Photography of the built environment

 Adam Leitch - Bosjes Chapel, Capetown

The built environment is all around us and provides many opportunities for photographers. Whether in urban or rural areas, whether a spectacular architectural masterpiece or a run down shack, whether internal or external the possibilities are endless. They may provide a good opportunity to record the present for posterity or create a wonderful abstract picture that will make people look twice. The problem is we often walk past places which give us these opportunites or are not sure how to make the best of them. Here I consider the main things you should think about and the tools you will need.

Yao Li - Dongzhuang Building Museum, China

As photography is all about light you will have to pay close attention to the time of day that you take your photographs, as well as weather conditions. If shooting an indoor scene then where does the light fall at different times of day? Will you need to supplement that and if so is flash best (and can you use it) or will you need more substantial directed light or even to paint the space with  torchlight whilst on a long exposure? Think about how you want the final image to look before you start shooting. When outdoors consider whether you want bright sunlight or moody shadow, reflected evening light or rain slicked pavements and windows. Also consider the immediate surroundings. Are there specific elements that would add interest or context to the final image? The Photographers Emphemeris ( https://www.photoephemeris.com/ ) is easily downloaded onto your tablet or smartphone for a small charge and helps track the movement of light in any place in the world across any day or time you care to mention.  The photograph below are taken by me and seeks to illustrate a couple of these points. It shows the Chrysler Building in New York and I quite deliberately sought an angle to show the street lamp as well as the building itself as I felt this helped to both frame the building and describe the enormous scale. The evening light caught the top of the building and the cloud was low so as not to interfere with the outline of the building itself. The overhanging branches filled an otherwise empty space and shooting in mono meant that distracting colour allowed the building itself to take centre stage. 

Nigel Walker - Chrysler Building, New York

The second important consideration beyond light is position. Do you want to show a part of a building or all of it? Are you going for an abstraction or a representation? Are you showing it in context with the sort of life and people it attracts or standing alone with no human involvement? If you are going to try a whole building approach then where is the best vantage point? As the human figure can be important or a distraction also consider how you might make the building appear empty or full of ghosts and shoot at a slow speed or with muliple exposures that can merge figures or make them disappear. The picture below of the Guggenheim in Bilbao took me three days to work out the best available vantage point having tried several others, at least one of which was thwarted by poor light and another by rain. So be prepared to walk around and explore possible angles.

Nigel Walker - Guggenheim Gallery, Bilbao

The last big consideration is the lense that you use. Clearly a standard lense can be used but a wide angle or telephoto can be very useful depending on the shot you might want. Although more specialist a tilt/shift lense can come in handy for, as the name implies, these lenses allow you to tilt and shift the focal plane, or the perspective, of the lens and reduce perspective distortion. This way you can straighten converging lines, minimize a large subject, and more. They are sometimes complex to use and the best will cost around £2000 new although used ones can often be picked up from reputable dealers for half that price. As you won't use it much I suggest you could also hire one from around £40 for a weekend to £240 for a couple of weeks. Search the internet and use reviews on sites like Trustpilot to get the best deals.

Nigel Walker - Barn, Dordogne

Finally remember that it doesn't have to always be the most recent and gobsmacking architecture that you look for. This old barn, heavy with ivy and sitting at the back of a field of dying sunflowers caught my eye in rural France and I very much enjoyed taking it, although having seen it a couple of days before I had to time my return so that the sun caught the end of it towards late afternoon. So get out, keep you eyes open and your minds working and enjoy yourselves.