for archtectural photography, Interior Photography, Lighting for interior photography, Architectural photography, Twilight photography
Tags: architectural photography professional photography photography interior lighting photographic lighting interior photography twilight photography
Wonderful shots!
Have you considered using high dynamic range imaging for your problematic twilight images?
I find it's a very powerful tool, but takes a large investment of time to develop professional level skill.
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Hi, im a student at dawson college professional photography.. and im doing a project on architectural photography and really enjoy your work.
if you could email me at teagan_horowitz@hotmail.com to give me just a little bit of information on architectural photography it would be greatly appreciated.
thank you so much
hope to be hearing from you soon
Teagan
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Wow. You are really good at what you do. Architectural photography indeed seems quite a challenge, as it is hard to convey emotions through inanimate buildings. But your pictures do come through with a certain atmosphere that I really enjoy. Keep up the good work!
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Oh my gosh, talk about contrast nightmares. I can't imagine what it was like to deal with all the bright light bouncing off the mirrors, and then...well, the bright lights themselves. And the nighttime canopy shots look great - love the warm light.
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You're right about the contrast issues, this was one of the highest contrast projects that I've ever worked on! Thanks for your comments.
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Awesome shots of an awesome architectural tour de force. The roof reminds me of the (unfortunate) removable roof on the Montreal Olympic Stadium. Hopefully this one will last longer! :p As usual, thanks for sharing your art with us
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That's a bus terminal there in Detroit? it looks like the Opera from Sydney
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