Studying adjacent disciplines has always yielded new perspectives and inspiration for my own creative work so I jumped at the chance to serve as a juror for this year's APA Architectural Photography Competition. I asked Mike Kelley, the founder of the APA, to join me to review my final selections, offer advice on what makes a great architectural photo and dig in to a wide ranging set of topics from the use of human scale, to lens choice, post-processing, color, composition, drones, and shooting techniques.
To remain objective, at the time of recording we were blinded to the identity of the entrants and the winners. In the interim, the winners have been announced, see them all here.
This is a long video, but each section had so many important tips I had to include them all.
Timestamps to help you navigate:
00:00 Intro
02:10 Emerging Talent Entries
06:15 Human Scale
08:43 Shadows
11:24 Descriptive vs. Mysterious
13:38 Why Architects hire Architectural Photographers
15:50 Styling..More or Less?
17:58 Photoshop it or, leave it?
22:00 Can't unsee it
22:38 Open Frame in Middle
23:56 Fires in Fireplaces
25:41 Photo of the Year Entries
28:18 Reframing an Iconic building
30:50 Rendering or Real?
33:55 Eric’s Photo of Year Selection
34:45 Gratuitous Drone Shots
39:00 Project of the Year Entries
39:46 Exterior vs. Interior Shots
41:05 How do you enter?
42:58 The Art of Processing
44:40 A Little More Zoom
46:09 Eric’s Project of the Year Selection
46:50 Reality of Construction
47:45 Sensitivity to the Architecture (Horizon)
49:00 “Every Corner Represents a Problem to Solve”
50:00 One shot, multiple uses
51:00 Where are the people?
51:55 Searching for a Clear Subject
53:25 Share what you know