It is precisely what it sounds like—photographing architectural structures!
We are an image-obsessed society with extremely short attention spans. Images are registered and processed in the brain automatically. A photograph that contains people in some sort of setting not only tells their story but also showcases the subject and draws the viewer in, allowing them to focus on the details. Architectural photography is no different, except the subject is often a building.
Today, our encounters with architecture are more digital than spatial. Access to a screen in every hand and a shift in digital media towards ‘aesthetic’ has helped individuals gain visual knowledge of spaces they may never have an opportunity to visit.
It is easy to aim a camera at a subject and take a picture, but capturing the essence of architecture is an art form. This is where Architectural Photography comes in.
“Great architectural photography must make the most of a structure’s design and environmental setting. The best architectural photography is interesting, aesthetically appealing, skillful, and accurate.”
Architectural Photography is photography that focuses on capturing photographs of buildings or structures. It concerns itself with accurately representing a three-dimensional built environment on a tiny flat area. Still, there is a lot more to it than merely capturing buildings. A photograph will enhance the visual language of a structure to the public, to not look at it as just a photo but to see it also as an art display. The spectator seeks a precise portrayal of the subject matter and, along with it, an aesthetic appeal in the pictures.
Architectural photography began as a method to chronicle the history of the built environment. Still, today it has evolved into a varied art form. You must understand the designer’s intent to fully capture some fantastic moments of the particular structure. Today, there are different types of subjects regarding Architectural Photography – it can cover skyscrapers, bungalow houses, heritage sites, modern buildings, construction sites, factories, and many more.
But why architecture needs a specialised form of photography? One might wonder!
Architects put a lot of thought, time and energy into designing a structure. A good photographer can transform the interpretation of a building—leaving visitors slightly disappointed when they experience it in person. Architecture photographers can create images as bold and imaginative as the structures they photograph.
It has been well established by now that photography can capture architecture. But can it capture everything about it? Like any medium, architectural photography comes with its own set of limitations. It is a symbiotic relationship between the photograph and the viewer—the picture represents something, and the viewer creates its meaning!
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