Gain by Sharing

Sharing costs can make photographing your projects more affordable. The community room pictured above belongs to an apartment complex that we photographed for the builder, the architect, and the property owner.

The typical costs of hiring a photographer for a project include the creative fee, assistant, travel costs, post-production costs, and the license to use those photographs for a specific use and a specific time period. Most often when a the project is a building or site there are multiple parties involved and all those entities may be interested in documentation of the work that they have done. All costs except for the licensing can be split.

These shared projects provide a great value to our clients as it allows some of the cost to be divided between them.

Even on a smaller budget, it is possible to have beautiful, high impact, professional photographs if two or more parties are interested in sharing the costs.

Books and Stained Glass

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.

Modern Living

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.

Recycling the Past

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 A thirty-year baseball stadium is obsolete, whereas in southern France I visited a Roman stadium 2000 years old that is still used for bullfights and rock concerts.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.

Getting the Shot: Going Back at Night

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?

Of Props and Radioactive Wildlife

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.

Getting the Shot: Going Even Higher

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.

Weather or Not: Sunny, Blue Skies, and Dry

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.

New Images: Architectural Details

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.

Early Bird Shoot At The Supermarket

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.

Weather or Not: Bridging Clouds and Sun

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.

Expanding Small Spaces

Space is at a premium in New York City. Architects have the challenge of making small spaces functional, livable and beautiful. Photographers, in turn, have the challenge of making these small spaces read well in photographs.

Photographing a renovated Manhattan condominium for architect Laurence Tamaccio of Design Destinations, challenged me to capture relatively small spaces and have them appear spacious and inviting.

The view from the dining room to the kitchen takes advantage of natural light spilling in from the windows.

The panoramic view of the living room and dining room features well placed floral arrangements and other props to keep your eye moving through the image.

To show a small powder room, I used a very wide lens, a 14mm lens. Any lens wider than this would be a fisheye lens, which is great for photographing skateboarding, but not for architecture. Hiding lights in small spaces is difficult, so the existing ambient lights were used and post-production Photoshop work helps reclaim detail in the darkest and lightest parts of the image.

Getting the Shot: The Impossible Tripod

Shooting on location requires being flexible and ready for the unexpected. The above interior photograph was shot earlier this week at an apartment home community in Cherry Hill, NJ. And to make it possible this time it was our trusty Gitzo tripod's turn to be more flexible than normal.

To capture the living room in this model unit a high angle from somewhere behind the kitchen countertop was required. Greg started with the tripod butted up to the kitchen counter and eventually found the optimal shooting position was directly on said countertop. See the extreme tripod position below.

What Comes After: Putting the Pieces Together

The image above is a finished and retouched photograph from a recent shoot at an MRI lab. It is a great example of how the work done on location and during post-production complement each other. Each is a piece of the larger puzzle and good planning on location means that the puzzle will go together correctly.

Greg set up the shot knowing that one frame could not create the image he wanted: the brightness of the light in the room where the MRI machine sits is much higher than inside the control booth, the computer displays would be completely blown-out highlights, etc. On shoot he captured many puzzle pieces like separate exposures for the two rooms, and exposures for the computer screens.

On the left is the a small portion of the image as it was straight out of the camera, on the right we can see the same portion of the image after all the digital magic has happened. Click on the picture to view a larger version.

2009 EP Henry Catalog is now available

We just received our copies of the new EP Henry catalog. They are a manufacturer of concrete products used for pavers and walls, otherwise known as hardscaping.

Greg has been shooting for their catalog since 2005 and it has always been a very well produced book that we look forward to receiving every year.

The catalog does a great job of showing off the entire range of their products and showcasing some special finished projects. It is always such a great experience to visit with the proud homeowners and share their excitement of being chosen for the catalog.

The catalog is available to order through EP Henry's website.

Twilight at the Rock School of Dance

Twilight, the time just after the sun goes away and before the sky goes black makes for dramatic photographs.

On February 17, I shot exterior photographs of the Rock School of Dance, which trains classical ballet dancers, is located at a busy intersection in South Philadelphia.

My client, JJ DeLuca, is a commercial construction company who renovated part of the building that was vacated by the Pennsylvania Ballet Company who moved to another location. JJ DeLuca changed the second floor from offices to a cafeteria and study rooms. In addition, the exterior facade was updated and signage added.

This building was a challenge to photograph during daytime hours because one side faces north, so the sun doesn't light that side; and the low winter sun starts to cast shadows from adjoining buildings in the mid-afternoon on the western side. Twilight created more visual interest and minimized visual distractions in a very urban setting.

Another obstacle during the shoot was waiting in the February cold for the busy flow of rush hour traffic on both Broad Street and Washington Avenue to be at a stage where the cars didn't overpower or block the building.

Coincidently, I used to live four blocks from this building. Back in my old neighborhood I was able to have lunch at a Middle Eastern eatery, Bitar's, where the lamb gyro with yogurt was very tasty. Two blocks away, we had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, Viet Huong, where the summer rolls and beef with lemongrass were delicious.