Kiewit Western + the Twitter Connection

AFTER years of thinking that Twitter sounded like one more way to waste time sitting at the computer, a friend convinced me that it just might be worth investigating as a professional networking tool for my photography business. I was skeptical, but one night about 2 months ago, I rather spontaneously started tweeting.

My approach to the social media outlet, knowing nothing about it on the first day, took form quite quickly as I realized that I was actually interested in tweeting with two basic target groups: 1) photographers, by way of "joining the conversation" and sharing valuable information, imagery and product links and 2) architects, as a means of again sharing interesting links and conversing with my target clientele.

Much to my surprise, I was DM'd (direct messaged) by a Denver architect almost right away, and thus landed an actual paying (and satisfying!) job within my first few days of tweeting. I am extraordinarily grateful for the experience of working with the classy James Greenfield, Architect, and hope to work with him again soon!

Here are just a few photos from this commission:

Holiday Lights in Denver '09

Snapshots from the last week using my OLD Canon because it is light and easy when out with my son (first gen DSLR!).  I'd love to go back and shoot these locations with my pro camera and tripod... but these are fun anyway from my travels with my boy so far this season!  I just love holiday lights!

First batch is from the Opening Weekend at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and the last two are from our City Hall Building, all lit up for the holidays!

Architectural Photography | Capture Philosophy: On NATURAL LIGHT

I came to professional photography through the back door, after receiving my Master of Architecture degree and spending many years early in my career practicing architecture, planning and design.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a passionate darkroom and landscape photography enthusiast on the side, and wonder now if perhaps years of chasing ever changing Colorado light -- watching the power of natural and ambient light to dramatically change our perception of a landscape depending on its angle, intensity and color -- came to inform my taste for an architectural photography which celebrated that same quality of light.

My vision for how to photograph ARCHITECTURE specifically was sparked after receiving photographs over the years of my firm’s design work, realizing that I had a deep frustration with the way artificial light was being used in photographing architecture and design.

Natural and designed light are critical to our experience of architecture and design intension. Too much artificial light and you end up with staged, “movie still” looking photographs. Granted, traditional photographers were largely bound by limits of the camera in its ability to capture contrast, but the advent of digital has opened new doors to capture in different ways.

NATURAL LIGHT defines our PERCEPTION OF SPACE

Critical to showcasing contrasting elements and the layering of spaces, is the manner in which a lighting scheme is designed to illuminate, reflect and bounce around such materials and spaces.

The manner in which light - both natural and designed - plays within an architectural space is both the greatest potential satisfaction and most painstaking challenge of my work as an architectural photographer. Few photographic subjects test a camera’s limits as interior architectural photography does with its inherent drastic contrast from a subtle interior scene to the bright sunlight pouring in through windows.*

This presents the greatest challenge to a photographer IF and when the intention is to capture a scene the way our eye sees it.

In the days of film capture, a photographer overcame this technical challenge of balancing inside available light with the overpowering intensity of daylight by bringing in often very large amounts of supplemental lighting. If a view out the windows was important to the scene, artificial lighting was an absolute requirement to allow a camera to expose for both internal and external lighting conditions.

TRADITIONALLY, the consequence of obtaining a bright, balanced shot with supplemental lighting was the death of the intended architectural lighting design scheme, all too often distracting shadows of furniture strewn across the floor, and an overall loss of the subtlety of the interaction of contrasting elements, textures and shadow patterns.

With the advent of the digital capture and processing, it is now possible to push the limits of photography in new directions, coming closer than ever to a photograph being able to convey the subtleties of a space AS OUR EYE SEES IT, with all its depth as well as its intended contrasts. This can now be more closely achieved through a technique of shooting and layering multiple exposures of the same scene under natural and designed architectural lighting conditions.

Different styles are emerging for maximizing and celebrating natural light, from bright sunny interiors with intentionally over-exposed windows, to overt High Dynamic Range photography, where edges are punched and often exaggerated for dramatic artistic effect (a method which can be incredibly compelling, but in most cases, not necessarily the most appropriate method, if the goal is to represent the architecture on its own merit).

In my work, the desired end effect is a natural looking, sophisticated and welcoming final photograph that invites the viewer into the space to appreciate its design elements. This requires painstaking attention to detail and plenty of self restraint when working with up to 7 or 8 different exposures.

I have tried various methods and software programs to achieve results, but I find that I obtain the look I want in the end, only by approaching these layers by hand, selectively using different elements of each exposure with great attention to detail. Patterns have emerged in my process, but I find that a slightly different thought process takes place almost every time I sit down to edit a shoot, depending on what I see in each vignette.

The process of working with natural light can save an abundance of time in the field, as the setup of supplemental lighting equipment is essentially eliminated, but it requires a tremendous amount of patience, skill, creativity and passion for the subject matter after the shoot in the digital darkroom.

Ideally, the finished photograph becomes a sensitive reflection of the architecture, and in the best cases, even a work of art in itself.

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* The human eye is capable of assimilating information from contrasting bright (sun pouring in from a window) and low light (interior) conditions almost instantaneously in a way that a camera is, as of yet anyway, simply not capable.

Toy Village

Fun with photoshop...
This was a fun an experiment to achieve a tilt-shift type effect with a photo from a concert up in the Mountain Village, CO.

Summer Wedding in Telluride

I was cleaning up files in my ever growing Lightroom catalog tonight, when I realized that I never posted any of these photos, from a gorgeous July 5th wedding on the top of the mountain in Telluride, CO. The wedding was GORGEOUS - intimate, fun, and amazingly relaxed. Even looking at the photos again I am filled instantly with feelings of love for these families and friends, and that elation of the promise of a future together. I wish them the very best!!

Enjoy a few of my favorite shots from the day!

Another Telluride Gem

Among a pool of several incredibly creative and talented architects at work in Telluride, Colorado, I recently had the privilege of shooting for a new client, Tommy Hein Architects.

This contemporary home with mining references and great detailing, is set in the Mountain Village, just above the town of Telluride. Bold architectural design powerfully engages a challenging, steeply sloped site with views to the north. The pedestrian approach is visually strong and experientially quite memorable, beginning with a metal bridge to an open tower structure detailed in stone, metal and wood. The tower connects not only the garage and main house through an axial relationship (in plan), but also multiple levels (in section), from the street, down an impressive stone stair, to another wood and steel bridge which serves as the connection to the main home.

Opaque glazing on most of the south wall allows for plenty of natural light to get in, but prevents the strongest of southern Colorado light from glaring with too much intensity, especially given the many patterns of fenestration.

An open metal grate deck to the south places you high amongst an aspen forest. In the winter, the view opens to reveal the San Juan mountains to the south.

Overlapping public spaces give way also to quiet moments at the ends of axes... and the journey of getting there is half the fun!