Brief your photographer well

The quality of the briefing you give your architectural photographer is fundamental to a successful photographic project. Don’t underestimate it.

Obviously your photographer needs to know what you want photographed but it is equally important to say which bits of a development can safely be ignored. It saves time and focuses thinking on the bits that matter. 

Your photographer needs as much information as possible about how the images will be used –  quality glossy magazines or foyer tribute pieces demand different technology and a different approach to website or archive images.

One thing I always give high priority to is to speak to the creative team behind a development. This is often not the same person that commissions the photography. Whilst it is inevitable that I will respond to a building in my own way, I want to be sure to capture as much as possible of the intent of the architect, interior designer, landscape architect or other creatives. What do they particularly like about a design. What was their inspiration. It works best when we can sit together over plans or photos of the building but a simple telephone call is often enough to make a difference.

I need to know the orientation of a building so that I can anticipate how the light will fall. I need to understand where colour or texture has been really key to a design.

One of the things I also like to do is to talk to the users of a building or environment. To find out which are the bits they like best and why. This is something I can usually do on the day of a shoot.

I think architects and other creatives understand well that the success, or otherwise, of a project is often down to the quality of the commissioning process. It is important to remember that that applies to the photography as well.

Place provides photographic services in the fields of architecture, landscape design, construction, environment and property management, interior design, property sales, estate management, building surveying and urban planning, etc. We cover Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and London including Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, Colchester, Chelmsford,  Bury St Edmunds, Southend-0n-Sea.