Emphasize the "green" aspects for more press

How green is your project? Any building project that has a green component continues to get good press coverage. When planing your photography shoot try to maximize your editorial potential of it's environmentally friendly features with in-depth coverage. A well photographed project has a much better chance to get published when the magazine editor has a choice of great images. Talk with your photographer about their policies regarding the editorial use of assignment images. I prefer to license the editorial use of my images directly to the magazine at their established rates. For those few magazines which do not budget for photography I ask my commissioning client to pay that fee if editorial use was not part of our original agreement.

Budget for Successful Photography in 2009

Now is the time to think about your budget and scheduling for 2009. Professional photography of your best projects is an asset to your upcoming business marketing. Structure your budget to allow for complete coverage of your most important projects while saving enough to record your other projects. Try to photograph when the project is fresh, access is more easily obtainable and the subject is looking new. Consider contacting other interested parties to contract with the photographer for shared use, the savings to each party can be significant.

Photographing in New England's winter

Winter in New England is typically a tough time to photograph exteriors. Snow banks, mud, leafless trees and brown grass challenge the views. Why not photograph the interiors and room details that are now ready as rooms can be filled with beautiful reflected sun light. Save those exteriors for Spring when the weather is better and fall plantings have taken hold. Or take the time to photograph those projects designed in warmer regions of the country.

Then again if your project is an igloo.....it's time to shoot!

People in Photographs

People often add scale and a sense of purpose to an architectural photograph. The proper mix of people in a photograph is subjective but should always be considered and discussed when planing photography. In this view of a glass wall in a newly constructed hospital lobby it was important to balance the time of day to properly illustrate the wall's light transmission properties with the day of week when some control over the people could be exerted. We ended up photographing on a Sunday as other days of the week would have been too busy for an efficient shoot. For this angle we determined that people were not necessary to show a sense of scale. For other views we included people in motion to show how the space is used.

NYLO Hotel-Warwick, Rhode Island

I've recently completed my second photography shoot for the new NYLO hotel located in the Warwick/Providence Rhode Island area. NYLO loft hotels are a new concept in the hospitality business, a hip and cool budget hotel. Each property is a newly constructed building in the style of a loft building conversion. Guest rooms and public spaces all feature hip design with exposed concrete walls and fixtures combined with unique custom furniture and many in room amenities. It is a great place for an event, party or meeting. If you are flying in or out of Rhode Island's T.F. Green Airport is it only minutes away and has direct shuttle service.
Here is a link to what I photographed:NLYO New Look

This view features the NYLO's spectacular "Terrace" located directly off it's "Loft" restaurant which overlooks the Pawtuxet river. To achieve this view it was necessary for me to photograph from a tall ladder on top of the bridge over the river. With assistance from the housekeeping department we were able bring all the window shades to an even level.

Scouting trip or walk-through

Often a scouting trip or walk-through of a property takes place prior to scheduling the actual photography day. Simple low resolution digital photographs are taken to help select views or as a reminder of problem areas that will need special attention. Sometimes due to circumstances beyond the control of the client, future access is limited. There is then a desire to utilize the scouting views, this should be avoided as they are typically low quality, quickly composed snapshots not often taken in the best light. On the rare occasion when there is no alternative and the view, lighting and use size are acceptable it is possible to make use of them. Keep in mind scouting shots were not part of the original use license quoted by the photographer, they were taken for discussion/reference purposes only. If you'd like to use one you will need to discuss with the photographer a fee to prepare the scouting view as a master file and an appropriate fee for your intended use. Don't forget that retouching may be needed to make the photograph usable.
This image was taken as a scouting shot with the anticipation of an additional shoot at the same location. That second shoot was never scheduled and the architect was in need of a rear exterior for an editorial article to go along with the front exterior and staircase interior photographs which were taken during the original assignment.

The Shot list

The "Shot List" is one of the most important discussions you can have in preparation for a photography assignment. If not determined by a walk-through or scouting of the property by the architect and photographer, the shot list needs to be created by the commissioning party. Often the request is too broad, "shoot everything" and the list too long to accomplish during the photography day. Only the client can prioritize that list by order of importance. It is important to remember that typically only a select number of views will be used frequently from a particular project. It makes the most sense to spend the time on those important views and less time on the photographs that are more "for the record". Having this conversation with your photographer prior to the estimate will help you maximize your photography budget and yield a better final product.

For this assignment my client was looking for a great view of this stone entertainment patio for his AIA competition entry. Knowing this was the more important view than the home interiors, time was spent to make sure this view was ready to shoot when the natural light was right. A torrential rain storm that had ended that morning required that a good deal of effort be made to dry out the stone work and patio furniture prior to being photographed. Without the input from the client this view would not have had the attention it needed to make it a successful photograph which in the end was selected for exhibit at his AIA competition.