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