Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design Is a Significant Step in Opening This Conversation

CURATED BY BILYANA DIMITROVA October 5–November 1, 2013 WUHO GALLERY – LOS ANGELES, CA Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery

PRESENTED BY WOODBURY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Published in conjunction with the exhibition Beyond Published by the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Bilyana Dimitrova Architecture and Design, presented by the Julius 63 Sherman Place Ste. E3 Shulman Institute at Woodbury University. Jersey City, NJ 07307 Exhibition Itinerary: Visit www.beyondtheassignment.com for more WUHO Gallery information including purchase information. (Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery) Los Angeles, CA © 2014 Bilyana Dimitrova All rights reserved. October 5, 2013–November 1, 2013

ISBN-10: 0615893236 Publication of this book has been made possible ISBN-13: 978-0-615-89323-5 through the support of Matt Construction, Knoll, Ronald D. Abramson, and Woodbury University School No part of this book may be used or reproduced in of Architecture and the Julius Shulman Institute . any manner without written permission from the publisher. Curator: Bilyana Dimitrova Catalog Editor: Bilyana Dimitrova All photographs reproduced in this book retain Director, Julius Shulman Institute: Emily Bills the copyrights of their respective owners. Every Design: Edward Mullen reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners Cover: © Joe Fletcher (Encanto Hotel, Acapulco, of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in Mexico, Miguel Ángel Aragonés Architects) subsequent editions. Printer: MagCloud

4 Table OF COntents

11 Acknowledgements 12 FOREWORD 14 INTRODUCTION 18 Photographers 20 Peter Aaron 30 Bilyana Dimitrova 40 Joe Fletcher 50 Timothy Hursley 60 Alan Karchmer 70 Jon Miller 80 Undine Pröhl 90 Tim Street-Porter 100 Lara Swimmer 110 Paul Warchol 126 Index

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 5 6

We must assume our responsibility to infuse LIFE into our presentations!

~ Julius Shulman, 2006

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 7 8 BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENTPeter Aaron 9 10 Acknowledgments

This exhibition and catalog would not have been possible without funding and promotional support from the following:

Supporting Sponsors

Ronald D. Abramson

Individual Sponsors Media Partners Industry partners

Donald Albrecht Abbott Miller Peter Rittmaster Erica Stoller Susan Szenasy

A special thank you goes to all of the participating photographers, who donated the prints to the exhibition and shared their personal and professional insight in these interviews. We are grateful for the volunteer efforts of Edward Mullen for the exhibition and catalog design and for the Woodbury University students who gave their time to this project. This project benefited greatly from the professional insight of Donald Albrecht, Nancy Eklund Later, and Pure+Applied. Last but not least, we would like to thank Woodbury University’s School of Architecture and the Julius Shulman Institute for its ongoing support.

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 11 FOREWORD Emily Bills Director, Julius Shulman Institute

When the Julius Shulman Institute was approached to host an exhibition on the work of commercial architectural photographers we knew this was a project important for us to support. The photography of architecture and design for publication has a history that reach- es back almost as far as photography itself, but the story of how the field developed and continues to contribute to our collective understanding of the built environment has yet to be examined in a substantial way. It is a subject of particular interest to us in part because Julius Shulman himself was a commercial photographer in every sense of the designation. He photographed for print press ranging from forward-thinking architecture journals like Arts & Architecture Magazine to trade journals more concerned with highlighting a particular building material than promoting a masterful image of a completed structure. For a good portion of his career his name, like those of many architectural photographers at the time, wasn’t indicated next to his photographs in architecture journals. It took an outside eye to convince Shulman that his work was appropriate for a gallery exhibition.

The work of photographers like Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller is increasingly identifiable as their own in large part due to the diligent work of curators, historians, and publishers—and often the photographers themselves. In recent years, this attention has been extended to other photographers such as Pedro E. Guerrero and Balthazar Korab who, like Shulman and Stoller, also documented the midcentury period in design. It is time, we believe, to extend that critical focus to photographers practicing today and Beyond the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design is a significant step in opening this conversation. The artists selected for this exhibition represent what curator Bilyana Dimitrova identifies as some of the leading photographers in the field practicing in the United States. Their work spans the last thirty years and, during that time, has contributed to the discourse on archi-

12 Foreword tecture and design. Most have been inspired by Shulman’s generation of architectural photographers. All, however, have developed a new, individual language that reflects both their own artistic vision and also the particular approach of the contemporary architects whose work they interpret, often through close dialog with the designers themselves.

The photographs featured in this catalog were published in architecture and design magazines that are likely familiar to many of us. Our understanding of who took the photographs and their artistic process, however, is likely not. This catalog provides an opportunity for us to learn more about the people and photographic processes that shape this field of visual culture through unique artist interviews that were conducted specifically forBeyond the Assignment.

About the Julius SHulman Institute

The Julius Shulman Institute (JSI) promotes understanding and appreciation of photography of the built environment. Architectural photographer Julius Shulman founded the Institute at Woodbury University in 2005 spurred by his passion for education. His endowment supports students, career artists, and commercial photographers who encourage us to look at our physical environment from a unique and critical perspective. In pursuit of this mission, we offer public programming, including exhibitions, workshops and sympo- sia; disseminate information through publication and diverse © Gerard Smulevich media; support scholarship; and award excellence.

Each year the Julius Shulman Institute presents the Excellence in Photography Award to an early or mid-career artist who honors Shulman’s legacy and our mission by challenging the way we look at physical space. Awardees include Iwan Baan (2010), Richard Barnes (2011), Pedro E. Guerrero (2012), and Catherine Opie (2013). As part of our ongoing effort to reach out to the art and architecture community, we team with curators at museums like the Japanese National American Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art who help develop exhibitions and forge connections between Woodbury University and the public. These exhibitions have garnered extensive attention in the national and international press. We also support student photographers, most recently by working with the San Fernando Valley branch of the AIA to provide scholarships to winning entries in our JSI Amateur Photography contest.

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 13 INTRODUCTION Bilyana DImitrova Exhibition curator & Architectural Photographer

I first spoke with Julius Shulman in 2006. I was working as an architectural photographer and had just started part-time as the photo editor of Metropolis magazine. I was working on the magazine’s 25th Anniversary issue, the biggest issue of the year. I was assembling photographs from twelve of Metropolis’ heavy hitters, the key photographers that had helped the magazine disseminate architecture and design to the world for the last twenty-five years. Julius was, of course, one of these photographers and I had to call and ask him to write something about the photographs that he had submitted. I got a two-page hand written fax from him that I still have to this day.

Getting to talk to Julius meant a lot to me. His enthusiasm for life and the love he had for his work was infectious, even over the phone. He was proof that if you do what you love, you will love doing it until the end of your days. Similarly, the photographers included in the exhibition Beyond The Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design all share a love for what they do and, while on assignment, imbue their photographs with their own curiosity, wonderment and joy. Their images show us how this type of engagement with the subject makes for photographs that hold our attention and can render the built environment unforgettable.

The idea for Beyond The Assignment first came to me in 2009 as I was looking through my own archive, selecting images to print and hang in my office. I kept gravitating to images that were not really about the architecture or the design that they represented. They were images that captured my own elation as I found and captured something extraordinary. They expressed my unique experience of the architecture or the design and how it moved and

14 Introduction inspired me. The realization that I was moved to create these types images while on the job reminded me how much I love what I do. My work serves a function for my clients and the architecture and design community at large, while allowing me to express my creativity, a perfect coming together of work and pleasure. I started to think about why this mutual bene- fit was an important component of my practice, what it added to my work and, by extension, to the larger discourse. I also started to think about the images that turned me onto the field of architectural photography and which photographers were behind them. Quickly a show of these types of images started to evolve and take shape in my mind.

I have admired so many of my colleagues over the years and, of course, as a photo editor at Metropolis magazine I was regularly coming across and working with great talent from across the country. I specifically admire the work of those photographers that have a conviction to create images that push beyond the expected, offering inventive and artful ways of looking at the built environment. The selected photographers in Beyond The Assignment have all chosen architectural photography as a way to satisfy both creative and professional pursuits and therefore they not only expertly document but also artfully interpret our world. This combination allows them to create images that make lasting visual impressions that in- grain the architecture and design in our collective consciousness. Furthermore, these types of images allow the architecture and design to live on beyond the life of the architect or designer and even beyond the life of the project itself.

Most of us experience the built environment through the photographs that document it. As architectural photographers we are regular contributors to the dialogue of architecture and design. Through the dissemination of our images, we define how the public sees the built environment. Despite this powerful position, more often than not, we are anonymous figures hidden behind the projects that we shoot. Or, as in the case with Julius Shuman, Ezra Stoller and a few others, we receive recognition only towards the end our careers. Beyond The Assignment aims to correct this oversight by bringing into focus some of today’s leading architectural photographers, none of whom are anywhere near the end of their careers.

The selected photographers represent the talent that spans across our country, hailing from Chicago, Washington D.C., Little Rock, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Seat- tle. They also represent the talent that spans multiple generations, helping us to look back to what is now the field’s long history. Several of the photographers apprenticed with the pioneers of the field of architectural photography. Paul Warchol and Peter Aaron apprenticed

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 15 for Ezra Stoller, the preeminent pioneer of architectural photography on the East Coast and founder of the architectural photography agency Esto in 1966. Jon Miller apprenticed for Bill Hedrich at Hedrich Blessing in Chicago, the first photo studio in the U.S. dedicated to architectural photography as a practice. And across Lake Michigan, Timothy Hursley apprenticed for Balthazar Korab in Detroit. Having photographers in the exhibition that have had the tutelage of some of the field’s founders allows for a reminder of their founding principles, principles that encourage the architectural photographer to really look at the architecture and design, swallow it whole, tell its story in pictures, show its character, individuality, and essence, and even bring it to life.

While Beyond The Assignment examines the work of ten specific photographers, my hope is that it encourages the architecture and design community to take better notice of the field of architectural photography and its many practitioners. At a time of information overload on the web, who are the photographers that force us to pause and really look at the architecture and design that’s presented, and therefore make it more memorable? Who are the individuals behind the photographs that hold our attention as we sift through content and allow us to take the time to reflect on what’s being built today? The photographers exhibited inBeyond The Assignment, represent other photographers like them in the field who aim to create lasting visual impressions in an age when limitless architecture and design news can be digested and forgotten in seconds on the web.

Despite sharing the same conviction to create indelible images that make architecture and design unforgettable, the photographers represented in Beyond The Assignment are all very different. “We’re all like snowflakes” as Jon Miller says in his interview about his colleagues at Hedrich Blessing. The exhibition Beyond The Assignment explores each photographer’s unique take on their subject through their images while this catalog explores their unique experiences in the field of architectural photography through their own words. The interviews that I conducted provide an opportunity for the reader to learn about the photographers and their distinct practices on multiple levels. They elucidate the photographers’ professional history, the connection they have to the history of the field and their present pursuits. All combined, the interviews offer both a comprehensive look at formative moments in the field as well as its present state. They beg the question, “What’s in store for architectural photography and its practitioners in the future?”

It is an absolute honor to have these questions posed within the context of the Julius Shul-

16 Introduction man Institute and to have had the support and encouragement from its director Emily Bills every step of the way. For the architetcural photographers reading this, I’ll end with my favorite line from the two-page fax that I got from Julius Shulman back in 2006: “We must assume our responsibility to infuse LIFE into our presentations!”

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 17 18 Introduction BEYOND THEUndine ASSIGNMENT Pröhl 19 Peter Aaron

They put a man on the moon before they figured out that photo cases could have wheels. New York CIty, NY – Peter Aaron’s strong and memorable pictures are associated with some of the great- est architecture produced in the last 35 years. While much of his work is commissioned by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, he has documented the © Gregory Heisler architecture of Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Paul Rudolph, and Kieran Timberlake, and has been a contributing photographer to Architectural Digest for many years. In 2009 he was awarded Photographer of the Year by the American Insti- tute of Architects and was the subject of a New York Times article “A Portraitist of Homes Remakes His Own.” • Having apprenticed with Ezra Stoller for several years, Peter went on to coach architectural photography students, many of whom are now professionals. He has taught at Maine Photo Workshop, Palm Beach Pho- to Workshop, Santa Fe Photo Workshop, and others. He divides his time between Brooklyn and Hudson, NY. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © PETER AARON/ESTO BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 21 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • Let’s start with my Bar Mitzvah. I got a Nikon from my parents and somehow that just sent me spinning into the world of photography. I embraced the whole thing and I became the photo editor of all the different magazines in high school and in college. I never treated it as a vocation. I always thought of it as a hobby. • I went to graduate school at NYU and found that film was interesting to me because you had to light interiors and I really enjoyed that. I got out of graduate school and was casting about New York City. I was having more success getting photo jobs than film jobs and was told by the photo editor ofGQ magazine that I was particularly adept at interiors and architecture and that I should do that. He threw me into the hands of Joe D’Urso, who was one of the founders of “high-tech” design. The pictures I took for him seemed to come out pretty well. • I was frightened because I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I contacted Ezra Stoller and told him that I wanted to see him. We got on pretty well and he hired me as a photo assistant. I was 24 I think. I worked with Ezra for 2 years, traveling around the country working for SOM and other big companies. I learned a ton of tricks and approaches from him, like how to talk the same language as the architect and how to figure out what would be pleasing. And to ask myself, “How would the architect interpret the project, if they were as adept as the photographer?”

Did working as Ezra Stoller’s photo assistant reaffirm that architectural photography was what you wanted to do? • I would say that I never looked back. I felt that this was my niche and that architecture and interiors were a great way for me to express myself. I liked all the complications. I also liked that architecture was a still object that didn’t talk back to me and that I could take my time and analyze it. It was a fixed subject that needed to be shown in the best possible way.

Do you have any anecdotes that you want to share from your days of working for Ezra Stoller? • This shows how things have changed over the years. When I worked for Ezra, I had to carry 500 lbs. of cases. They put a man on the moon before they figured out that photo cases could have wheels. The worst case of all was the case for flash bulbs. Ezra had something like a hundred glass flash bulbs in a fiber case that would always rub against my leg when I tried to schlep it. We’d set up stands and tin reflectors with flashbulbs in them and we would have to wire them to a 300 volt battery then into the camera shutter. Every time the shutter went off, something like five flashbulbs would explode and I would go around with gloves and take out the bulbs and put in new ones and we’d do it again. Ezra didn’t use Polaroids so it was kind of like magic. He could anticipate the light without actually seeing it.

22 Peter Aaron Palladin Restaurant at Time Hotel, New York, NY | Designer: Adam Tihany | Photographed 1999

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 23 Apple SoHo, New York, NY | Architect: Bohlin, Cywinski, and Jackson | Photographed 2002

24 Peter Aaron Villa dall’Ava, Paris, France | Architect: Rem Koolhaas | Photographed 1991

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 25 How has digital photography made things easier or more difficult for you? • I’ll start by saying that digital photography is the great democratizer, where virtually anyone can take a darn good picture. For us to take a better picture, we need to raise the ante and in order to do that we have to move furniture, which a lot of people don’t do. What makes a great interior is rearranging the furniture just for that camera angle. • In post-production we can blend a series of different exposures together to make a much better picture, which includes taking people out and putting people in at will. It was always a nightmare on film because if you didn’t get the people right it ruined your picture. Now we can cherry pick what we want from the various exposures. You can botch that up and make poor decisions. There is also a time shift now; most of the work used to occur on the shoot and now most of the work occurs on the computer.

Do you find yourself doing less lighting on the photo shoot, now that you have the ability to manipulate the light in post-production? • Now you can get away with virtually no lighting because you can take very light exposures and very dark exposures and layer them together and you can create highlights on furniture just by using Photoshop. I’ve backed-off from using spotlights unless, let’s say, a bouquet of flowers needs a little extra bit of backlight because I felt that it was looking a bit false. • I’ve reduced the strobe to a fancy flashlight. It is a military flashlight called the “sure fire” made out of a heavy-duty material. National Geographic magazine has 12 of these flashlights that they used to light Stonehenge and that seemed brilliant to me so I went on eBay and got one for myself.

Describe what it was like for you once you were a full-fledged architectural photographer? • Well let me see, I would to say that I continued to work with Joe D’Urso and others that were doing “high-tech” design and I remember that certain architects pushed me into positions that they were happy with and I took a lot of advice and guff from them. • It takes time to realize what your style is and to learn how to pick your own angles and your own lighting. At first I would accept the advice gladly because I was still shaky. We’re like a photo-psychiatrist; having a fresh view of what the architect has done gives us an advantage. I can see what imposes itself on the new viewer faster than they can because they’ve been on their own job for too long. • Architects want wide pictures to see everything that they wrought and designers want more intimate pictures. So there’s a war going on between the two. The same room can be photographed with a telephoto lens instead of a wide-angle lens and you’d get a very serene group of pictures instead of a clinical, documentary shot. I would say the longer the lens the more successful the picture, but it’s very hard to do. I remember that Ezra Stoller’s 120mm was his favorite lens for interiors, whereas a lot of other people

26 Peter Aaron Courtyard in The Citadel of Aleppo, Syria | Photographed 2009

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 27 would use a 90mm or a 72mm which created a tension—a distortion—that was unappealing to him.

Do you have story from your early days as an architectural photographer that you’d like to share? • I arrived at the United Nations Plaza apartment building to shoot John Saladino’s work for House & Garden magazine. It was 8 a.m. and John was pacing in the lobby, and he says, “This is a very bad situation. They are telling me there is no photography in the building without permission from the board.” I said, “No problem. I will figure this out. I will take my camera cases back to my house on 61st and Madison. I live above a liquor store and I’ll have everything delivered in wine cases.” So we went back and repackaged everything in wine and champagne cases and had it delivered. It was great. I didn’t have to lift a thing!

What are some of the things that you enjoy most about what you do professionally? • Let’s see. When I am on a job. I feel happy. I feel contentment in being engaged. I like the process of finding the photo regardless of the subject matter and I like interiors better because there is a chance to be more creative with lighting and styling. For instance, shooting a skyscraper is all about access and viewpoints, so I like the smaller project where I can make changes that aren’t just vantage points.

What conditions allow you to take your best photographs? • This makes me think of the image in the show of the house by Rem Koolhaas with the rooftop swimming pool. The architect was not there and I had to solve a whole lot of problems and it all came together like magic. My assistant Nancy had brought her bathing suit. It was 32 degrees out and drizzling, but I made her put on her bathing suit and bathing cap and pose by the pool at twilight, when both the pool and the Eiffel Tower were lit. I discovered that there was a streetlight right at the center of my shot so I had to ask my other assistant, Helmut, to take his clothes off and stand where the streetlight was. This created a dialogue between the two figures that was mysterious. It just all came together at the magic hour, l’heure bleue as they call it in French. It was a triumph, having the ability and freedom to do that and knowing that the architect wants pictures like that makes me push and push until I find something.

What makes a successful photograph of architecture and design? • I guess my meter would be: can this photo stand alone on a wall of the living room? That’s a very a rare thing for architectural photography. Most things are too prosaic to be considered art and to be framed and hung on a wall, but occasionally you can achieve that. There are certain things that may cause that to be. It might even be that you convert the picture to black and white

28 Peter Aaron and it can help make that transformation. A certain serenity in the picture; a magic moment that wasn’t distorted. • You are what you shoot. If you only take pictures of mediocre projects it’s hard to get noticed. It’s very hard to take great pictures of mediocre buildings. It would be great to always get an iconic shot of each project but it doesn’t always happen. It’s something to strive for.

How would you describe your relationship with the architect or designer on the pho- to shoot? • It’s a collaboration and the architect is with me the entire time and sometimes they get reduced to sweeping the floors. I like them to look at the back of the camera and agree with me that this is the place to be. I welcome input but sometimes I have to ignore it. I like that most of the time we are in agreement about things. • I notice that architects often say, “This is a great time to shoot this picture” and my own shadow is pointing exactly towards the building and I say, “We can’t shoot the building when there are no shadows.” It’s astounding to me that they would want it so directly lit.

How has shooting architecture and design affected you? • I appreciate beautiful spaces but I am not able to achieve the levels of what I would like in my own life. The two places where I live, an apartment in Brooklyn, NY and a house in Hudson, NY, are not show places. They are very comfortable and nice looking but whenever I start hiring contractors it always backlashes on me. My family fortunes will be dissipated; I am too impulsive and money gets lost unnecessarily. I really appreciate what interior designers do, getting what you want without blowing the budget. I tend to live in a traditional world of old furniture and in an old house, although I like the aesthetics of modern furniture and houses. I often notice that architects don’t live like their clients either.

How do you feel at the end of the photo shoot? • Well, I get exhausted because our shoots are from, say, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and a lot of times you’re standing in one spot. I try to take breaks but a lot of times you see things and you don’t want to leave the site. At the end of the day I usually just want to go back to the hotel, order room service and go over the files. That’s kind of a fun thing, to look at what you’ve shot and to make minor changes in Photo- shop, and then you can present what you did the next morning to the architect. I like to do that every evening and go to bed as early as possible. • The worst moment of any shoot is when you first get there, set up your camera and you haven’t taken you first picture yet. It seems like you’re climbing Mount Everest, but then by the end of the first day you feel like it’s happening. The pictures are now in the computer; we’re well on our way. ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 29 Bilyana Dimitrova

I am that last piece of the puzzle that completes their journey of the design process and enables them to send the project off into the world. NEW YORK CITY, NY – Bilyana Dimitrova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. She immigrated to the US with her parents as a young child. She grew up in NYC and © Edward Mullen studied fine art photography with Stephen Shore and Larry Fink at Bard College in New York. She is the former photo editor of Metropolis magazine and the author of To Each His Home (Princ- eton Architectural Press, 2008). She has received commissions as an architectural photographer since 2002 and her photography has been published in books and magazines worldwide: Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, The Archi- tect’s Newspaper, Interni, Interior Design, Metropolis, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Her writing on architectural photography has been published in the International Interior Design Association’s Perspective magazine and she has been a guest-lecturer at The Savannah School of Design, Kansas State University and The New School. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © BILYANA DIMITROVA BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 31 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • I was a senior at Bard College with a concentration in photography. I studied with Stephen Shore and Larry Fink there and up to that point we only had fine art photographers lecture at the college. To all of the students’ amazement, a working photographer was coming to talk about his work! Peter Aaron was not a photographer that exhibited in galleries and museums or made monographs of his work. He was a photographer that got hired to photograph the built environment for architects and designers. What a concept! I think the lecture hall was fuller than usual that evening because, again, this was such a novel thing for us. • My senior thesis was photographing people’s homes and documenting how they personalize them in unique ways. I was photographing homes inside and out in the towns of Red Hook and Tivoli in Upstate, NY. • So when Peter started to go through his images of residential interiors I was first a bit dumb- founded. Then, all of a sudden, I realized I was looking at something that made perfect sense to me visually. I was looking at my future. His images made me see that there was a commercial application for what I already had an affinity for as a photographer.

Did you assist for any architectural photographers? • During Peter’s lecture he often referred to his photo assistant doing this or that on the photo shoot and I realized that this could be a way for me to enter that world, by learning the ropes as a photo assistant. Luckily, one of his assistants happened to be a Bard student with whom I was friendly. I approached her, and asked whether she thought Peter could use another assistant and she simply said, “Yes, just call him!” • I was a bit nervous to call but I mustered up the courage and was greeted by a friendly voice. Peter quickly spewed out a list of his fellow photographers and told me to give them a call one by one when I graduated to see who would have a need for me. I took his advice and got my start working for some of the busiest and most talented photographers in the field in New York City. I did my homework first. I scoured the architecture and design magazines looking for the work of the photographers on Peter’s list. I only wanted to learn from photographers whose work I admired. • Having had only fine art photography training, assisting gave me my first opportunity to learn how to really light, using hot lights and strobes. I learned exactly what kind of equipment I needed to have and learned small tricks of the trade, like how you can use a squeegee to take out footprints in a carpet. Who knew?

Do you have any anecdotes from your days as a photo assistant that you want to share? • Peter Aaron described Paul Warchol as “one of the busiest architectural photographers who is too busy to have lunch with me.” And he urged me to keep trying to work with him. Paul’s work was being published everywhere and I was quite taken with it and eager to

32 Bilyana Dimitrova Kaust Investment Management Company, Arlington, VA | Studios Architecture | Photographed 2010

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 33 Fisher Center at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY | Architect: Gehry Partners | Photographed 2003

34 Bilyana Dimitrova Smith College Campus Center, Northhampton, MA | Architect: Weiss/Manfredi | Photographed 2006

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 35 work for him. I had Paul’s studio and fax number, before email was as popular as it is now. I remember sending him fax after fax imploring him to hire me. I once caught him on the phone and he said that he’d love to continue talking but he was rushing to board a helicopter for a shoot. • Another time I got his wife Ulla on the phone. I asked her if she was Paul’s assistant and she said, “I’m his assistant for life. I’m his wife!” After we laughed I told her my name and to my surprise she said, “Oh, we have a friend named Bilyana.” I had never been told that someone had a friend with the same name as mine because it’s fairly uncommon, so after that I had a feeling that I was meant to work for Paul. • Not too long after that I began working for Paul in his studio part-time, handling the images after the shoot that needed to be archived and go out to the client or to publications. I learned about how to run a photography business and how to maintain client relationships. I also made some great contacts with the different publications at the time since I was starting to be on first-name basis with the editors. • Looking at Paul’s images on the light table is perhaps when I first started to think about the concept of going “beyond the assignment.” Paul got hired, and still gets hired, to shoot some very inspiring architecture and design, but there were also some projects he had to shoot that were considerably less so. Even on those projects, say a banal corporate interior, there was always at least one shot that showed how he tried to find and capture something extraordinary. Picking up on this greatly impressed me and has made me strive for that on every one of my shoots.

How did you get your start as an architectural photographer? • After a year of working at Paul’s studio, as well as assisting on shoots for Paul and a number of other photographers, I decided I was ready to give it a go. I first decided to test my abili- ties on some family friends, a husband and wife architecture firm based in Los Angeles, L+V Architects. I was in L.A. visiting my dad and I offered to shoot one of their newly built houses in Brentwood, CA. I presented it as a freebie for them and as a way for me to hone my skills as an architectural photographer. • I was so happy at the end of it because as I looked through my contact sheets, I was assured that I was on the right path with what I wanted to do. The architects were thrilled with the pictures, which only reassured me in thinking that I was ready. Not only was this the first project I ever shot but it also ended up being my very first published project. The architects, like me, are Bulgarian and they pitched my photos to a Bulgarian architecture magazine called Aspekti. The magazine ended up using one of my photos on their cover and ran a 4-page spread of the project. So this was yet another “thumbs up” for me to get out there! • After that, I came back to New York City and started to compile a list of architects and designers in the area. I quickly put together a website and

36 Bilyana Dimitrova NY5 Data Center, Secaucus, NJ | Architect: Sheehan Partners, Ltd | Photographed 2012.

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 37 started to market myself. I got a few bites. One shoot led to another and that’s how my career began. Having worked closely with so many of the architectural photographers that were quickly becoming my colleagues, I made it a point not to steal anyone’s clients and livelihood. • Another thing that propelled my career was getting to work as the photo editor at Me- tropolis magazine. While working for Paul part-time and as an architectural photographer part-time the opportunity presented itself for me to become the photo editor at Metropolis magazine. The photo editor, Sara Barrett, was moving on to become the photo editor for the House & Home section of The New York Times. I had many dealings with Sara through Paul’s studio and she thought I’d be perfect for the job. I had three separate interviews before I was hired, so it was a bit nerve-racking but I was totally psyched once I was on board. It was a part-time position so I could continue working as an architectural photographer. • Here I was, on the other side, getting to understand the inner workings of one of the magazines that I had admired and desperately wanted to see my photos published in. I quickly began shooting and photo editing for the magazine and my work was reaching more of the architecture and design community than ever before. It was exhilarating. During my time there I got to talk to the leading architecture and design firms in the US and abroad and as a result began to work for some of them after I left Metropolis magazine. I am still quite connected to that magazine emotionally and professionally.

Describe one of your first assignments as a full-fledged architectural photographer. • One of my first memorable assignments was shooting Steven Holl’s vacation house for the book The Green House. I was hired by one of the writers of the book, Alanna Stang, who had gotten my name from Alexandra Brez who was an editor at the now-defunct Interiors magazine. I was very familiar with Steven Holl’s work because Paul Warchol shot most of it then and I often admired it on the light box when I worked for Paul. I arrived at the house with my husband in tow as my assistant; we had decided to make a weekend out of it because it was Fall and the house is located in beautiful Rhinebeck, NY. It was a perfect Fall day and Steven was there to walk me through the house and after a little while he said, “You’ve worked for Paul, so you know what I like,” and got in his Jeep and drove away. So there I was, totally unsupervised, allowed to freely interpret his house and his vision. I felt a real sense of accomplishment after the shoot that had been for the book, when Steven Holl bought every single one of my photos to showcase the house. That was no small victory for me, and a very special memory to this day.

What is it like for you to have the architect or designer on the photo shoot? • I am able to internalize all of the client’s input and concerns that are relayed to me prior to or at

38 Bilyana Dimitrova the start of the shoot and then focus as I let my eye guide me. I feel that whenever my eye isn’t guiding the process, confusion ensues. I was recently on a shoot. It was the first time that I had worked with this particular architect, so I was very collaborative from the start. I always like to set the precedent that it’s a collaboration. I showed her each shot after I framed it up for her to give her feedback. She would look at my composition and say, “How about if we pull back or if we move a bit this way?” I’d shoot my composition and then shoot the angle that she proposed and each time she decided that she was happiest with my original composition. After this happened three or so times she said, “I give up; just don’t show me anymore. Yours is always the best.” And she said jokingly, “You should do this for a living!” She realized that for each composition I framed up, I had already weighed all the pros and cons of looking at the design from that angle and what I had found was the angle. You have to trust your eye and your instinct; that is why you are there! I try to keep that as unblocked as possible and try to look at the project with new eyes each time I move the camera.

Do you prefer shooting one type of architecture or design to another? • I rarely, if ever, judge a project that I am hired to shoot. To me, and it may sound hokey, it really is a privilege each time I am entrusted to document an architect’s or designer’s massive efforts. I am that last piece of the puzzle to complete their journey of the design process and enable them to send the project off into the world. More than anything else I feel that I am respected and valued, which is why I have been brought on and I want to do good. I want to get it all down for them and for future generations to possibly learn from. I can be a snob when it comes to what I like off the shoot, but I never bring that with me on the shoot. My photographs are a vessel through which the project can live on and I am fully aware of that.

Do you see what you do professionally as art making? • One of the photographers I assisted for, Jeff Goldberg, once said something to me that I actually think about on a regular basis. We were getting ready to the shoot the atrium of a large commercial building and as he began to set up the camera he looked at me and said, “Now, let’s make some art!” I loved hearing that on a commercial assignment, having transitioned from making art photography to aspiring to be a commercial photographer myself. What that said to me is that just because we are getting paid to do this doesn’t mean we can’t make it ours; make it an expression of our experience. I always aim for that on the shoot. My roots are in the fine art process of image making and I apply that each time I pick up the camera.

How has photographing architecture and design affected you? • All of my personal projects are informed by what I do professionally; this exhibition, the Continued on page 120

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 39 Joe Fletcher

Shooting chrome was such a nightmare and took many years off of any photographer’s life, I think. Oakland, ca – Born and raised in London, UK, Joe Fletcher studied painting at Chelsea College of Art & Design, receiving his BA in Fine Art. He © Michele Fletcher later attended Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating with a MFA in Image and Communication. In 2003, Joe left London to begin a photography career in San Francisco and his photos have since been featured in magazines such as Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, and San Francisco magazine. Joe is the photographer for two books: Ranch Houses, Living the California Dream (Rizzoli) and Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House (Rizzoli). He lives in Oakland, CA. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © JOE FLETCHER BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 41 What drew you to field of architectural photography? • I started out doing painting in art school. That’s what I thought I wanted to do, and while I was there I got more interested in photography. Painting was so overbearing for me because it seemed so narcissistic. With photography you could go out and find your subject and there was a great release for me in that. I was also working at a Terence Conran design store called Habitat in London and that strangely got me interested in architecture and design. These things coalesced together slowly but surely. • I didn’t know what to do with myself and I went to this friend of mine and begged her to find me a job. She was dating this older art director who was very cool and he told me that he’d get me a job working for an advertising photographer. So I went to work for the advertising photographer and got really interested in commercial photography and what that meant. It was a great departure from doing artwork. It was nice to be hired by a client to shoot a job, get it done and also be able to charge somebody for what you were doing. But I also realized that I did not actually want to be an advertising photographer myself. • I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of my career even though I was learning a lot. And I had this epiphany in a pub when I picked up a copy of Wallpaper magazine; in it there were a couple of pictures by Richard Pare of a Tadao Ando building. Seeing his work made think back to what I was doing when I was painting, which was also this kind of quiet and contemplative work using light and it was quite graphic as well. I began to think that architectural photography was wonderful from then on. I never knew that architectural photography even existed as a profession before then. So I did a MFA at Goldsmiths for Photography, where I met my wife who is from San Francisco, and then moved to San Francisco and started working as an architectural photographer.

What were some of the things that you learned when you were working as a pho- to assistant? • I worked for an advertising photographer for three years and we shot a plethora of stuff. It’s a great way to learn because with an advertising photographer you have the budget to rent all the top equipment and learn how to use it. I didn’t really assist any architectural photographers. Maybe that would have been a good thing but I think that you really need to get out there and figure out how you want to shoot. For a lot of photographers, I think the drawback of assisting big name photographers is that your work ends up looking like theirs. It’s not always the case but I’ve definitely seen that.

Tell me about your first assignment as an architectural photographer? • My first official assignment was for an architecture firm in London and I got it through the advertising photographer that I assisted for. He knew one of the Magnum photographers, whose wife was an architect, and they asked me if I would take some photographs for her firm because

42 Joe Fletcher De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA | Architect: Herzog and de Meuron | Photographed 2009

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 43 Desert House, Palm Springs, CA | Architect: Jim Jennings Architecture | Photographed 2009

44 Joe Fletcher Casa La Palma, Mexico City, Mexico | Architect: Miguel Ángel Aragonés Architects | Photographed 2011

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 45 they knew I was interested in shooting architecture. So it was a bit overwhelming really because it was my first commission for an architect and the architect’s husband happened to be a Magnum photographer. And in my extreme ignorance at the time, which only benefited me, I didn’t think much of it. So I got on with it but remember that I blew everything they were paying me on film because I was so worried about getting the exposures wrong. I did brackets like you couldn’t believe, like a 6-stop bracket for each shot. Thank God those days are over. Shooting chrome was such a nightmare and took many years off of any photographer’s life, I think.

What was it like for you to make the switch to digital photography? • The advertising photographer I used to assist for once said to me, “You need to chose your camera carefully because the camera is going to dictate the way you shoot.” Whenever I’ve switched to a different camera system my work has suffered and then come back again. If you’re at all struggling with your camera, that takes your mind away from what you’re shooting. You need to know your camera; it should become second nature. What was nice about the 4x5 camera was that you put the dark cloth over your head and it allowed you to get into the zone, into your little world. I sometimes put a dark cloth over my head now to see the digital screen and it’s really more for me to block out the other things that are going on. • I still really miss shooting 4x5 film, despite the nightmare of scanning it and taking out all the dust. I will never miss getting the dust off the damn film; I probably took a good two years off my life doing that but I still love how film responds to light. So I try to get that same feel with whatever I am doing now with digital photography. Some of my photo assistants have never shot film and I feel that if you never have you have a different set of expectations of how the camera responds to light. To be honest I’m never quite satisfied with it. For example, I’m never satisfied with how greens read. It’s getting better though, much better.

Tell me how you began to get assignments when you first moved to San Francisco from London? • When I first came to San Francisco I thought I’d start by assisting photographers there but I went and showed my portfolio to Dwell magazine instead. I had been in this limbo phase up to that point, it was right after 9/11 and I was trying to get a fiancé visa. I was in this strange situation where I wasn’t officially allowed to work in the States but I also wasn’t allowed to leave. So I wandered all around San Francisco, hauling around this 4x5 camera that weighed a ton, and I took pictures of whatever looked good. I put together a portfolio and showed it to Dwell magazine and they actually really liked it and they gave me my first commission. After that point I thought, well, I don’t need to assist, I can do this! Such was my arrogance.

46 Joe Fletcher Encanto Hotel, Acapulco, Mexico | Architect: Miguel Ángel Aragonés Architects | Photographed 2010

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 47 Do you mainly shoot for magazines or architects and designers? • I’ve always shot more for architects and designers as opposed to magazines. Most of my images have been published after I’ve shot them for an architect or a designer. I’ve definitely had many magazine commissions but less and less lately. I guess because magazines don’t have the photo budgets anymore? With Dwell magazine, even though I’ve done a few shoots for them, it never turned into a regular working relationship because I shoot less with people then Dwell magazine does. • The minute you put a person in the picture that totally changes the dy- namic of it and architectural photographers have battled with that from day one. That is the great battle. You can see that with Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller and how they treat people very differently. Shulman really hammed it up with the people living this lavish life—it was this very life-style type of thing—whereas Stoller put a person in the frame but they would be tiny or just a silhouette. People are ultimately more interesting than any kind of design. Anytime a person is prominent in the picture you start staring at them and I think that can be unfortunate for the designer.

Do you work better alone or with the architect or designer present on the photo shoot? • It’s a mix. It depends on the architect. It’s good both ways. Sometimes it’s just me. Sometimes it’s me and my photo assistant. Sometimes it’s me, my photo assistant, the architect, and a bunch of other people. When there are too many people, I personally find it confusing. At the end of the day you are doing a job for somebody and it’s nice to know what’s important to them about the project. It’s a trade off because they see things that you ordinarily wouldn’t because they designed the project but they can also get too fixated on something that’s not going to make a good picture. So it can be difficult to have them on the shoot or it can be wonderful. • When you are alone you can find pictures that you can only find with no one around because you are in this quiet mindset and in your zone. Though it can be a lonely affair if you’re always working alone. • One thing that is very disruptive, and I’m starting to experience it more and more, is when the architect also has a camera and is taking all the same shots that I am taking, sometimes even standing right behind me. There is a comfort in the knowledge that standing next to me doesn’t mean that you will get the same picture. Your angle won’t have the same exactitude that mine has and so much work goes into creating the final image in postproduction, so in a way it only reinforces why I am there. I don’t want to be treated like a camera operator. • When I shoot for the larger firms, it’s design by committee. I’ll often get a collection of pictures that the different designers of the firm have taken that they want me to take with my good camera. Not to be a prima donna, but the reason I do this professionally is so I take the pictures. And with the renderings that

48 Joe Fletcher I’m given, I find myself saying, “Well, I can’t take that picture because the sun is never going to be in that position.” That’s half the time. Or saying, “I could take that picture but I will have to knock down this wall or you will have to suspend me in the air.”

What conditions allow you to take your best photographs? • I like to shoot with natural light as much as possible because I like for the shot to present itself to me. I like it when it hasn’t been a struggle, when I just turn around and say, “Ah, look at that!” The best pictures for me are those that look as if something has been found, not created. I have to get into a zone, a certain headspace because, in a way, it’s a performance. Even if you’re by yourself, it’s this moment of performance. I find that once I have decided to take the last shot of the day, even though I have kept up an amazing level of enthusiasm and intensity up to that moment, I am exhausted and can barely drive home.

Because of your fine art background, do you see yourself as making art on assignment? • I don’t think of myself as an artist in the strict sense, because I recognize that what I do is craft. All craft can bleed into being art, so there is sometimes a cross over, but as long as you’re making something that is meant to serve a function then I think it’s craft. There is a big difference between that and someone taking a picture for the sole purpose of wanting the picture to elicit something. The context is very different. If you say “craft” in an art school setting, it’s dismissive in a way but there is nothing wrong with craft. With art making the first question is always: why are you making it? With craft you are automatically relieved of that question, which for me is brilliant.

How has shooting architecture and design affected you? • My wife would tell you that I am becoming more and more of a nightmare about what we have in the house. I think that I definitely bring the work home with me, and often literally bring it home with me. Also, the one thing that’s hardest for me technically is getting the color just right for the projects that I shoot, so I find a wonderful relief if I go out and shoot in black and white for my personal work. I also often shoot landscapes because you don’t have to worry about straight lines and there is a relief in that as well.

What are some of the things that you most enjoy about what you do professionally? • There’s a great quote by Louis Kahn that goes, “The sun never knew how beautiful it was until it struck the side of a building.” I absolutely love that because for me it sums up what I love about architectural photography, capturing the wonderful beauty of the manmade and nature coming together. ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 49 Timothy Hursley

When the architecture allows it, the commissioned work can become personal too. Little Rock, AR – Timothy Hursley was © Jeanie Hursley born in 1955 in De- troit, Michigan, where he apprenticed with Balthazar Korab beginning in 1972. His apprenticeship continued until he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1980, where he started his own studio. From 1982 to 1987, he made architectural photographs of Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York City. In 1990, he was awarded an Honor Award for his architectural photography by the American Institute of Architects. In 1994, Timothy first began documenting the work of Samuel Mockbee’s Rural Studio, which has resulted in three books: Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), Proceed and Be Bold (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), and a forthcoming volume cele- brating twenty years of Rural Studio (Princeton Architectural Press, April 2014). In Brothels of Nevada: Candid Views of Americas Legal Sex Industry (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003) Timothy offers a view of this unknown side of America. He has worked closely with many architects during his career, including Gunnar Birkerts, Fay Jones, Antoine Predock, Moshe Safdie, I.M. Pei, and Mack Scogin. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © TIMOTHY HURSLEY BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 51 How did you develop an interest in architectural photography? • I got started in high school. I had a brother who was working for the architectural photographer Balthazar Korab in Michigan. Korab actually needed a yard assistant, I was seventeen at the time and I started working around his yard after school. I ended up staying on for nine years, so it was like an apprenticeship. I wasn’t a photographer or anything like that, didn’t have any interest. I didn’t even think about it, I was a seventeen year old. I very slowly developed an interest through working for Korab, he brought me into the studio to help with whatever was needed and I learned how to make black and white prints. And when I would take a vacation and travel somewhere with a friend, I’d take my camera and take pictures for two to three weeks at a time. • Korab had a big archive and I helped him maintain it and I worked as a photo assistant for him. He didn’t usually use a photo assistant but when he started shooting big hotels, like the Hyatt, I assisted him on those shoots. That was sort of towards the middle to the end of the time that I worked with him. So I wasn’t your typical assistant, it just evolved. • One thing that I remember about assisting is that you didn’t really learn things until you did them yourself. The last three of the nine years that I worked for him I was regularly shooting for a number of his clients and so that’s how I got into it. That was my schooling so to speak. One of the first assignments that Korab sent me on was to shoot the Corning Museum of Glass. Another early one was to shoot the World Trade Center from the New Jersey side. I worked alone on all of those assignments; that was how it was in the early days.

How did you get work as an architectural photographer once you were on your own? • When I left Korab’s studio, I went to join my brother in Arkansas who had a photo studio going there. That was in 1980, so I took my portfolio and went around to Chicago and Atlanta. I already had editorial connections with Architectural Record magazine and Progressive Architecture magazine. These magazines had me going around the country taking pictures and then architects began to call and that got me going. • I recall working for this young New York architecture firm at the time, Bentley La Rosa Salasky. I was sent by Architectural Record magazine to shoot a project of theirs in Maine, a little house in the snow. Working for them was really interesting and meant a lot to me because they, for one, were surprised that I didn’t have an assistant. Coming from Korab’s, it wasn’t unusual for me to work alone but that got me thinking more in a different direction. I also learned a lot from the way they staged and manipulated the interior. I didn’t even shoot Polaroid back then because Korab never did, so that’s another thing that they turned me on to and I shot Polaroid on the next shoot I did

52 Timothy Hursley National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada | Architect: Moshe Safdie | Photographed 1988

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 53 Philip Johnson Study, New Canaan, CT | Architect: Philip Johnson | Photographed 1979

54 Timothy Hursley Alberta and Shepard Bryant in Hay Bale House, Masons Bend, AL | Architect: Rural Studio | Photographed 2000

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 55 for them. I understood then that you needed to shoot Polaroid when you were working with somebody so you could show them what you were doing. That first shoot with Bentley La Rosa Salasky architects was a pivotal moment for me.

Can you describe another early magazine commission that led to more work for you? • I got an assignment to shoot Andy Warhol’s Factory in 1982 for Progressive Architecture magazine and I turned that into a project and kept going back to take more pictures. I shot Warchol moving into his new studio and each time I went to New York City I ended up knocking on the door of another architect. From 1982-1987 I did that pretty regularly.

How did you start to shoot the work of Samuel Mockbee? • I had been in Little Rock for a while and established a bit of a reputation or something and Samuel Mockbee was an architect in Mississippi and we spoke on the phone a couple of times. We were both in the South and I guess that gave me a bit of an in with him. I shot a house of his for Architectur- al Record magazine and first met him in person then. He called me a couple of years later when he had started the Rural Studio at Auburn University and he said he had something really cool for me to shoot. It was the last day of school and I showed up to shoot the Hay Bale House. Mockbee was there and the students were there and so was the family. We all spent a day and a night there and then by the end of it we all dispersed and went home. I came back each year after that, jumping between Architectural Record magazine and Architecture magazine to fund the trips. I also helped promote three of the Rural Studio-designed houses to European magazines and the whole thing just took off and became very popular. We have two books out on the Rural Studio, the first of which sold 38,000 copies and is in its seventh or eighth printing, and we just completed a third that will be out in 2014.

How did shooting the first house by the Rural Studio make you feel? • I had already been here in the South and I had taken a lot of road trips, so I was pretty keen on the environment of the rural South; I already liked it quite a lot. I enjoyed making the first trip to shoot the first Rural Studio designed house so much that I decided that it would be a good way for me to give back to the profession. That’s pretty important for me actually. After a while I was going out regularly on my own, without being sent by a magazine and at my own expense. It’s a seven-hour drive to go there and back and I’ve always driven out there. It has almost been- twenty years of shooting that work. Shooting those projects always seemed more real to me, compared to other houses I had photographed by other architects and definitely challenged

56 Timothy Hursley Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI | Architect: John Portman | Photographed 1978

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 57 the interiors one would see in say, Architectural Digest magazine.

Do you prefer to work alone or do you prefer to collaborate with the architect or designer? • I don’t ever recall an architect being on any of the shoots when I was working with Korab. If an architect asked me today, I’d say by all means. I like bouncing the views off the architect, I always enjoy that but then again I would bounce them off a photo assistant that I hired and never met before too. I certainly don’t insist on it. I just came back from Syra- cuse, NY, where I shot for an architecture firm that I’ve worked for for the last 30 years. They sent someone from their office that also ended up assisting me and we bounced ideas off of each other the whole time. It was great.

What are your thoughts on switching over to digital? • When I got into it I really didn’t want to be lugging around a laptop with me all the time. I was slow to get into it but when I saw the capabilities of the Phase One back and how I could clearly see the image at 100% on the back I started using it regularly. I use a 23mm or a 32mm on a Cambo system. The 32mm lens has movements, so I love that and you can stitch files together to make a wider shot. I switch between using that system and the Canon but I feel bad shooting a 5 billion dollar building and not having the Phase One back with me to get those larger file sizes.

For you, what makes a successful photograph of architecture and design? • The more complexity and layering in the frame the more exciting it is whether it’s a detail or a wide shot. I kind of remember Frank Gehry once saying that he didn’t want details of his buildings and I take that to mean that if you have a cool building you would rather show how complex it is than have a photographer make a personal detail of it. The images that stick out to me are ones that are transformed into something else. They become more like portraits of the architect. I don’t really think about it too much. Just like when somebody asks me what my favorite building is, I say that I don’t really have one. There are so many great ones. I can only really say that I’ve always been very satisfied with photographing architecture; I’ve always felt that. Since I basically fell into it at such a young age, I didn’t really come out and choose it. It was just happening. I’ve done personal work all along the way and when the architecture allows it the commissioned work can become personal too.

How has photographing architecture and design influenced you? • I bought a silo that I came across near the Rural Studio that was augmented by a storm and I’ve been shooting it for a year during different weather conditions. It’s a personal project that is really

58 Timothy Hursley reflective of my experience with architecture and design. I look at the silo as a piece of sculpture and I am a lot more excited by it as a piece of sculpture than, say, Little Rock airport. It’s a piece of sculpture that’s part of our built environment and that has been altered into an abstract form by nature. To me it looks like an early Frank Gehry. Taschen is even publishing my photographs of the silo in their book: Small Architecture Now. How much more on the edge can you get than anointing that as architecture? ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 59 Alan Karchmer

Photoshop tools are important, but not nearly as important as how you see. Washington, d.c. – Alan Karchmer’s life in photography began © Chris Flynn while studying architecture at Tulane University where he received his Masters in Architecture in 1978. The foundation of critical thinking in architecture that he developed at that time continues to inform his vision. Alan is a self-taught photographer to whom understanding how to read a building and tell its story through photographs comes naturally. Since 1980, Alan’s images have been published worldwide in the architectural press and books. His photographs have been seen in major museum exhibitions in the US and abroad, and are privately collected. His images have helped his clients win numerous awards in international, national and regional design competitions. Alan is pleased to count among his clients American Institute of Architects Gold Medalists and Firms of the Year. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © ALAN KARCHMER BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 61 How did you go from wanting to be an architect to wanting to be a photographer? • I was an architecture student back in the ‘70s at Tulane University. I entered architecture school somewhat naively and the design process was very difficult for me. I came to realize, in later years, that I have difficulty imaging and visualizing in three dimensions, which inhibit- ed my skills as an architect. I got a camera when I was in architecture school and was drawn to architectural subjects. The ability to view things and communicate them visually with my camera came naturally for me. • When an artist-in-resident came to the school to produce a film on adaptive-reuse, my professor, who was a mentor and knew of my interest in photography, felt that this project would be good for me to work on. I had relatively little experience in photography at that point and had never touched a motion picture camera, so I cut my teeth and learned as I did it. The film actually went on to win a national trust award the year it was made or soon after that.

When did you realize that architectural photography was a field you could go into? • There was this older student who came to the architecture program, probably when I was in my third or fourth year and he had been working as an architectural photographer in Memphis, which was my hometown. I learned from him that architectural photography was a career in and of itself. I had seen all the photographs in books but as a student I didn’t really think about where these photographs came from. So he encouraged me to pursue it as a career. • When I started there really wasn’t anyone to assist, so I never worked as a pho- to assistant. When I was in architecture school I took a basic class on how to use a camera. Then one summer towards the end of my studies in architecture, when I already knew that I wanted to pursue architectural photography as a career, I took an independent studies course to learn how to use a 4x5 camera. I got used to seeing things upside down and backwards pretty quickly. And I really took to the slow and contemplative method of working that the 4x5 camera encourages.

How did you get your start as an architectural photographer? • I was back home in Memphis in the mid-late ‘70s and, with the lack of intimidation one has at that age, I approached the art museum with the idea of producing an exhibit on the architecture of the city. I was 22 at the time. I got an NEA grant when they were giving grants for individual projects like that. The project was barely funded but it gave me the opportunity to learn how to use the view camera. When the work was finished and the exhibit was on display, my portfolio was up before the community and my first prospective clients. It was quite a leap in terms of committing to do something where my skills had never been tested before and it was quite successful! After that I started soliciting work and getting clients. • Once I had something

62 Alan Karchmer Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel | Architect: Moshe Safdie & Associates | Photographed 2004

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 63 Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI | Architect: Santiago Calatrava | Photographed 2002

64 Alan Karchmer John Hejduk Memorial Towers, Santiago de Compostella, Spain | Architect: John Hejduk | Photographed 2003

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 65 of a portfolio and enough experience to start questioning what I was doing, I contacted a few established photographers to see if they would be willing to talk to me about my work, like Steve Rosenthal and Norman McGrath. I was surprised and pleased that they were willing to take the time to talk to someone that was just starting out in their field. It was very reassuring and encouraging. They were complimentary of my work. I had figured out ways of dealing with mixed light sources and of neutralizing color doing multiple exposures, through my own ingenuity you could say. It was very complicated and I thought that there had to be a better way of doing this. I was reassured to find out, after talking to these photographers, that I had figured out the best way to do it!

What is it like for you to have the architect or designer on the photo shoot? • Early on the architect played a stronger role in identifying shots and shaping them but I’ve always felt a part of the community. I speak the language and understand what their objectives are and how an architect sees their work. As my eye and skills have matured over the years I have come to understand that a gifted photographer has the ability to bridge between how an architect reads a project and how other people read it. A photograph can explain the architecture more broadly than just seeing it from the architect’s point of view. • Some- thing that I struggle with is when clients are overly controlling of how the project is going to be photographed. We all have a range of client involvement on the photo shoot. In order to survive professionally and to respond professionally, we have to be able to deal with a range of client input. My best work comes from an introduction to the project by my client and then being left on my own. If a client has a really strong presence on a photo shoot and is extremely controlling, I find myself just tuning into that and my vision sort of shuts down.

Your wife often does the styling for your photo shoots. What’s your working relationship like? • My wife is a professional stylist and is on a quarter to a third of all of my shoots. If I’m shooting a residence or an office interior that requires a lot of propping she has a much bigger presence and less so for institutional projects. A good part of it is bringing props to the shoot and also working with the resources that happen to be on site. I’ve definitely learned a lot from her. She has what I call “the placement gene” of just knowing where things belong. I have my own ideas about things and I tend to see things more minimally and architectonically. She will introduce things when she feels I’m being excessive with that approach. In general my tendency with all of this is that it should appear as if nothing has been done. Sometimes just a compositional element needs to be added that fills a void as a three dimensional space is translated into a two dimensional photograph. In addition to documenting architecture we are also creating well-composed images.

66 Alan Karchmer Liége-Guillemins TGV Railway Station, Liége, Belgium | Architect: Santiago Calatrava | Photographed 2011

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 67 What conditions allow you to make your best photographs? • An aspect of architecture that I relate to personally and visually is the context, whether it’s urban or pastoral or whether it’s the context of the original building when I’m shooting a renovation or an addition. When I can explore those elements of the design it peaks my personal interest. I like it when I don’t have to isolate the project from its context. As a professional, I can shoot almost any project and do my job well but when a project has qualities that I particularly respect or have a personal interest in, it’s the most rewarding and that translates into the overall character of the images that I make.

For you, what makes a successful photograph of architecture and design? • I respond to photographs that have a sense of honesty about them. We operate with the obligation to be flattering of whatever it is that we are commissioned to shoot, so when an image has a sense of reality and honesty that really peaks my interest. Early in my career, Timothy Hursley was one of the very influential practicing photographers for me. I credit him for di- verging from the approach in architectural photography that had really been quite dominant in the ‘60s and early ‘70s of this very archetypal way of presenting works of architecture. His work introduced a more relaxed way of looking at things and I related to that and he influenced me quite a bit. If I had to characterize it, it was images with a softer quality of light and not only having images with bright sun and blue skies.

Describe your transition from shooting with a 4x5 camera to shooting with a digital camera? • I was certainly not reluctant to switch and I didn’t hang onto film with a clenched fist at all, but I did want tools that maintained my process and the methods to which I had grown accustomed. So I found a camera that can still compose on the ground glass; I use a Phase One back on an Alpa. I shoot tethered to a laptop for virtually all circumstances. Having the ability to study the composition on the screen is such a huge improvement over Polaroids. For me, the 35mm DSLR cameras are too easy to shoot with. I was afraid that I would get lazy and that such a radical change in the way that I work would affect my images in a negative way. Then you look at Iwan Baan’s work, which is done with a 35mm DSLR, and it’s so spontaneous and free-spirited. It’s my belief that the character of his work is defined by the ease in which it is made. • There is a small efficiency that is gained in doing things digitally, but com- posing—the fundamental steps that go into making a photograph—are all still there. There’s a lot less gear and supplies to carry, that’s for sure. Having all the post-production tools now, I definitely light less on site but sometimes there is still no substitute for it. Not that much has changed fundamentally. Photoshop tools are important, but not nearly as important as how you see.

68 Alan Karchmer How has photographing architecture and design affected you? • I’m always looking for images when I am looking at cities and the built environment. I just returned a few days ago from doing a personal project in Italy, photographing Palladian architecture. It’s very interesting to be moving through a place, just looking for pictures. I have a couple of clients that have been purchasing some of my images as fine art and my archive was running low. I needed more material. It’s interesting because when I was in Italy, I was hoping for bright and sunny days but I ended up having lots of overcast days. And I actually came to prefer that light because it made things appear less precious. I didn’t want to make postcard images and the light gave the images a bittersweet cast.

Do you see what you do professionally as art making? • On the whole I would say that I am not making art while I am on assignment but there are definitely individual images that can rise to that level. To an extent I feel that that attribution needs to come from a person other than the one that created the image. It’s our obligation to be flattering and I think that imposes something on what we do and makes it challenging for our images to rise to the level of art.

Describe your mindset at the beginning and at the end of the photo shoot? • When things are working properly I’m focused and searching for vantage points that reveal the essence of the work or an important aspect of the work. Always moving. Always on my feet. At the end, I am usually very happy to be finished. I have a sense of when my work is done. I love my job but I also enjoy being done with it. ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 69 Jon Miller

After a really great shoot, your legs should be aching and your butt should be dragging. Chicago, IL – Jon Miller studied under Beaumont Newhall at the University of New Mexico, and holds a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. He started at the Chicago-based photo studio Hedrich Blessing in 1979 working as Bill He- © Stuart-Rogers Photography drich’s assistant and was trained under his tutelage. Bill was one of the studio’s founders and a pioneer in the field of architectural photography. Jon has photographed dozens of award winning architecture and design projects. His work appears often in publications such as Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Architectural Record, and Contract magazine. Jon’s photographs of various Frank Lloyd Wright Houses and structures are widely reproduced in monographs and specialty materials. Jon’s photographs of the Farnsworth House are in the archive of the Museum of Modern Art. He is the president of Hedrich Blessing and has judged multiple design competitions and lectured across the country. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION JON MILLER © HEDRICH BLESSING BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 71 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • That’s probably the question that gets the most interesting answers, right? For me it was during my time at the Rhode Island School of Design when a teacher of mine, Wendy MacNeil, started to ask us about what we were thinking of doing when we graduated. That was three or four months before we were out of there and I had been doing a series of pictures that were kind of architectural. I just started to be drawn to these strange little Colonial houses in Providence. They gave me the idea that I could take these kinds of pictures and feed my family, but I did not want to be a “commercial photographer.” Back in 1979 that meant you would be working inside a studio, which I had no desire to do. Everything I was doing was on location and I was infatuated with buildings. • What really drew me to architectural photography was that it was a great way to marry my photographic vision to a commercial application. I was looking for a way to survive and I thought that this would be an artful endeavor that would feed me creatively. I did some research and found out that the photo studio Hedrich Blessing was back home in Chicago. I wrote them a letter asking to see Jack Hedrich and I finally got an interview. I interviewed to be an assistant and was hired right out of school. I was 22. • Nick Merrick, who is four years my senior at Hedrich Blessing, had just gone on camera and the others were older photographers. It did not look to me like it would be that easy and frankly it wasn’t. The chances and opportunities that were given back then were few and far in between. When I was starting, the Hedrichs were busy enough where they could just say “No we don’t shoot that,” so as an assistant you would not get an assignment of any kind unless you were going to be promoted. It wasn’t until the ‘90s that we got looser with that and started to send assistants out to shoot assignments that were more favors for our clients.

How long did it take you to get your first assignment as a photographer at Hedrich Blessing? • Bill Hedrich got an assignment to photograph the Chicago River; it was about three years into my apprenticeship with him. That area was very underdeveloped at the time. The assignment was to get out on Lake Shore Drive, which was a pretty dangerous spot, and look down to the river. Bill and I scouted the shots together and he looked at me and said, “This one is for you.” Sure, let me risk life and limb here! So that was the first one; I felt empowered and excited and I knew it was going to work. • By the time we’re given an assignment, these guys are pretty sure that we’re ready. It never occurred to me that it wouldn’t work. I wasn’t afraid of it. Bill would say to me “I won’t give you that assignment because you won’t look good on that.” He’d give me assignments that I would look good on. In other words, that I was appropriate for. When I think back on it, it’s kind of like not setting up someone to fail. He liked me, so every time he’d send me out he wanted me to succeed. You’d

72 Jon Miller Farnsworth House, Plano, IL | Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | Photographed 1985

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 73 181 Madison Street Building, Chicago, IL | Architect: César Pelli | Photographed 1991

74 Jon Miller WilmerHale, Washington, DC | Architect: Lehman Smith McLeish | Photographed 2007

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 75 do a job and it would be reviewed by the Hedrichs— critiqued and all that stuff—not in a bad way but to make sure you understood what was going on, a mentoring process. Bill was in my corner and really wanted me to go on. There was a high level of sensitivity to the younger folk; always has been.

What were some important things that you learned from working with Bill Hedrich? • The thing that I picked up on right away was that Bill fell in love with every job that he got. If I ever complained to him—like I once remember saying to him “Why are you shooting this? They should have someone else shoot this”—he said, “We’ll talk about that later.” He made it clear to me that every job you shoot, you couldn’t afford to have an opinion until you’re done. Say you walk into a job and you think, “What am I doing here? This is crap.” You’re never going make good pictures. You’re never going to be able to clear that out of yourself. That’s the difference from someone who is a pro and not a pro. So when we left that job he told me “Look, I try to find something good in everything that I shoot.” • He wasn’t psyching himself up, even though people thought that he was because he would get really excited and people would say, “Wow you’re getting so excited over this.” He was always a very “up” kind of guy. And he would fall in love, basically, with everything. He’d always say “You’re there because you love to do it and the minute the client senses that that’s not why you’re there, then you’re not there for the right reasons anymore. You’re not out there to make money, you’re there because you love it.” The Hedrichs always said that if you concentrate on the work and on beautiful things—they used the word beautiful all the time—the clients would line up outside your door. So the biggest thing I learned from Bill is that you’re there for the right reasons, because you love it.

Tell me about Bill Hedrich’s working relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright. • Bill thought that Frank Lloyd Wright was the bee’s knees. Wright really loved to talk over pictures, so when Bill would go do an assignment for him, he would always come back and make fairly large prints. Then they would sit and talk about the pictures together. • Wright would frequently take a print and lay it out on his drafting table, he would lay tracing paper over it and say, “See how the light is falling here, this shot was made about 8:30 in the morning.” And Bill would say, “Well how do you know that?” Bill was in his twenties then, just starting out. And Wright would say, “What do you mean how do I know that? I design my houses for the sun; I orient my rooms to maximize the daylight. Now let me show you what would happen if you shot the house at 4 p.m.” And he would take a pencil and he would reverse the shadows and darken the light areas and he’d say, “Well, what do you think of that Bill?” And Bill would say, “Well, I think it looks pretty bad. There’s no sun on your building, Mr. Wright. It’s all in the

76 Jon Miller Robie House, Chicago, IL | Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright | Photographed 1989

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 77 foreground. You’ve rendered this thing where the flowers are bright and here is your building in the background and it’s dark.” • So there was this debate between the two. Wright would say, “Okay, just make sure my overhangs aren’t too dark,” because he designed these overhangs that were very deep. It is, of course, natural for the overhangs to be in shadow unless you’re there shooting at dawn or dusk when the sun is really low. Bill picked up on that and he realized that he needed to be there early and be there at dusk, for what we now call “the magic hour.” • This was when they were all starting out. They didn’t know yet about architectural photography light delineation, how to pick the right time of day. They were just figuring it all out. So Bill had twenty or thirty of these freehand sketches by Wright that he would roll up and keep. It wasn’t until years later, when Wright was in Arizona, that there was an editorial piece and the big headline was “Architectural photographer regrets throwing our Frank Lloyd Wright drawings.” They weren’t really drawings, of course, but expressions drawn over Bill’s photographs and I guess he just threw them out one day.

What is it like for you when the architect or the designer is present on the photo shoot? • I feed off of it. When I worked with Bill, Gene Summers, Mies van der Rohe’s right hand guy, would just toss out things for debate. He said things like “What’s more important composition or lighting?” That was like throwing a bomb in the room. I remember Bill said, “I could take any composition, even if it’s crappy, and make you love it with my light.” And Gene said, “Okay Bill, I knew that’s what you were going to say. Jon what do you say?” I said, “For me, it’s gotta be both!” I like the high level of conversation and debate that goes on. Our job as photographers is to be methodic enough so we get the client to see it our way, just methodic enough. I’ve only made a few pictures in my life that the client didn’t think I should take. When that happens you do need to go along. It’s a collaborative effort. We’re not out there making pictures for ourselves, we’re there making them for our clients.

Tell me about the evolution of lighting styles amongst the Hedrich Blessing photographers. • The only tools we have are light and shadow, especially back when they started, shooting in black and white. Right around when I started at Hedrich Blessing, they were beginning to shrug off the notion that the photographer’s hand should be heavy on the shot. You can see that right around the late ‘70s, a lot of the dramatic shadows, a lot of these up- lights are being seen less and less and a more natural look became more important. Bill used a lot of lighting when I was working with him. We’d go out with ten cases of lights. Frequently on his shots, I’d have fifteen different lights going; sometimes I’d have twenty. He liked to use a mixture of key-lights, direct lights, and he’d fill in the shadows with a fill light. So the lighting was snappy, there was contrast and there was edge but it was a lot softer. Bill also used a lot

78 Jon Miller of gels; he didn’t use flash so I’d have to use these big Rosco gels over the windows to convert the daylight to tungsten. I absolutely hated it.

How has digital photography changed your method of working? • We are actually finding now that we can use our lighting more efficiently. We never stop evolving, and the discussions about lighting continue. We used to talk over the light boxes, now we talk over the monitors. We used to expose eight sheets of 4x5 chrome per shot because we delivered original film to the client. The client was not so concerned with the cost of the film but that we could run out. You could only bring so much film with you to the shoot and you always felt like you wouldn’t have enough. Back then we built images on site, which is a double entendre because we are taking pictures of buildings. Some of these shots took three hours; you mas- saged everything until it was perfect. There’s always a little bit of hell that comes with every good job.

What is it like being part of such a long-standing collective of photographers? • We are very conscious of the fact that we are an old studio and we don’t want to be seen as a di- nosaur. Bill Hedrich felt that we should always keep the studio young and always listen to the young people. Even when I started as a photographer at Hedrich Blessing, they never showed the old photography. The Hedrichs would say, “We don’t want to live in the past.” Then they’d soften up again and let it back in. We try very hard not to formalize the process, we embrace that we’re all like snowflakes that we’re all different.

What are some of the things that you get excited about on the photo shoot? • For me it’s about the wide-angle. I like engaging with the building and then going wide because I like big shots of big spaces. That really is my favorite thing to do. My colleague Nick Merrick says, “No one can shoot wide-angle like Jon can.” Ken Hedrich would often say, “Back up and use a longer lens.” Bill, Ken’s brother, would counter that and call it “buck-eye photography.” He believed that anyone could put on a wide-angle lens and show you everything. That’s not being selective. Bill wanted to engage with the building; he was not that into backing-up. The 65mm was the widest lens you could use on a 4x5 camera back then and he called that a “no brainer lens.” The widest lens he allowed himself to use was the 75mm. • If you just leave a wide-angle lens on, we call that “abuse of a wide-angle.” So what I wanted to do was figure out how to use a wide-angle lens well. That was the challenge for me. The shot you chose for the exhibition of the law firm, with the people on the bridge, was shot with a 47mm on a Schneider, so that’s a super wide shot. That’s like a 17mm lens on 35mm camera. For me it’s about the explosion of space. The camera is inside the space and it is Continued on page 121

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 79 Undine Pröhl

Because I am often choosing what I photograph, I also have the freedom to choose what I like. los angeles, ca – Undine Pröhl studied at the Academy of © Lazaros Papademetropoulos Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany and worked as a designer in different architecture firms before coming to Los Angeles in 1982. At first she worked as a designer in the offices of Frederick Fisher and Frank Gehry but soon focused her interests on architectural photography and started contributing to several European architecture and design publications. Over the years, she has photographed the projects of many leading architects in the US, Canada, Mexico, and South America. Her emphasis is always to capture architectural spaces not only as a photographer but also with the eyes of a designer. Her images have been published internationally in numerous books and magazines including: Interior Design, Architectural Re- cord, The New York Times, Abitare, Interni, Diseno Interior, A+U, and books by Taschen, Rizzoli, Phaidon Press, and Collins Design. She is the US correspondent for the German magazine Häuser for which she works as an editor and photographer. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © UNDINE PRÖHL BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 81 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • I started studying architecture and design in Germany, but I was always interested in photography and even took photography classes as a student. My photographs were always of architecture. At the time that I graduated there was a lot going on in L.A. All these young architects that used to work for Frank Gehry were coming of age, so I decided that this was the place to be. There was a lot happening! I started working as a designer in architecture studios in L.A. and then I wanted to start reporting what was happening here to magazines in Europe. That’s the way I started working for the German magazine Häuser. I was not so much a writer but I would contribute the photography and help them put the stories together.

As someone who worked in architecture studios, with no photo assisting experience, what was it like for you when you started to get professional shoots? • I have an eye for it and a feel for the architecture, so I can photograph it. I always saw it as a new challenge. I enjoyed it and I liked doing it. I was doing more and more work for magazines and it was easy to step into the role of the photographer, so that made the shift easier for me and I left the field of architecture. As someone who worked in architecture studios I also had all the connections with the different firms already established, which helped me as well. I never assisted any architectural photographers but I actually accompanied Tim Street-Porter on quite a few photo shoots. I was interested in the projects that he was photographing for the European magazines that I was working with and I got to learn from him at the same time.

What was your first commission as an architectural photographer? • I put together a big story on a number of L.A. architects who were all doing interesting work and that was the first time my pictures were published. I became a correspondent for Häuser magazine after that but I have always shot for both magazines and architects, and of course the two go hand in hand.

Tell me what your working relationship is like with the architect or designer on the shoot? • They aren’t always present but if they are I really like their input. After all, they are the ones that have spent so much time with the project. They know every corner, the time of the day that it photographs best and all these things. These projects are like little babies for them, so I like to work with the architect and I think it’s very helpful. I like the teamwork. I’ve always thought of the presence of the architect or designer as a plus, not a minus. I’ve never had a controlling client. I often chose the projects that I shoot. I am usually approaching the architect because I’ve selected their project for an article, so I’m coming at it from a different angle than most photographers. When I work alone, I do take a bit more time

82 Undine Pröhl Chicken Point Cabin, Chicken Point, ID | Architect: Olson Kundig Architects | Photographed 2003

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 83 Charles Deaton House, Colorado | Architect: Charles Deaton | Photographed 2001

84 Undine Pröhl Glass/Wood House, New Canaan, CT | Architect: Kengo Kuma | Photographed 2011

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 85 to experience the project and examine it at different times of the day but usually there is very little difference for me between working with the architect and working alone.

What are the ideal conditions for you for a successful shoot? • I like to have the time to experience the project before starting the shoot. If I have the luxury of having two days, then I like to scout the first day and on the second day I can go from shot to shot more easily and know what I’m doing. You have to get to know the project a little bit. I am not the kind of person that shows up, puts the tripod down and starts. Sometimes I’ll have someone accompanying me from the architect’s office or a photo assistant and I can sense them getting a little antsy and thinking to themselves: boy when does she start? I don’t want to miss anything or end up doing things over again at the end.

What do you enjoy the most about what you do? • For me I enjoy it most when I’m photographing exciting, new architecture. When the texture, the materials and when the landscape really add to the whole experience of the project. What I most enjoy is if it’s really an innovative project in some way. Then it’s also more challenging to photograph, which I like. Because I am often choosing what I photograph, I also have the freedom to choose what I like.

For you, what makes a successful photograph of architecture or design? • I feel I have succeeded when I can take a picture of a three-dimensional building, make it two-dimensional in my photograph, and still convey the three-dimensional experience of it. Some- times that can be lost in translation. I feel that I have succeeded when I can express what the building means and especially what it means for the architect. That’s when I’m really happy. It’s interesting when I see another photographer’s photographs of a project that I have also photographed; you then begin to compare the two and ask, “Well, who shot it better?” So you are always working hard to have the better and more interesting approach, but you don’t always succeed.

Describe your transition from film to digital photography. • I started with a medium format Hasselblad but have switched over to digital photography. I never used the 4x5, maybe because I was never officially trained as an architectural photographer. I also worked very well with the Hasselblad for the projects that I was shooting at the time. And because of the many editorial assignments I was doing, and still do, I travel a lot and that would have been quite difficult with heavy 4x5 camera equipment. • I work with Canon. I now have to do a lot of work on the computer and it was a lot easier in the film days in that regard. After you

86 Undine Pröhl Hale Residence, Los Angeles, CA | Architect: Rios Clementi Hale Studios | Photographed 2012

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 87 shot it, you developed it and there was minimal work on the images after the shoot. Now you have a much harder job on the editing end. You can get more easily carried away and take too many brackets, though I really try to restrain myself. You can also get carried away in postproduction too, with what you add in or what you take out of the photograph. We are often told by the magazine or architect what they want us to take out in Photoshop, but after that you can take it too far yourself and you have to be careful.

Describe how digital photography has affected the way you work on the shoot. • In the past I used more strobe lighting. I still use a little bit but I try to mainly use natural light when it is possible for a more natural look. I often use reflectors to bring in the natural daylight, and if I use artificial light, I do it so you can’t tell and that can be very time consuming. I don’t like it when you can tell that there was additional lighting used. Digital is a lot more forgiving in this regard because you can adjust the lighting in Photoshop, but my process is still to do as much as possible on the actual shoot so that I don’t need to make too many changes later. It comes from my days in film, using Polaroids. Back then if it didn’t look good on the Polaroid, it wouldn’t look any better on film. So you did what you could to make it look as perfect as possible. I still aim for that on the shoot. Now the client is also saying, “Oh, you can just Photoshop that out.” They are not always aware of how time consuming it can be to correct some of these things in postproduction. If I can change it on site and make less work for myself in Photoshop, I prefer that.

How does shooting architecture and design affect you? • Well I am more hyper aware of what could be a great shot even when I am not working, but I have always been very aware of architecture and design. I spend a lot of time looking for new projects to shoot, actually, and because I know so many architects I can keep up on what is going on more as an insider.

Do you have any funny anecdotes from past photo shoots? • Well I shoot a lot of residences and I can fill a book with stories, but I better not! I once went to a house designed by a very good architect without knowing at all what the interior of the house looked like. We arrived and we could not shoot it as it was. It was filled with old furniture from the owner’s previous house. We ended up taking out most of the furniture and putting it behind the house. When we were done I told the owner that we could move it all back and she said to me, “No, I like it like this much better! I’ll keep it like this!” Another story involves one of the other photographers in this exhibition. I was photographing a house by Warren Schwartz and Paul Warchol was also there that same day taking pictures. Those awkward moments do come up at times when you realize you are not the only photographer on the site.

88 Undine Pröhl Do you see what you do as art making? • I am documenting a building or a space but I always try to achieve that in the most artistic way possible. It’s not pure art, like architecture isn’t “art” because it has a functional purpose. You could of course photograph a building as art but the pictures would be totally different. The pictures would no longer document the building and I don’t have that liberty; this is how I make a living.

What is your state of mind on a photo shoot? • For me I’m not a multi-tasking kind of person, so when I do a shoot I have to set my mind on doing it 100%, otherwise it can’t work for me. I try to be really committed.

How do you feel at the end of the photo shoot? • Well, I feel like I achieved something, especially when the architect is happy or the magazine is happy. When the images are well received that’s a really good feeling. You need that reinforcement to keep you going. I also don’t mind constructive criticism because that can make the images even better. ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 89 Tim Street-Porter

A great photograph is a whole chemistry of different elements coming together and you just know that they work. It’s hard to intellectualize. Los Angeles, ca – Tim Street-Porter lives and works in Los Angeles and Connecticut. He studied architecture in London before becoming a photographer. Norman Foster was a regular client during this early period in Lon- don. He moved to Los Angeles in 1979. © Annie Kelly • Tim works for a variety of magazines and published six books as author/photographer: Freestyle, the New Architecture and Design of Los Angeles (Stewart Tabori and Chang, 1986), Casa Mexicana (Stewart Tabori and Chang, 1989), The Los Angeles House (Clarkson Potter), Tropical Houses (Clarkson Potter), and, more recently, Los Angeles (Rizzoli), and LA Modern (Rizzoli). He also photographed a series of six Rizzoli books produced by his designer/writer wife Annie Kelly as well as a series of Phaidon monographs on houses by Frank Gehry, Charles Eames, and Greene & Greene. He was the principal photographer on books on leading designers, including Rose Tarlow, Robert Couturier, Nancy Goslee Power and a Santa Monica house by Oscar Niemeyer. He has won various awards including the British Daniel Katz Award for Architectural Photography (1993) and the Lucie Award for Architec- tural Photography (2003). • Tim’s client list includes Benedict Taschen, Alexandra Champalimaud, Paul Marciano, Chris Blackwell, Standard and Chateau Marmont Hotels, David Rockwell, World of Interiors, Architectural Digest, French AD, and Interiors. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © TIM STREET-PORTER BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 91 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • I was in London studying architecture for quite some time, probably for too many years really. I transitioned into taking photographs more as a hobby without having any training. I was lucky. I got work almost instantly through London’s Queen magazine—it became Harper’s & Queen and is now called Harper’s Bazaar. I started shooting all kinds of work: some travel, some still life, some beauty, and even some fashion. I also shot architecture. I gravitated towards architecture and decided that that was what I wanted to concentrate on. • When I started on this path, I had quite a few contacts from architecture school and within just three years I was shooting all of Norman Foster’s early work and the work of James Sterling and Richard Rogers. I started working for architecture magazines, initially Italian, and then started working for American ones too. And because I never had any training, I tried to work with assistants who knew a lot more about lighting and technical issues than I did. I was depending on my assistants quite a bit for that. I kind of had to bluff my way through and mistakes were made along the way. I was really throwing myself into the deep end with some of those early commissions.

What made you decide that you were not going to become an architect? • I had spent a good deal of time during school holidays working at architects’ offices and I really didn’t want to spend my time working in an office. I really wanted to do something creative. While I loved the designing part of architecture, that’s only ten or twenty percent of it. The rest of the time you’re out there working with contractors. It’s not like being Mr. Designer and then handing over your designs to the staff to execute. You can do that if you have, say, a wealthy uncle that gives you a great job right from the start and you then set up an office immediately. I didn’t have that advantage. • Also, living in London at that time, there were a great number of architects doing very little work that was interesting. It was pre-Margret Thatcher England, which was rather grim actually. The country was in a bad way and there wasn’t much work. The reality of many architects was to work at a local council’s office doing window detailing for a relatively dreary public house. That was not me at all. With photography, I could work in a way that allowed me to regularly express myself creatively, as much as I wanted to or needed to.

How did you first get the attention of London’sQueen magazine? • I think I always had a journalistic instinct. I always had that. So I went to Paris where I heard there were interesting things happening in the architecture and design field. I spent a few days there and came back with black and white images that were quite exciting. I took them to the design director of Queen magazine who was very interested in architecture. They had a monthly column called “Environments” and I think that was one of the first times the word “envi-

92 Tim Street-Porter Residence, Mexico City, Mexico | Architect: Agustin Hernandez Navarro | Photographed 1988

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 93 Wooden stairwell in apartment, New York, NY | Architect: Gluckman Mayner Architects | Photographed 2002

94 Tim Street-Porter Dennis Hopper Residence, Venice, CA | Photographed 1995

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 95 ronments” was used in that way in print. The column was typically a four-page spread, but I got a six-page spread with the black and white images that I had taken in Paris. That really launched me into becoming a photographer.

Describe your very first commission shooting architecture or design. • The design director of Queen magazine gave me my first job, which was to photograph this extraordinary Art Deco hotel that was being torn down. He wanted me to photograph it as a kind of tragic event. He wanted me to use a Hasselblad and I had only worked with a 35mm camera. He lent me a Hasselblad with a super wide lens, so when I arrived at the job I had the camera and film but I didn’t know how to load the camera. Luckily there was a camera store right across the street. So I went in there and asked, “Can you show me how to load this camera, please?” The photographs, however, came out totally great and I really nailed it. I still have the photographs. The whole glass façade of the hotel has been stored away at the Victorian Albert Museum in London. So that was my first job. • Six months prior to that, I was still on my way to being an architect and in my last year of my post-graduate course. I was quite happy with the photographs I had been doing and I decided, quite innocently, that I should try and get them into a photographic magazine called Amateur Photographer. I showed the photographs to their editor and he said to me, “What are you doing at the moment?” I said, “I’m actually studying architecture.” He said, “Well, you should stay with architecture. These are nice photographs but I am not going to publish them.” At that point, it took away any hope that I could have a photography career and showed me that that I should just stick with architecture. I was really young so it wasn’t too heartbreaking and I sort of thought, “Oh well. So much for that.” • But luckily, I could draw on a few resources that helped me. When I went to Paris I had a friend who I stayed with, a fashion designer. Her husband was an experimental designer who had been doing, and really pioneering, these early lines of trans- parent, inflatable furniture. He had designed a huge inflatable house that was sitting on top of a swimming pool in Paris that I photographed. It was being filmed for French TV and had all this professional lighting on it. Those were some of the images that I submitted to Queen magazine that started my career as a photographer. So I got lucky twice really, when I was first starting out.

Did you learn more from your assistants or from the architect or designer on the photo shoot as you honed your craft as an architectural photographer? • I think I really learned more from assistants than anybody else about the technical aspect of photography. I also shared a studio with someone who was just out of the Royal College in London and a fashion photographer. We often shared assistants and learned from the assistants

96 Tim Street-Porter Wolff House, Los Angeles, CA | Architect: John Lautner | Photographed: 2008.

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 97 about studio lighting, etc. • I recall when I worked for Norman Foster that he’d show up to the shoot with all these Leica cameras that he had, taking his photographs as I was taking mine. The only irritating thing about that was that he had better equipment than I had at the time. I didn’t learn anything from working with him. I learned by looking at the older work that I did. With each project that I would shoot, there would always be a few shots where I really nailed it. The rest were images that, had I been more knowledgeable technically, could have turned out better.

How did you pick to come to L.A.? Or did it pick you? • I came to the West Coast when I was an architecture student twice on work exchange scholarships, where a few English architecture students would trade places with American architecture students. We were given three months and handed out student visas and worked for American architecture firms. That was my first experience of the West Coast and to me that was always the real Amer- ica. • Even as a child I saw ads about the transcontinental train in Santa Fe that traveled through the West and the desert landscape and I always wanted to go there. Growing up in impoverished England, at that time America was super glamorous with huge refrigerators, cars, and transportation. It was all very optimistic. All of that turned me onto America. • So in the early ‘70s, I came to L.A. on two working holidays and I actually got to meet some of the artists there like Ed Ruscha and Larry Bell. And I first came into contact with Frank Gehry because he was hanging out with all the artists. I felt like L.A. had all these very interesting things happening. People who were artists like Ed Ruscha and Frank Gehry had an approach to their work that I had never experienced before in Europe. I also didn’t want to go to, say, New York because the landscape and the architecture was much more European there. L.A. was a cowboy town in many ways, which seemed exotic. • So I moved here because it’s where I wanted to be. Sort of like the artist David Hockney, who came over a few years before me because he loved the desert landscape and the ‘50s bare-looking apartment buildings, all extremely graphic, and with this wonderful light.

Do you see what you do professionally as art making? • It happens. In my early days when I was still waiting for my green card to come through, I was not able to work commer- cially. So I was going around and doing a lot of personal artwork. But yes, there are images made on a commercial assignment that can live in an art photography environment, as opposed to purely in my commercial archives. I did this really large Rizzoli book called Los Angeles, for which I had complete freedom to do a portrait of Los Angeles. So that was a commercial commission but I had complete freedom to include whatever I wanted.

98 Tim Street-Porter You’ve authored many books on architecture and design; tell me about this aspect of your career. • I often come up with book ideas with my wife, Annie Kelly, who was once a contributing editor for House & Garden magazine. We’ve done half a dozen books together, maybe more like eight now actually. We usually come up with the ideas; although once or twice the ideas have come from Rizzoli, with whom we usually work. • My first book called Freestyle was a book on radical and new L.A. residential architecture, spearheaded by the wild stuff Frank Gehry was doing. That was in 1983. The book included a group of architects that were slightly younger than Frank Gehry. It was also when everywhere else in the country everyone was doing this awful postmodernism—which was extremely dreary and like having a one liner and milking it to death but here in L.A. there was all this great stuff happening. So I wanted to do a book on it. I was having a hard time finding a writer and so I had an editor that was starting to work on it with me who said, “Why don’t you write it?” So all of a sudden I became the writer as well as the photographer. I’ve always enjoyed writing as another form of expression. • My second book was Casa Mexican, which came about when my wife and I were really enjoying going to Mexico in the early to mid-‘80s. The book came out about ‘88. I wanted to do it because it was a wonderful excuse to explore Mexico, which we started to really love. So I tried to create a history of Mexican architecture from really early on and up until Luis Barragán, who is the architect that everybody around the world loves. That’s the one book that I did that sold and sold and sold, something like 130,000 copies. No one had really done anything on Mexican houses after the 1950s, so I had the field all to myself. It’s the only time I’ve ever sold anything over 20,000 copies. Now all the books that my wife and I have done recently have sold around 8,000 copies, which is still thought to be quite good nowadays.

Is there a type of architecture or design that you prefer to shoot? • When I was at architecture school I was trained—almost brained-washed—as a modernist because at that time all architecture students, and generally speaking the media, were all about modernism. However, I love high quality period architecture and I love it just as much as I love modernism. The trouble is that modernism can easily get really boring because you often feel like you are seeing something that you’ve seen before. Now the field of graphic design has started to get woven into new architecture, which makes it more exciting. Zaha Hadid is doing very exciting contemporary work and Frank Gehry is as well. I do love the contemporary architecture coming out of Europe and Japan and even from Australia (mainly just residential) and exciting stuff is happening in New York too. • I can get quite excited about contemporary architecture, but I can also get quite excited about period archi- Continued on page 123

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 99 Lara Swimmer

I was photographing Seattle at the beginning of its civic Renaissance. That’s how it all started. Seattle, wa – Lara Swimmer studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School as well as the Center for Film and Critical Studies at the Sorbonne, Paris. Her photogra- © Rina Jordan phy is influenced by 20th Century European architecture and the sensibilities of the Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe and the International Style in design and architecture. Lara has documented numerous civic projects around the Pacific Northwest re- gion, including Seattle’s Paramount Theater, Union Station and Key Arena renova- tions, the new Seattle Symphony, Experience Music Project, Tacoma Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, the Seattle Central Library, and, most recently, the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park, Disney Concert Hall (L.A.), and the Urban Outfitters relocation (Philadelphia Naval Shipyards). She has documented over 30 regional libraries. Lara’s work has been published nationally and internationally in design reviews and books on residential design and the redevelopment and reuse of industrial sites. Her work is held in the private collections of the City of Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, San Francisco MoMA, and Art Centre Basel. Lara was designat- ed an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects in 2005. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © LARA SWIMMER BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 101 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • I was living in Paris after college and I was working in fashion photography studios as a photo assistant. I ventured over to Berlin and traveled around for a bit and the architecture in Berlin, post-unification, really me drew me in. It was a chaotic time there and there was a ton of renewal going on. It was interesting to see the different layers of architecture there: the new mixed with the old architecture that remained from the ‘30s, the Bauhaus, and all this nationalistic, Communist architecture. It was raw but there was this sense of order there, a need to bring order to the built environment and I’d never seen anything like that before. So that set off my flight from fashion, which seems so superficial now. I was assisting at theElle magazine studios and it was a great learning experience, but to go to Berlin and see this very other world was very impressive. • I was in the studio setting up until then and it felt very claustrophobic and fashion felt one-dimensional and like fantasy and not reality. So I started doing street photography, not just of old buildings in Berlin that were barely intact, but of the reconstruction and the reunification. There were a bunch of areas in the city that were being primed as government zones and I was really drawn to it all visually and that was really my awakening.

How did you get your start as an architectural photographer? • I moved back home to Seattle and when I first started there in 1995 I was really thinking about documentation and cityscapes. I was thinking about this whole city evolving and all the construction going on. I was looking at it more from an artistic, reportage place and not as commercial work. I was in a lot of shows, so I was more of an artist that started to get commercial commissions. I began to get hired to do construction documentations long-term. I was always hired by the owners of the buildings. Those were my first commissioned jobs, shooting these long-term construction documentations of major renovation projects like the Key Arena, Paramount Theatre, and Union Station. I was photographing Seattle at the beginning of its civic Renaissance. That’s how it all started.

What was your camera of choice when you started shooting on construction sites? • When I first started shooting I was using a 35mm camera and a Mamiya 6, which is a great documentation format. As soon as I got some long-term projects, probably three or four years in, I started shooting with the 4x5 and I went through a ton of 4x5 cameras. I first had a Wista 4x5 that folded into a little wooden box. Then I graduated to a Sinar P2, which was absolutely stupid because I never shot indoors. I always shot outdoors and I was schlepping around this giant camera on a monorail. The parts were always breaking because they’re not meant to be carried over your shoulder and my neck would always go out of alignment. I still can’t believe that I lugged that camera around. Finally, on one of my last long-term gigs

102 Lara Swimmer The Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan | Architect: Yoshio Tanaguchi | Photographed 2005

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 103 Seattle Central Library book spiral, Seattle, WA | Architect: OMA / LMN | Photographed 2004

104 Lara Swimmer Experience Music Project, Seattle, WA | Architect: Gehry Partners | Photographed 1999

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 105 shooting the Seattle Central Library, which was a three-year job, I got a Linhof 6x7 camera, which is super nice. It’s very precise and folded down very easily. I had all the lenses and everything packed away nicely in a small case. It was great!

What was it like for you being a woman shooting construction sites? • Shooting those projects was great, with my hardhat, my boots and hauling around this giant camera. I feel like I only got respect on the job site and even got extra credit for being a young woman that was interested in the nuts and bolts of building construction.

When did you first begin getting commissions to shoot buildings in their finished state? • The transition happened when I would finish shooting the construction of these projects and then they would hire a swanky architectural photographer from elsewhere to shoot the finished building. I started to say to myself, “Wait a second, shouldn’tI be the one to take those pictures?” But I realized that I wasn’t seen in that way, and that changed and evolved my process. I completely switched over to the 4x5. I started to shoot in color not just in black and white and, by the late ‘90s as part of my contracts, I was also doing the shots of the finished projects. The images usually ended up getting published. So, I began to get more and more commissions after that.

What was it like for you to switch over to digital photography? • There was all this talk about how switching over to digital would be hard. It wasn’t hard for me at all; it was just a bit of a learning curve. Shooting 4x5 transparency was definitely very challenging. I always loved shooting 4x5 film but most people required 4x5 transparencies too. What I like about digital is that we all get the same final file, whereas with transparency film there could be small variations between the different sheets of transparency that you shot. Now someone doesn’t have a shot of a deeper sunset or with brighter light. Now we’ve all got the same shot.

Describe your lighting style. • I don’t do a ton of lighting because I come at it from a documentary perspective. I like things really natural. I’m not afraid of shadow. I definitely expose for the available light and use fill light if necessary, but I never start out lighting because I think it’s a bad approach to start that way. The shooting part itself has always been the pleasure for me, the most artistic part of the job.

Do you prefer to work alone or with the architect or designer on the photo shoot? • I worked very independently at one point, which has totally changed now. I am tied to the hip of my photo assistant and the camera is tethered to the laptop, so there’re always two tripods and I half expect the client to be there. And if they’re not there, for at least part of the shoot,

106 Lara Swimmer Experience Music Project, Seattle, WA | Architect: Gehry Partners | Photographed 2000

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 107 they are less invested and they have less to say. • For me, the best shoots are when the client is involved, even if they show up just for an hour, because that helps them get the results that they want. The shoots where there is a bit of tension can yield great results, like when the architect sees things differently than you and you work it out. You do both versions and you see which is the better version, which can be a little bit exhausting but can be good in the end. I try to be open to that because I realize that they brought me on to convey their vision and my role is that of the visual lead or guide. • Some clients are like, “You’re the artist do your thing,” and some are like, “This is how I see the building and here are the angles that I’ve always liked.” Once in a while, I’ll be setting up and there will definitely be a little pull between how I want to do it and how they want to do it. Just like, “I think we need to be here.” “No, no we need to be here.” Or “I think it should be framed up this way.” Presumably you’ve been hired to interpret the architect or designer’s vision, but they have to be open to that.

What conditions allow you to take your best photographs of architecture and design? • What’s inspiring is a great project, obviously, and a connection with the project that comes from feeling like it matters and that it’s important. I tend to connect more with large civic projects: libraries, museums, and school buildings. For me, shooting libraries is the pinnacle. I love shooting libraries. • I love to shoot small houses too because it feels like everything is within your control on that scale and more hands on. You get to trespass into someone’s private life and I like the tangibility of that and it really feels like a privilege. • Civic places are definitely a lot more complicated. You have a lot more variables like building access issues, lighting issues, and people issues. There are so many more complications but I guess I get those spaces really well. I naturally understand that particular type of space. I don’t want to just shoot libraries but I definitely shoot a lot, maybe about one a month. • As far as parameters and conditions, great weather always helps and having a client that is collaborative and that really gets the process helps as well. A client that wants to be there and be part of a collaborative process is really great.

What for you makes a great photograph of architecture and design? • I love really clean, clear lines; a very strong, graphic vantage point, a point of view, of course, but also a very clear view into the space or building. Signs of life are always good as well. Of course, that can be a challenge because you have to pose everyone in the shot, unless it’s a place full of activity and people. The goal is always to have people but to have them look really natural.

Do you see what you do professionally as art making? • I think that the work needs to be artful and it needs to elevate the subject matter. If it doesn’t then I don’t think that you are

108 Lara Swimmer really succeeding in your job. You’re just documenting something. At this point I am not doing reportage. I’m doing this finished photography that takes the building to a new level, and it has to do that for me. While the business part of it can be a bit of a drudge—the scheduling and invoicing and all of that—the actual work itself does feel like art and is an artful expression for me and an artful endeavor.

Describe your state of mind at the beginning and at the end of the photo shoot? • I have certain clients where it’s a really symbiotic relationship and we feed off each other and the shoot goes really well and everybody is happy. When the conditions are good—for me, a lot of that is being excited about the project—I can really get in the zone. At the end of the shoot I feel satisfied and sometimes that’s mixed in with anguish when I start to think about whether I could have done anything differently.

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 109 Paul Warchol

And as Ezra and I approached where he had previously parked, he could see the lens case that I had left behind sitting in the parking lot. New York City, NY – Paul Warchol was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1954. He studied painting and photography at The Cooper Union in New York City and has been photographing architecture since 1978. In 1996, Paul’s photography was the focus of a one person © Brad Dickson exhibit entitled “A Recent View of Architecture” at The National Building Museum in Washington, DC and that same year received an Honor Award for Excellence in the field of architectural photography from the American Institute of Architects. In 1998, he worked together with Mayer Rus, then editor at Interior Design magazine, on LOFT, a definitive volume on the phenomenon of transforming industrial living space in New York City (The Monacelli Press). 2006 marked the tenth year of regular publication with the Italian publishing company Edizione L’Archivolto. This decade-long collaboration with Milan-based architect and journalist Matteo Ver- celloni produced a series of books on architecture and design that featured Paul’s photography exclusively. A monograph of Paul’s work is due to be released by Riz- zoli in 2014-2015. Paul’s photos continue to be featured in the world’s architectural press including Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Domus, Casabella, Interni, and Interior Design. ▶

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SECTION © PAUL WARCHOL BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 111 What drew you to the field of architectural photography? • It was probably observ- ing and assisting Ezra Stoller and connecting the dots between that and what I was doing in college my senior year, which was taking pictures of roadsides in New Jersey. It wasn’t just a thing I thought I could also do with my camera and lenses; it was an introduction to culture. I was very impressed with how the shoots worked, but I was also impressed with the discussions and dinners that happened afterward and how civilized it all felt. I wasn’t a street photographer. I wasn’t a fashion photographer. This was a clear road forward and I decided this is what I wanted to do.

How did you first begin to apprentice with Ezra Stoller? • I studied photography at Cooper Union. One year I even considered switching to architecture, and then some students started talking about things like nine square grids and I ran screaming. • I was friends with a graphic designer at Cooper Union, Peter Katz, he is a now a New Urbanist—which sounds like an accordion-based hipster band—but his senior project was to design Richard Meier’s first book, which he got through the dean of the graphic design department. In doing that project, my friend got to work with Ezra Stoller who was shooting some of Meier’s work. • My friend decided that he didn’t really want to go on the photo shoots, so he sent me instead. I went out and met with Ezra Stoller and his photo assistant, who was Andy Aaron, Peter Aaron’s brother. It was an unpaid thing and then at one point Ezra offered me a job. We were photographing a developmental center on a bridge in the Bronx and he said, “Do you need something to do this summer?” and asked if I wanted to work for him, so that was terrific. He used me for a couple of months and then I went on to work for his lab. I would say that looking at Ezra’s pictures everyday for the two years I was there was a huge part of my education.

Do you have any interesting anecdotes from your days of working for Ezra Stoller? • This speaks about his generosity: We were trying to shoot a number of locations in one day and we were in a parking lot shooting a school building and the light wasn’t right. So we packed up the camera and drove to the other location and the light wasn’t quite right there either. So we drove back to the original location because by that time the light would have been right. Ezra had all that stuff figured out; he surely didn’t need any iPhone app for that. And as Ezra and I approached where he had previously parked, he could see the lens case that I had left behind sitting in the parking lot. He just gave me this look and luckily I continued to work with him after that. • He taught me how to push through on the shoot, to have gravitas—a gravity to things—but also to look for lyrical moments. Paying attention to the weather and the pattern of the sun were already a part of who I was, having been a lifeguard over many summers and even thinking of learning how to fly at one point.

112 Paul Warchol Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland | Architect: Steven Holl | Photographed 1998

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 113 Newly excavated tombs, Giza, Egypt | Photographed 1990

114 Paul Warchol D.E.Shaw & Co. offices, New York, NY | Architect: Steven Holl | Photographed 1992

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 115 Describe your first commission as an architectural photographer. • A friend of mine from Cooper Union who was an architect hired me to shoot a refinery just south of Newark Airport. It was during the first gasoline crisis and he thought that something would have to happen to this refinery and that he’d make it into this post-gasoline-crisis landscape, so he needed pictures of it from which to work. We tried to shoot from the ground but security people merged on us from two different directions, took my film, and sent it back to me without any pictures of their stuff. So we rented a plane—it was a little scary because we had to illegally fly over this refinery, but it was quite cool—and then I remember that I printed all the photos in my parents’ basement in New Jersey. I got a hundred bucks for it, I think. After that I got a call from an architect that used to work with Ezra and he hired me to shoot some things really on the cheap, but one or two of those things actually got published.

Did getting your work published help start your career as an architectural photographer? • There were dozens more magazines then and a magazine was a big deal. It’s probably good that our design news is more democratic now, but it also makes me a little sad that there aren’t too many of these talented graphic design gate keepers imposing their will on us like before. A magazine wasn’t something on a screen that you only look at for eight seconds and then move on; it was a major thing. Once my images started to get published, I just kind of started to cascade upward. Erica Stoller invited me to join Esto and after three years of being there, we parted amicably and things really took off. There were a couple of editors at Architectural Record magazine that liked what I was doing and threw a bunch of stuff my way and it was a great leap, a great march forward.

What do you like the most about what you do professionally? • I think that architecture is one of the finest fields. There is this humanist element of bringing together many different things: culture, the landscape, engineering, science, aesthetics, music, and literature— all that stuff—and then, despite all the pain involved in getting something built, it actually gets built and can often take the leap into something that’s really inspiring. Getting to witness that and getting to plug in my creative juices into it is maybe a bit parasitical, but we feed off of each other: “we” being photographers and architects. So I think that process is great! I am thrilled to be doing it and having had the chance to do it for the last thirty-five years.

What are some of the conditions that make for a really great photo shoot for you? • Sometimes I just get pulled in and three hours have gone by and my assistant and I both look at each other and think, “Boy, that was a really good push.” I mean, one thing leads to another and this energy happens. It’s when one bit of inspiration leads to another bit of inspiration

116 Paul Warchol Hanger One, Scotsdale, AZ | Architect: Adam Tihany | Photographed: 2003

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 117 and another bit of inspiration. I try to have a kind of methodical framework in which that is happening. It’s thrilling when it happens. It doesn’t happen in every shot, but you just hope for it to happen in as many ways as possible, whether it’s a corporate interior or yet another boardroom shot or whether it’s a college building or it’s a house. I like to tell a visual story when it’s exciting and give the project coherence and logic to it, but only if it’s kind of thrilling to me. If it’s heavy handed and you’re just pointing the camera here and pointing it there, then the whole thing dies and feels more like real estate photography than anything else.

What is it like for you to have the architect or designer present on the photo shoot? • It depends. If the architect is very nervous and trying to control everything, that is no fun, and most importantly, the pictures will suffer. So I figure out, with the best possible diplo- macy, how to get them to relax. Other times that same architect at another part of the day can be absolutely astute and point me in a very nice direction and that can be exciting. So the whole thing is kind of like a house of cards that assembles itself and then falls apart.

Describe your state of mind on a photo shoot. • I don’t want to sound too New-Agey here, but the energy really comes and goes. There is a comfort that I have when I am shooting, especially when things are going well, when the muses are knocking and everything is happening the way you want it to. But I get frustrated like everybody else and I usually say, “Well, this is all my responsibility so let me: A. Not blame anybody else and B. Figure my best way out of it.” Sometimes it means taking the camera down and walking around the block. Still, it’s my show and it’s up to me to make it have that calmness that puts me in the zone.

When do you say to yourself, “That’s a great shot!” • I sense that as I’m shooting. I used to get a sense of that when I would have a Polaroid that I was excited about and I would keep the Polaroid so that it became this lovely thing on its own. I still have boxes of Polaroids. They are faded now. They have fingerprints and writing on them. Some are even folded because I would fold them the way I wanted to crop the image. Now I get a sense from looking at the laptop screen on the shoot. You just have a sense.

When did you make the switch to digital photography? • When they stopped making Polaroid that was what did it for me. That’s when I made the switch to digital. I shoot with the Canon and I had to hunt down a bunch of tilt-shift lenses. I know you can do so much of that in postproduction but I like to see what I’m getting right then and there. However, I do a lot of stitches because the thing I like least about the Canon is the 2x3 rectangle; I much prefer the 4x5 rectangle. So I will often shoot a bit over so that the rectangle starts to approach the 4x5

118 Paul Warchol rectangle. With that said, I will also shoot much wider too and do, say, 9x20 inch frames and it’s great that digital allows us to stitch things together like that.

Is there a type of architecture or design that you particularly enjoy photographing? • There are a lot of things I enjoy about shooting houses. They’re small enough where you can apprehend it and really figure it out and that then allows you to find the lyricism that makes the photos leap, rather than just making documents. You can figure out the inside and the outside and, if done well by a good architect, that process can be thrilling and you make pictures about how thrilling that is. If the house sits like a little jewel in the landscape that can be thrilling. If the sunshine streams into the house and lights it up as the architect intended it to that can be thrilling. The way the house is oriented to the weather and the sun is thrilling. Great sculptural pieces of furniture can be engaging and thrilling. A little bit of domesticity can be great, whereas too much styling can be hokey. If I see it in my pictures afterwards I think, “Oh geez.”

What’s your take on having people in your images? • I’ve always loved shooting with people. When shooting with the 4x5, it was often impossible because, even outside, when shooting transparency you still had a couple of filters over the lens and you were still stop- ping down to F16 or F22 to make sure that everything was sharp. So you couldn’t really yell “Action!” to the people. They’d be these weird blurs that you couldn’t predict and you wouldn’t know how they would come out until you got the film back from the lab. Now with digital, you raise the ISO and all of a sudden you’re Cartier-Bresson. You can catch people doing stuff and you can shoot 100 frames and pick what works. You can take the nice couple with the baby carriage from the one exposure for the right and something else that’s happening in another exposure for the left and you can really populate a frame if you want. Of course, it can be too obvious that you did that so you have to introduce some chaos. The best is to set up for a shot, especially in an urban setting, and watch life happen. You then have to think more in the mindset of Garry Winogrand or Lee Friedlander as opposed to Walker Evans.

Do you see your work as art or art making? • I don’t think it’s possible to make art on every shoot, and certainly not on every shot, but the potential is there. I’ve been going back through my archives. I have a bunch of New York pictures, some of them are jobs, some of them are not jobs, where the cars and the buses all say “1997.” It isn’t Mad Men-era nostalgia, but it is a different world. I enjoy mining through my archives and seeing these images that make me say, “I want to see what this looks like as a print.”

Describe what it’s like for you at the start and at the end of the Continued on page 125

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 119 Interviews Continued

BILYANA DIMITROVA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

accompanying panel and this catalog are all examples of that. My book To Each His Home is an example of that. After years of shooting interiors for architects and designers, where we are consistently moving out the homeowners’ personal belongings because they distracted from the design, I decided to bring their personal belongings back in! The book was specifically on how people personalize their homes. In a way it was the antithesis of what I do professionally, but it was still a look at how people alter the built environment. Doing that book made me feel like I had a more holistic understanding of how people, both design professionals and non-professionals, alter their spaces in the ways that suit them best. • Because I do it professionally, I am not always taking pictures in my mind of the built environment as I walk around. I try to let my eyes rest a bit when I’m not shooting. Just looking and not always framing a shot can be quite enjoyable.

Describe your transition from film to digital photography. • Right when everyone seemed to be switching over to digital I got quite a large advertising job that made the whole transition easier because I didn’t feel the expense of it all. I was forced to get the hang of it all very quickly because of the job and I am really thankful for it because I may have dragged my feet a bit otherwise. I was able to walk right into Foto Care and buy the Canon 1Ds Mark III with two lenses. Of course, a year later Canon came out with essentially the same camera at a third of the price, but luckily the advertising job made that much easier for me to swallow. • I have grown to quite like the postproduction process, which I hated at first. We spent most of our time out in the elements and our labs dealt with the film processing and print orders. Now we are relegated to spend a lot of our time inside, in front of the computer. I am more accustomed to that part of the process now and I am starting to enjoy the painterly aspect of it, which takes me back to my painting days as an art major in high school. Now we skim through our various brackets for each shot and pick which ones to use to create the final image. Sometimes I may have five different exposures layered on top of each other, each used for a different area of the composition. • This is especially fun with people in the shot. As architectural photographers we are very used to curating furniture as we rearrange a room for the camera angle. Now with digital, we also get to curate the people in the shot. I can take a blurry figure from one shot and another still figure from another and really populate the

120 Interviews Continued shot exactly how I want it. There is so much control in that regard and that may be one of the major benefits that digital has over film, especially in terms of the kind of photography that we do. The people in our images sure don’t look as stiff as they use to. • Also with digital, we really get two chances to achieve perfection for the shoot. If you look at your shots and you forgot to close a door or a person was reflected in a window the whole time and you only noticed all of these things after the shoot, well now this can be corrected in Photoshop. This of course means more time in front of the computer, so I do always try to avoid missing things on the shoot.

Describe how you feel at the start and at the end of the photo shoot. • I feel that I have really benefited from working as a photo assistant because I got the opportunity to approach so many intimidating projects when they weren’t my responsibility to photograph. I feel like somehow that must have gotten my jitters out of the way because now I am never nervous before starting a shoot. I am just totally excited and ready to go! • I remember driving up to a giant school when I was assisting Jeff Goldberg and thinking, “How the heck are we going to capture this?” Then I watched Jeff take his time looking at what seemed like a beast of a building to me. He walked around it as he methodically mapped out his shots and I said to myself, “That’s how!” The key with shooting any project, big or small, is to give yourself the time to take it all in and to let it absorb you. • At the end of the shoot I feel absolutely exhausted. I often don’t like to sit for too long on the shoot because then I will feel how tired my body is. I feel exhausted but it is absolutely the best kind of exhausted. I have pushed and pushed and given it my all and that feels so good, so very good. ■

JON MILLER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 79

unnaturally gathering what’s around it. It imitates what happens when you’re a little kid in a space, when everything looks good. I think that’s why people jump up and down and they say, “Wow, the camera saw that!” I think it’s important sometimes to say a lot, just like I’m doing right now. I’m just as verbose with my camera as I am with my mouth.

For you, what makes a successful photograph of architecture and design? • A successful photograph is one that conveys what the architect expects the building to say. We’re chasing that idealized moment of all the realities that are out there and it is important that the photograph conveys that big idea behind the design. Some people ask me, “What do you do when the architecture isn’t good?” Well, I look for what is good, for what is strong, and

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 121 leave out the rest. You have to like architecture and be interested in it to be good at this. • A photographer can show a client a group of pictures that are from twenty different locations and they may be twenty good pictures but they won’t show the photographer’s ability to tell a visual story. I think it’s important for anyone showing their work to show a breadth, to show five to six images of this job and five to six images of another. This shows how the story is told and how carefully the images are woven together. Are there little clues left in the images so that the viewer can rationalize where they are in the space? Can the photographer walk them through?

How has shooting architecture and design affected you? • It’s made me spend too much money first of all. My wife and I love furniture; we collect modern furniture. We’ve stopped now; we have enough. I’m very jaded. It has spoiled me for most things. My mom read Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography in the 1950s when it came out. She loved his work. He was an underdog back then and was seen as a charlatan and a bad guy. She was a very empathetic individual and she’d say, “Yeh, but look at this work!” She would take us around and show us his work. She was a very proud Chicagoan and proud of the architecture there and big on culture. She’d also bring us into downtown to see modern architecture, things like the Marina Towers going up, so we saw Bertrand Goldberg’s work going up as kids. She exposed us to these things and would say, “Isn’t this great!” Everything around us was modern, so I like modern a lot. I like order and design that doesn’t scream. I also dig traditional too if it’s heavy and drippy and done right. I mean I love it all but if someone asked, “What is your favorite?” Well, I could live in the Farnsworth house easily. I wouldn’t need anything more than a little blanket and I could lie on the cold travertine and I’d be perfectly happy.

Do you see what you do professionally as art making? • Ken Hedrich would say, “I am not an artist. I am a businessman.” To him, since he was using a camera, something mechan- ical, to make his images, it wasn’t art. This was back in the 1920s when artists were dancers and painters. He never defined himself as an artist, and that’s our founder. I often say that my wife, who is a painter, is an artist and I am a commercial artist. As commercial artists we’re asked to make artful images and we deliver them. We want to make images that are inter- pretations, not just documentation, that have a sympathetic vision that elevate our subjects. I hope that all the images I make are artful, that there is a level of craft and respect for the medium, that they have an interesting energy to them and that they are not just prosaic. There’s authorship and there is reporting and I see myself as an interpretive reporter. At the end the images should be artful. And what is artful? That there is the hand of an artist present.

122 Interviews Continued Describe how you feel at the beginning and at the end of a photo shoot. • I like to be surprised, which is fun, and not even know what the building looks like before the shoot. I like to arrive and take it all in then. These days, the process is so planned out beforehand. We have renderings and scouting shots; the process is planned and planned and planned! Let’s let some stuff happen! At the end of the shoot you’re dead; you should be dead. You should just stare ahead and go to bed. After a really great shoot, your legs should be aching and your butt should be dragging. The next day you’re hyped and you get back there. I think it’s important to get away from the job too; I don’t like staying at the projects that I shoot or being too close by. I have to get away because I need to have a fresh approach each day. ■

TIM STREET-PORTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 99

tecture, especially when seen in a large-scale environment. One of the great things about going to Miami Beach, with its early modernism laced with Art Deco, is that it’s an organic environment where within several square miles you don’t see anything that is out of sync with anything else, everything complements everything else. Also, in Santa Barbara, in the early 1900s, every architect was contributing to a larger whole, which gives it an essential harmony. Then when you see what is happening in Los Angeles or in London now, everybody is doing this “I’m an architect and I’m going to express myself” thing, and most of the time it’s not that exciting and can be irritating as one walks up the street with architects saying, “Look at me here. Look at me there.”

For you, what makes a great photograph of architecture and design? • Great lighting and composition and really making the building come as alive as possible. There has to be a sense of life. It’s hard to generalize because some images show architecture as extraordinary sculpture without any people at all, and those can work as well. I don’t think there can be any absolute rule and what is exciting to me is that you can have a variety of angles and approaches, not just one. It’s really a gut reaction to what is happening. A great photograph is a whole chemistry of different elements coming together and you just know that they work. It’s hard to intellectualize.

Tell me about your choice to shoot with a 35mm camera before transitioning to larger formats. • I liked working with a small format camera. I decided to react against the stiffness of architectural photography where everyone took all these shots with a cloth over their head. I loved the spontaneity of, say, Cartier-Bresson’s work where he’d catch a

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 123 moment with someone blurring through the picture. Another thing that I didn’t like was the trend of people looking really posed in the pictures. They would be sprinkled throughout the frame—standing on a staircase talking to each other, one would have a cup of coffee in their hand—but look totally posed. So I would have movement instead, where the people would be slightly blurred. I realized that I could get the same effect using a larger format camera and that the 35mm format was not well suited for shooting architecture. • I started using a Hasselblad, which still wasn’t a proper architectural camera. It really wasn’t until I got to the States and started shooting for House & Garden magazine that the architecture editor told me, “I have three jobs for you, but I want you to do them with a 4x5 camera.” So I went out and bought all the 4x5 equipment and I learned how to use it almost instantly. From then on I started regularly working with the 4x5. There is a wonderful exactitude that you can achieve with the 4x5 and it made me wish that I had started to use it earlier. Interestingly, Anna Win- tour was at House & Garden magazine at the time and she decided that she wanted things to be more relaxed and spontaneous and said, “I don’t want to see a piece of 4x5 film on my light box again.” Of course, she wasn’t there for too long before she went to Vogue magazine.

Describe your transition from shooting with film todigital photography. • When I first switched over to digital, I shot with the Fuji GX680. It has quite a lot of the characteristics of the 4x5 camera. You can do a lot of the shifts to correct the perspective. Now I shoot with Canon and their tilt-shift lenses and if I need higher resolution I rent an Alpa. • Digital is great because I don’t have to carry much heavy equipment around. None of it is very cum- bersome and obviously I don’t have to carry a suitcase of film and Polaroids either. This is especially great when I am doing a two-week shoot overseas. Having the inevitable trouble you have going through customs and immigration, it’s much easier without a lot of equipment. • I use a lot of natural light now because I can layer the different exposures in Photoshop. As far as the postproduction, it’s all really quite streamlined. I have a retoucher that I work with very closely on all of my images.

Describe your relationship with the architect or designer when they are present on the photo shoot. • They like to look at the image, either on the laptop or on the back of the camera. They can see right away whether I am achieving the particular thing that they are hoping to achieve. I often will indulge a client when they have an idea of taking a shot from a certain angle to show either how it is going to work or how it’s not going to work. If it’s an angle that I hadn’t considered, I’ll take it if it’s worth taking. I’m always happy to have people around me when I’m working. I know that there are certain photographers who won’t allow anyone near them when they are working.

124 Interviews Continued What is your state of mind on the photo shoot? • I’m always searching for what’s visually interesting. I just can’t stop. I’m always taking pictures, wherever I am really. In work situations, I enjoy being there and exercising what I love to do. I enjoy it as much as I always have. It’s very simple and very basic.

Describe how you feel at the beginning and at the end of the photo shoot? • I just try to stay in the moment. I go in and do what I do and try to be as spontaneous as I possibly can be. It’s not necessary for me to see a project before I shoot it. It’s always good when you can get to know a project, but it’s not absolutely necessary for me to do that before the start of the shoot. At the end of the shoot I feel a combination of being tired and exhilarated. ■

PAUL WARCHOL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 119 photo shoot. • There is the getting there and trying to react to what I’m seeing, and initially it’s kind of terrifying. One thing that I do to calm myself down is I have these Moleskin notebooks that I often bring to a shoot. If there is time, I’ll actually walk around and draw mini architectural drawings and that comes from my earlier training, learning to draw in my teen years and college years. It’s my way of nailing down what I want to do and in some of the lec- tures that I’ve given I’ve actually shown those drawings. • One thing I tell architects is not to pine too much for what might have been and to say, “Well, this got value-engineered out and we weren’t supposed to have that there” or “You weren’t supposed to be able to see the air conditioner on top.” For me the process of photographing a building is like having a crush on somebody: there is a bell curve of excitement. You arrive feeling terror and excitement. As you take in the project, you become more and more engaged until it peaks and after that, you don’t want to look at it any more. • At the end of the shoot my assistant is posting Google doc notes to the retoucher, looking through the image metadata notes. While he’s trying to get that done, I just want to get in the car and get out of there. So much of it happens for me on the shoot and after that I feel that I am done. ■

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 125 Holl, Steven 38, 113, 115 Schwartz, Warren 88

Index Jennings, Jim 44 Scogin, Mack 51

A Johnson, Philip 54 SOM 22

American Institute of Architects 21, Jones, Fay 51 Sterling, James 92 61, 101, 111 Kahn, Louis 49 Summers, Gene 78 Architects & Designers Katz, Peter 112 Tarlow, Rose 91 Ando, Tadao 42 Koolhaas, Rem 21, 25, 28 Timberlake, Kieran 21 Aragonés, Miguel Ángel 45, 47 Kuma, Kengo 85 Vercelloni, Matteo 111 Barragán, Luis 99 Lehman Smith McLeish 75 Wright, Frank Lloyd 71, 76, 77, 122 Bell, Larry 98 L+V Architects 36 Bentley La Rosa Salasky 52, 56 D Marciano, Paul 91 Birkerts, Gunnar 51 Designers. See Architects & Designers Meier, Richard 112 Bohlin, Cywinski, and Jackson 24 E Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig 78, Calatrava, Santiago 64, 67 101 Equipment & Techniques

Champalimaud, Alexandra 91 Mockbee, Samuel 51, 56 4x5 film camera 46, 62, 68, 79, 86, 102, 106, 124 Conran, Terence 42 Navarro, Agustin Hernandez 93 Sinar 102 Couturier, Robert 91 Niemeyer, Oscar 91 Wista 102 Deaton, Charles 84 Olson Kundig Architects 83 35mm film cameras 96, 102, 124 D’Urso, Joe 22, 26 Pei, I.M. 51 Nikon 22 Eames, Charles 91 Pelli, César 74 Digital cameras and photography Fisher, Frederick 81 Portman, John 57 26, 46, 58, 68, 79, 86, 88, 120, 124 Foster, Norman 91, 92, 98 Power, Nancy Goslee 91 Alpa 68, 124 Gehry, Frank 21, 58, 81, 82, 91, 98, Predock, Antoine 51 99, 105, 107 Cambo 58 Rios Clementi Hale Studios 87 Gluckman Mayner Architects 94 Canon 58, 86, 118, 120, 124 Robert A.M. Stern Architects 21 Goldberg, Bertrand 122 Fuji 124 Rockwell, David 91 Greene & Greene 91 Phase One 58, 68 Rogers, Richard 92 Hadid, Zaha 99 Film 79, 88, 96, 106, 124 Rudolph, Paul 21 Hejduk, John 65 Chrome. See Equipment & Safdie, Moshe 51, 53, 63 Techniques: Film: Transpar- Herzog and de Meuron 43 ency film Saladino, John 28

126 Index Polaroid film 22 , 52, 68, 88, 118 Arts & Architecture Magazine 12 National Endowment for the Arts 62 Transparency film 79, 106 Aspekti 36

Foto Care 120 A+U 81 P

Full-frame DSLR cameras Casabella 111 People (other) (35mm style) 68 Aaron, Andy 112 Contract 71 Gels 79 Barrett, Sara 38 Diseno Interior 81 Lenses 26, 79, 118, 124 Bills, Emily 12, 17 Domus 111 Schneider 79 Blackwell, Chris 91 Dwell 46, 48 Lights 22, 26, 32, 78, 88, 106 Brez, Alexandra 38 Elle 102 Medium-format film camera Hedrich, Jack 72 GQ 22 Hasselblad 86, 96, 124 Hockney, David 98 Häuser 81 Mamiya 102 Kelly, Annie 91, 99 House & Garden 28, 99, 124 Photo Cases 22, 28 Newhall, Beaumont 71 Interior Design 31, 71, 81, 111 Photoshop 26, 29, 68, 88, 124 Ruscha, Ed 98 Interiors 38, 91 Esto 16, 116 Rus, Mayer 111 Interni 31, 81, 111 Stang, Alanna 38 H Metropolis 14, 15, 31, 38 Stoller, Erica 116 Hedrich Blessing 16, 71, 72, 78, 79 National Geographic 26 Taschen, Benedict 91 J New York Magazine 31 Thatcher, Margret 92 Julius Shulman Institute 12, 13, 16 The New York Times 21, 31, 38, 41, 81 Warhol, Andy 51, 56 M Perspective 31 Wintour, Anna 124 Magazines & Publications Progressive Architecture 52, 56 Photographers (included in exhibi- Abitare 81 tion) 38 Queen 92, 96 AD (French) 91 Aaron, Peter 16, 20–29, 32, 112 San Francisco 41 Amateur Photographer 96 Dimitrova, Bilyana 12, 30–39 Vogue 124 The Architect’s Newspaper 31 Fletcher, Joe 40–49 Wallpaper 41, 42 Architectural Digest 21, 31, 41, 71, Hursley, Timothy 16, 50–59, 68 91, 111 World of Interiors 91 Karchmer, Alan 60–69 Architectural Record 31, 52, 56, Magnum 42 71, 81, 111 Miller, Jon 16, 70 N Architecture 56 Street-Porter, Tim 82, 90

BEYOND THE ASSIGNMENT 127 Swimmer, Lara 100 Stewart Tabori and Chang 91

Warchol, Paul 16, 32, 38, 88, 110 Taschen 59, 81

Photographers (other) The Monacelli Press 111

Baan, Iwan 13, 68 S Barnes, RIchard 13 Schools Cartier-Bresson, Henri 123 Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart Fink, Larry 31, 32 81

Goldberg, Jeff 39, 121 Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania 101 Guerrero, Pedro E. 12, 13 Bard College 31, 32 Hedrich, Bill 16, 71, 72, 76, 79 Center for Film and Critical Stud- Hedrich, Ken 79, 122 ies, Sorbonne 101

Korab, Balthazar 12, 16, 51, 52, 58 Chelsea College of Art & Design 41 MacNeil, Wendy 72 The Cooper Union 111, 112, 116 Merrick, Nick 72, 79 Goldsmiths, University of London Norman McGrath 66 41

Opie, Catherine 13 New York University 22

Pare, Richard 42 Rhode Island School of Design 71, 72 Rosenthal, Steve 66 Rural Studio 51, 55, 56, 58 Shore, Stephen 31, 32 Tulane University 61 Shulman, Julius 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 48 University of New Mexico 71

Stoller, Ezra 12, 15, 16, 21, 22, 26, Woodbury University 13 48, 112, 116

Publishers T Clarkson Potter 91 Techniques. See Equipment & Tech- niques Collins Design 81

Edizione L’Archivolto 111

Phaidon Press 81, 91

Princeton Architectural Press 31, 51

Rizzoli 41, 81, 98, 99, 111

128 Index

This catalog accompanies the exhibition Beyond the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design

WUHO Gallery – Los Angeles, CA (Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery) October 5, 2013–November 1, 2013 www.beyondtheassignment.com

Prepared by MagCloud for Bilyana Dimitrova. Get more at bdimi.magcloud.com.