I was looking through one of my old portfolios and I came across a series of photographs that I thought would make an interesting post for this blog, even though it is not an architectural photography post. As most photographers who have been in business for over 30 years, I have done a great variety of work throughout my career.

In the fall of 1999 I was hired to produce a series of five beverage photographs for Courvoisier Cognac’s Millennium promotion. The typical cognac drinker was a 50+ white male and Courvoisier wanted to increase their market share with the younger crowd. I was given the drink recipes and asked to produce a stylish, colorful image of each drink.

I spent two days experimenting with different looks before I came up with the green drink with the yellow background. That gave me the look I was after and the other drinks were photographed in a similar style. Two identical glasses were used for each photograph. One glass was placed upside down on a stand and the other glass was placed right side up on the base of the upside down glass. A large sheet of white plexiglass was placed 3 feet behind the glasses and a large piece of black velvet cloth was placed between the glasses and the plexiglass. The 4x5 camera was set up, the drink was poured and the studio lights were turned off. The shutter was opened and the exposures were made for the glass and the liquid. Then the shutter was closed and the lights turned back on. I removed the black velvet, backlit the plexiglas with lights covered with colored gels, cocked the shutter, turned the lights off and made the exposures for the background. All of the images were captured on 4x5 transparency film (Fuji Velvia) and there was no retouching or digital manipulation of any kind.

I love the flexibility and control that we now have with digital capture, but there is something very rewarding about capturing a complex image on a sheet of film with no retouching.

Calori & Vanden-Eynden,  one of the worlds leading firms in the field of signage design, asked me to photograph their newly installed Woodward Tribute in the fall of 2008.

The 30 foot tall solar powered glass tower is internally illuminated by LEDs. The controls and storage battery are housed in the concrete base. While CV&E needed both daylight and night photographs, we knew that the hero shots would be the twilight photos.  To prevent the base of the tribute from going too dark I used a wireless trigger to release the shutter and fired flash units by hand during the long (up to 60 seconds) exposures.

The plan was to install 26 tributes, each one mile apart, along the length of Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit to Pontiac. The economic train wreck of 2009 has temporarily derailed that idea. Hopefully the plan will get back on track as the economy improves.

While photographing the Detroit Art School a few years ago I stopped for a few minutes to talk with the principal of the school, Dr. Denise Cotton.  Dr. Cotton told me how excited she was about the move to the new facility. “The kids are going to love their new school! “ she said. Dr. Cotton told me the history of the Detroit Art School and about the terrible condition of the old building. Then she asked a favor, would I photograph the old school and some of the classrooms before the old building was torn down. “ I’d love to have photographs as a reminder of just how far we’ve come with the Detroit Art School” she said.

So we followed Dr. Cotton a few miles to the old school, formerly the Wilbur Wright School. After a brief tour of the old three-story building my assistant and I photographed the band room, dance studio, black box theater, auditorium, art room and a few classrooms. Having just spent several days photographing the new school, the condition of the old DAS came as a shock. It was easy to see why Dr. Cotton was so excited for her students and staff to see their beautiful new facility.

I did a large number of exterior views at different times of the day. I photographed this particular view on three different occasions. This twilight view is my favorite.      

New Detroit School for the Fine and Performing Arts

Old art school

I was recently contacted by Metropolis Magazine regarding photography that I had done at the Rosa Parks Transit Center (aka: the bus station) in Detroit. The magazine was doing a feature story about the transit center and wanted to use my photographs. The problem was they also wanted photographs of people in the transit center and I had done all of my interior photography without people.

After a few emails to negotiate fees and usage, I headed back to the transit center to produce a few interior and exterior photographs with people in them. Since the photos would be for editorial use, model releases would not be necessary. Because of very tight deadlines I would not be able to wait for good weather and would have to shoot on a very gray, rainy morning.

When I photograph interiors I am concerned with achieving maximum sharpness and the desired depth of field and long exposures are the norm. Photographing a public space while people are coming and going presents anew set of challenges. If the exposures are too long, anyone walking becomes along streak across the photograph.

In years past the majority of interior photography has been done without people. There is now a trend toward including people in the photographs. This trend is being driven by publications that in many cases prefer to run interior and architectural photographs containing people. This is because studies have shown that people will spend more time looking at photographs that have people in them. More people looking at their publication for longer periods of time means that they can better attract advertisers and charge higher space rates. Since architects are always anxious to have photographs of their projects published, they feel that having people in the photos increases the chances of their work being published. 

My personal preference is toward not having people in the photographs. Our eyes are always drawn toward images of people. With my photography I am trying to show the space and I would prefer that people look at the architecture and interior spaces, not at people who populate the space.Of course if I were a portrait photographer rather than an architectural photographer, I would no doubt see this differently.

One of the great benefits of being an architectural photographer is the opportunity to work with some very talented people.

Connecticut based architect Wil Armster combines his deep passion for architecture with a truly unique vision.

Very well deserved Mr. Armster, congratulations! Visit Wil's website: http://www.armster.com

*Here is a very interesting New York Times article about Wil Armster and his “Space Ship” in Guilford, Connecticut.

NY Times Article

This photograph of the University of Windsor’s Dillon Hall was probably shot in 2000. I used Kodak’s 4x5 High Speed Infrared black and white film and a Schneider Super-Angulon 72mm XL lens.

No longer produced, this film had excellent sharpness and the look of the final image could be varied tremendously by the use of different filters and by adjusting exposure and development times. I rarely used the opaque infrared filter and preferred the look produced by a medium or dark red filter.

One of the most beautiful and unique characteristics of this film (both 4x5 and 35mm) are the glowing highlights that result from the film not having an anti-halation coating. Prints made with this film have a beautiful, glowing, ethereal look that other infrared films cannot duplicate.

Today’s digital sensors are very sensitive to infrared radiation and are covered with an IR absorbing filter. With many digital cameras it is possible to have the IR filter removed (only by a professional, do not try this at home!) thereby converting the camera to an infrared digital camera. Different looks can be obtained by using different filters over the lens. While I prefer medium or dark red filters, an opaque infrared filter can produce very dramatic images

The Rosa Parks Bus Terminal, Detroit, MI

Built by DeMaria Building Company

    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 issues.

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 photographs both at 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!

Daylight Exterior Photographs.

    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.