Aiming at a Project - Architecture


	Early morning view of Normanton church lapped by Rutland Water. The stillness of the lake provides an almost perfect reflection.

	This view near King's College in Cambridge caught my attention. The strong sunlight gives plenty of highlight and shadow, and I liked the reflections of the chimneys and trees in the waters of the River Cam.

There are several advantages to being a professional photographer, as opposed to an amateur. Apart from people entertaining the perception that it's a glamorous occupation, which it can be from time to time, you also get paid serious money for taking pictures - something you love doing anyway. The other big plus is that the client usually presents you with a brief, which states in precise terms what is required in terms of imagery. So before you even remove your camera from its hold-all, you have a strong idea of what the finished article should appear like.

This is where many amateur snappers fall down - they simply lack direction because they don't have a specific brief or goal. It's not that they lack skill or talent, as many amateur photographers have proved time and again to be more artistic or technically proficient than some so-called professionals. What holds many amateurs back is the fact that they're often rather aimless, and don't know what to shoot and what to leave out. After all, there's a big wide world out there and countless subjects to point your lens at. So where do you possibly start, if you're a budding architectural photographer?

The answer is to narrow things down somewhat by giving yourself a specific project. By dreaming up a brief, you start to limit the huge range of possibilities on offer and work instead on a particular theme or idea. This effectively bridges the divide between pro and am - just don't expect payment for your toils too! So what exactly does this brief look like, and what does it contain?

Static golden statues and the sense of moving water make an irresistible combination at Versailles.

That's for you to decide, but here's a few clues - start with something relatively simple and straightforward. If you give yourself a brief which demands that you're photographing the world's tallest skyscrapers, then clearly you'll be doing a lot of traveling and hiring the odd helicopter to see the top! A tall order in every sense. Instead, go for something within easy reach - how about capturing structures built only in the 17th century in your locality. Sure, it'll involve some research but that's half the fun. Give yourself some attainable parameters and who knows where the project might lead.

The number of ideas is limited only by your own imagination, so get that thinking cap on. Take a look back at earlier articles in this series - subjects have included night scenes, interiors and details. So how about a project on floodlit buildings - that will test your powers of research and your metering skills as night shots can be tricky to expose correctly. Or you could create a theme based around chimneys, doors or staircases. Or what about buildings that combine interior spaces with external views - glazed modern architecture offer's some of the most graphic possibilities for photography.


	The flawless yet bizarre architecture at Disney World's Epcot Centre is softened by more natural elements - plants and water fountains.

Now your starting to get the hang of it, what about some more abstract themes - shadows, glass or a particular building material or colour finish. You see once you get started on this road, it becomes easier and the ideas start to flow nicely.

To give you an idea of some further briefs, here's a couple of architectural projects I've been working on recently. The first is based around the theme of buildings and designed spaces and their relationship to water. As I travel around on assignments or even on holiday, I often come across another image to add to my growing pile of 'water' pictures. Hopefully you can see how this simple theme has evolved over time from just the germ of an idea into a coherent collection of images.


Wherever you go in the French capital, the tower keeps moving into view. I wanted to capture this omnipresent quality of the great structure, juxtaposing it against the tableau of typical Parisian street components.

Though my 'water' theme involves numerous different kinds of buildings and structures in many diverse locations, a unifying thread links the whole thing together. Some were taken just a few miles from home, such as the early morning shot of the church, or the picture from Cambridge was only 40 minutes by car. Others involved greater distances - you might recognise the fountains of Versailles, while further fountains gush by the Epcot building in Florida. Where you take the shots doesn't matter, as long as they work together.

The second theme or brief I've been developing of late is in complete contrast to the 'water' subject. It revolves around capturing the character of just one building, or perhaps structure would be a better term - over a limited period of time. In my case that meant just two days, spent hunting for views of the world famous Eiffel Tower. My aim was to capture it's various moods and guises throughout the day and night, plus it gave me a good excuse to be in Paris in autumn briefly.


	Link the Eiffel and the Seine and you tell much of the story of Paris. I included this bridge because the metal structure, though horizontal, seemed to contain echoes of the tower itself.

Though the Eiffel Tower has been photographed a billion times before, that didn't worry me - I wanted to put my own interpretation upon this subject, so here's how I went about producing my own Parisian portrait.. My impression of the tower is that it is more or less visible wherever you are in the capital. Yes, from a distance, other buildings might hide it briefly but it always pops back into view to remind you of its literally towering presence. That was how I started my sequence, with a morning view of the distant tower glimpsed through the branches of a tree in Montmartre. Somewhere in the series I wanted to incorporate the tower and that other major icon of Paris - the Seine. Interesting how one is a horizontal element and the other vertical, so that's how I framed the shot. The sequence ends with a night shot in dramatic close-up - very different images but once again linked by a common thread.

These are two 'briefs' I've been working on, so now it's your turn to dream up ideas for an architectural project. I hope this article helps you conjure up a theme to tackle - let me know how you get on.

Somewhere in this series I needed a shot that indicated the sheer size of the tower. Using a telephoto to compress the elements, the huge breadth of the base becomes apparent next to the tiny people and vehicles.

As day turns to night the tower takes on a wholly different character. Illuminated from top to toe it looks stunning against the fading sky.

Though comprised of thousands of tons of steel girders, I also wanted to portray the tower's delicate grace and lattice-like structure. This illuminated close-up at night did the trick.