Originally part of a convent, this space was renovated to create a library for Princeton Academy. Photographing this library for our client, E. Allen Reeves was a challenge because it is a large space that is rarely empty. We were able to shoot during a lull in scheduled activities.

The above living room was photographed for Automatic Empire, a real estate developer that specializes in creating high-end residential spaces in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia.

Greg worked directly with the client to style the spaces to match their aesthetic.

Earlier this year we photographed another Automatic Empire project and showcased the kitchen and the innovative metallic exterior.

Two weekends ago while visiting friends at the New Jersey shore, my wife and I paid a visit to an architectural salvage yard, called Recycling the Past, located in Barnegat, NJ. Their enormous lot is a treasure trove of building pieces. As a fan of buildings I was in heaven. There are Victorian mantelpieces, signs from 1950s amusement parks, terra cotta decoration from 1920s buildings, 15-foot stone columns from a closed state mental hospital and on and on.

Recycling is in vogue. We recycle cans, paper and glass at curbside to minimize trash put into landfills. The reason to recycle buildings is more complex.

In America buildings often have short life spans. A thirty-year baseball stadium is obsolete, whereas in southern France I visited a Roman stadium 2000 years old that is still used for bullfights and rock concerts.

When a house or commercial building is deemed too expensive to renovate or unsuited to its site’s next use, then it’s knocked down. Pre-World War II buildings often have a level of craftsmanship and quality of materials that current buildings frequently lack. This makes the well-crafted fragments of older buildings valuable to buyers who can appreciate and afford them.

My emotions ranged from delight and wonder at seeing beautiful salvaged objects that may find new homes to sadness and melancholy contemplating the decay and destruction that led to these objects being orphaned from their original settings.

Enough claw footed bathtubs to shoot lots of Cialis TV ads.

Detail of copper panels from an old Atlantic City school.

Summer is the perfect time of year to retire to one’s own backyard oasis. The one above was shot for EP Henry’s current product catalog. EP Henry is a manufacturer of hardscaping products.

Greg captured many great views of this setting during the day, showing the pool, the built in grill and the pergola. But what lead to the dramatic twilight image was realizing that a second shoot at night would lead to even more dramatic images of this space.

For the twilight shoot, 1000 watt lights were set up outside of the frame, and a roaring fire was lit in the fire ring. Then Greg waited for the magic time when the sky is a deep blue, just before it turns black.

The homeowner should feel proud of what they have created for themselves. Now, who’s ready for a summer cook out and a midnight swim?

The above interior of a townhouse in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, was intentionally minimally propped to complement the minimalist aesthetic of the space, and to showcase the design and workmanship of the construction.

We often provide our clients alternative choices of key photographs from the same architectural shoot. Typically it would be the same shot with or without a propping element.

During the shoot the client showed us a bright green, rabbit-shaped, cookie jar that we all agreed was way too much fun not to include in one frame. It’s great how just one prop can energize a photograph.

There is something lovely and whimsical about the version that includes the green bunny. Also, it reminds me of a famous 1980 photograph by Sandy Skoglund entitled Radioactive Cats.

In March we posted about being able to get a shot thanks to the tripod’s flexible range. Last week the tripod made a difficult shot possible by providing much needed extra height.

To photograph the rear facade of the above group of townhouses in Northern Liberties, Greg wanted to get the camera at a high enough angle to see past the fence and into the first story of the homes.

Above we can see that the tripod nearly completely extended, and that Greg needed to perch himsef on a ladder to operate the camera.

Next we got closer to the fence to get a shot overlooking the home’s backyard.

Greg found himself needing a bit of extra height.

A few weeks ago we shared some photographs of University of Pennsylvania’s Weave Bridge to make the point that even though sunny days are generally the best days to shoot architecture the sun can also create unwanted, distracting shadows.

The following is a great example of why sunny days are, as a rule, best for architecture:

One could not ask for better conditions to photograph this office building in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The direct sun’s contrasty light gives the brick facade an attractive color and makes strong, but open shadows that give an otherwise simple structure a sense of volume and presence. The beautiful blue sky also has a nice balance of soft, wispy, white clouds.

The weather does not often cooperate and can wreak havoc with deadlines. Above is a comparison between an unretouched shot of the same building during a cloudy and damp day, and the same shot with an example of the sort of retouching that is sometimes necessary. Even though the added sky improves the shot; the pavement is still very wet. It is clear that returning to the site when the weather was best yielded the better image.

Over the next few weeks we will be updating many of the sections on our website. Today we have added a new Architectural Details gallery. Please take this chance to navigate on to some of our other galleries if you have not done so because the content will very soon be changing.

We have previously blogged about the importance of choosing the right time in photography. The time when the weather is right, the time of day when the light is right, etc.

But when photographing a retail space another time is very important: the time when there are fewer clients.

Last week Greg photographed a supermarket in Philadelphia and needed to find the time of day when not only would there be few customers shopping but that would also be just after the supermarket staff had restocked all the shelves and had a chance to make their store clean and sparkly for the day’s business.

Working with the store manager we were able to make arrangements to arrive at the store at 5:30 AM, a time that was non-disruptive to business and that also worked great for getting our client the images they needed.

I recently received an assignment from University of Pennsylvania’s alumni magazine, The Pennsylvania Gazette, to photograph a new pedestrian bridge on campus. The Weave Bridge is part of Penn’s expansion of their campus towards the Schuylkill River. It crosses a major railroad line and connects distant sports fields with the main campus.

I scouted the assignment on a cloudy day, and returned when it was sunny to shoot final photos. In general most buildings and structures photograph better when it is sunny and the sky is blue. In this case when the sun is out, shadows compete with the strong visual design of the Weave Bridge. Whereas on an overcast day, the pattern of the bridge’s floor is less confused.

This poses a dilemma and illustrates the reality that sunny is not always the perfect shooting condition.

On the other hand the below photos of a warehouse clearly illustrate the standard idea that a blue sky and strong sun beats clouds and snow.