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.

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!

The interior photography of the new Black Box Studio at the Detroit Art School was abit 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 fallaway, leaving the rest of the room in complete darkness; just a stage sittingin 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.

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. Studies showed that 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.

As an architectural photographer, I love the flexibility and control that we now have with digital capture. But there is something very rewarding about producing a complex image on a sheet of film with no retouching.

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.

We spent several days producing the architectural photography  for this project. We did a large number of exterior photographs at different times of the day. I photographed this particular view on three different occasions. This twilight exterior photograph is my favorite.      

New Detroit School for the Fine and Performing Arts

Old art school

I was recently contacted by Metropolis Magazine regarding architectural 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