Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Photo Essay- Architectural Photography: Where are all the people?

Architectural photography is a powerful tool used in architecture today.  Photographers and architects often like to capture the “spirit” of the architecture, rather than a realistic portrayal of the space.

As a graduate student in interior architecture at Endicott College, I had the opportunity to attend field trips to a variety of well-known buildings throughout the east coast such as Phillip Johnson’s Glass House.  While touring these buildings with my classmates, I often heard, “this isn't how I pictured the building” or “this isn't how I imagined the building to be like”.  It seemed as though the pictures we saw before we toured, in a way, skewed our perspective of the buildings.

Architectural photography is often portrayed in perfect weather conditions, with little usage, and no people interacting within the space.  Why should architecture be removed from everyday life?  People give architecture life, without them the buildings seem stale and detached.  Perhaps if we saw people in the pictures we would have a better understanding of the buildings.  After all, architecture is designed for the use of the people around it, so shouldn't the people be captured in the pictures?  






 Farnsworth House




MIT Chapel




Simmons Hall




The Glass House





Guggenheim Museum





Beinecke Library

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