Architectural photography, or building photography, is a photography field that gained popularity in the early 20th century. Just as photography is not just about pressing the shutter button, the same applies to this area. Successful building photographs can tell the story of a building to the viewer and give it different emotions. Architectural photography is still accepted as a more respected branch today, where you cannot underestimate the influence of photography and the visual media in general.
What is the Subject of Architectural Photography?
As we mentioned above, architectural photography deals with the photography of buildings in general. However, apart from facilities, other structures such as bridges, passages, and monuments are also interested in architectural photography. On a larger scale, cities and urban fabric are among the subjects of this area.
Architectural photography today does more than just document the buildings or building groups listed above. When the construction, which increased with the industrial revolution, began to present the first examples of building photography in the late 1800s, these were only historical documents. The purpose of the photographers was often not even to show the buildings.
Nowadays, architectural photographers are especially interested in buildings. They use special equipment to view large and tall structures. When today’s developing imaging technologies are added to this, we have started to get better results.
What Does Architectural Photography Do?
Architectural photographers can take an artistic interest in the structures they display. However, today many photographers do this job for commercial purposes. With the construction of higher and higher skyscrapers, architectural photography has become its own business.
The job definition of architectural photography for commercial purposes is quite broad. Employees in this field can work in many places such as hotels, promotions of special projects, and shooting restaurants or cafes. Also, since archival attempts have increased in recent years, it may be necessary to re-shoot even historical buildings with many photographs.
Architectural photography, of course, does not only take images of spaces. In commercial shootings, the purpose is mostly to market a dream. The photographer highlights the most striking points of the area. According to the concept, it can be a feeling that you want to give to the other party. For example, a spa center wants those who see their photos to feel peaceful and calm, while an entertainment center aims to excite people.
Being able to convey all these emotions through a single frame is one of architectural photography’s achievements. It is only possible with a photographer who has good fictional knowledge and a good understanding of architecture that photographs evoke such intense emotions since some do not even contain humans.
The Future of Architectural Photography
Architectural photography is a field of study that is valid today. Developments in photography technologies are pushing more and more people to this area. Some commentators argue that this rapid pace will eventually reduce the need for architectural photographers.
However, considering the current effect of visual resources, architectural photography will maintain its importance for a while. When everything is related to visuality, architectural photographers will need to do their job well and appeal to human feelings by creating successful concepts.