Got photos of architecture?

[bensonga]

It's something I've always been interested in. Actually, the only career in photography that I ever dreamed of having was to photograph buildings.

There are more interesting buildings in Minneapolis (where I grew up) than here in Alaska, so I'll get this started with a photo of the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis. Credited with being the first "skyscraper" west of the Mississippi River, the Foshay Tower was completed in 1929, two months before the stock market crash.

I took this photo in the mid-1980s with a Cambo 4x5 view camera. I made my first prints of it this past weekend, for a print exchange. Innova FibaPrint Matte paper with a sepia tint....but I guess you won't see the sepia tint in this online image.

I'd love to see some of your photos of interesting architecture. To this day....buildings are one of my favorite subjects.

Gary

 

[bensonga]

Here are a couple more of my photos from Minneapolis, taken in the mid-80s with a Cambo 4x5.

I know I can't be the only one here at GetDPI who is interested in architectural photography......

Nicollet Mall YWCA buildings

A church, somewhere in the Minneapolis area.

 

[DavidE]

No, you're not the only one, Gary.

The first photo is from the Financial District in San Francisco using a Leica M9 and 18mm Super-Elmar.

The second and third photos are from the City Center in Las Vegas using the M9 and 24mm Summilux.

 

[bensonga]

Stunning photos David! Makes me realize just how conventional my own images are. I really like the angles and perspectives you've chosen in these images. Thanks for posting them....I hope we will see more here from others soon.

Gary

 

[ustein]

 

[jotloob]

I was always fascinated by architectural photography and still am .
But somehow I never was going into that type of photography . I just don't know why , but that is the fact .
Then during last years fall I felt so much burnt out and was attempted to sell all my gear . Fortunately I did not .
Since then I have been reading a lot about architectural photography and looked at many well known photographers work .
I found that it is a rather complex part of photography and not just shooting modern buildings , bridges and industrial buildings ,
not just shooting skyscrapers from ground to sky , not just creative photography with geometrical forms and lines or even documenting buildings .
You have carefully to find your own style and preferences .
I do like big buildings of modern architecture , but that genre seems to be what most photographers want to shoot .
My intention was and is not to shoot what most photographers shoot .
On the other side , I live in a very small city far in the country side and we do not have any interesting modern buildings here .
Yes of course , I could travel , but I decided to go for a kind of documentary architectural photography , shooting smaller buildings old and new style .

I just call it "architectural photography to touch" .
My project is a kind of learning project .
So please , all of you , who are interested in architectural photography ,
put your fingers up and tell me what you think , what I should improve , what I should avoid etc .

I want to collect up to 100 images and choose the best 30 or 40 for a little booklet or a calendar .

Here are four examples of what I am currently doing .

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Double click on the image to see it enlarged .

 

[jlm]

Jurgen: i often get too greedy, wanting to capture too much in the image. I now try and tighten up, maybe focus on more details of the main subject not try and get the entire thing in one shot. helps to eliminate un-interesting surroundings

 

[ustein]

>i often get too greedy, wanting to capture too much in the image.

Very good point. Think of photographing a person. Often the essence is in the portrait. Try to portrait a building (show it essence).

 

[ustein]

>My intention was and is not to shoot what most photographers shoot .

I have some issues with this statement.

- First how do you know what "most" do?
- Trying to be different does not make good pictures
- Try to find how you see the buildings and you will be different

I hope I get my point accross.

Example:

Want to be different than Ansel Adams? How does this help to photograph Yosemite. Capture with your own eyes/vision and don't just copy Adams. If then an image looks like Adams be proud (not easy actually). But they likely will be very different.

 

[Devon Shaw]

Love this photograph.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Devon Shaw]

 

[ustein]

Very nice.

Note: There is a big dust spot

 

[Devon Shaw]

Note: There is a big dust spot

Hey you're right!
Thanks for pointing that out... don't know how I missed it...

 

[DavidE]

A shot of the Coit Tower from a recent visit to San Francisco.

 

[DavidE]

How about some interior architecture?

Here's a shot of the ceiling lattice at the Encore in Las Vegas.

And here's one of the escalators at the Aria, also in Las Vegas.

 

[pfigen]

Buildings of all types are always interesting... Looking back it seems like I like the old Bozeman Stockyards. Some are from jobs and others I just shoot because I like them, and some cross over. The interior is of the library at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and was three horizontal images stitched from a 17mm T/S. The exterior of the new Kaiser West L.A. wing is done the same way, only hand held with no bracketing - in order to get the shot without being hassled by security. The pool is the original swimming pool of the Marion Davies/WR Hearst beach estate that is now the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica. That was shot at the end of a day of shooting for them but was really just because we were there and I wanted the shot.

 

[Leigh]

A shot of the Coit Tower from a recent visit to San Francisco.

Looks just like it did when I was there 43 years ago...

but the name is slightly different from the one we used, which was more appropriate to the times and the shape. ;-)

- Leigh

 

[jotloob]

How about some interior architecture?

Here's a shot of the ceiling lattice at the Encore in Las Vegas.

David
Very interesting interior , especially because it is B+W .

Buildings of all types are always interesting... Looking back it seems like I like the old Bozeman Stockyards. Some are from jobs and others I just shoot because I like them, and some cross over. The interior is of the library at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and was three horizontal images stitched from a 17mm T/S. The exterior of the new Kaiser West L.A. wing is done the same way, only hand held with no bracketing - in order to get the shot without being hassled by security. The pool is the original swimming pool of the Marion Davies/WR Hearst beach estate that is now the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica. That was shot at the end of a day of shooting for them but was really just because we were there and I wanted the shot.

pfigen

I do love images four and five .
They would perfectly fit into my project , which I called "architecture to touch" .

Thank you to you two guys for sharing .

I hope to see more images from other members as well .

 

[ustein]

 

[pfigen]

Okay - I dug up a few more...I think the first is, or was, the BofA building in downtown L.A. sometime in the mid '80's shot on Kodachrome and a Nikon 18mm. I'm pretty sure oil derricks qualify as architecture. This one came from a trip in Santa Barbara sound and was part of an anti offshore oil drilling poster I did for the Sierra Club about ten years ago. And finally a couple from my ongoing Culver City series - the abandoned car dealership and the famous old Culver Hotel.