I believe in pushing the limits of what I produce when I collaborate on a project. Jockimo was thrilled with my exploration of video for their project @ ING-Direct.
Here we are using a dolly rig to use motion around the Glass Chandelier to give detail to it's form and depth to it's setting at Tramonto's Steak and Seafood.
As with all things technical, the more experience built, the more innovation. In this case I have already identified a few additional methods to improve the quality of the motion for future projects.
No Flash Support?? Check it out here.
Let me know what you think.
If any photographers are interested in learning more, please leave a comment or question.
So in my downtime, I try to find things that inspire my vision both architecturally and photographically. While at the University Oregon, I used to walk around downtown Portland for hours, just observing (I used to walk 2 miles to my Studio from the Pearl District routinely).
My most recent safari to hunt for inspiration took place in just a portion of downtown Chicago. Here are 11 Images from the walk that I'd like to share. I'm not familiar with these buildings so it will be an adventure to dig up the names. If you have insights on any of these, I'd love it if you left a comment or sent me an email.
The bridge near Calumet Photo looks like it could use a little Rust-Oleum
Part of the struggle of fitting into the fabric of a city with so much diversity in styles, this new building is trying to capture both the scale of the old while using some very contemporary elements. Hence why I rendered this image into something that feels like it has a little more history.
A 180 degree turn from the last shot. This streetscape was wonderfully scaled for the size of the buildings on these two blocks. This is combined with a street that seemed over sized for it's traffic load provided for a great vantage point of this very flat facade leading to the intersection.
Photo walk Tip #1 Look for Parking Ramps. They provide great vantage points. It may not have the versatility of renting a cherry-picker, but it can still provide some surprising shots.
This cylendrical portion of seemed stylistically disconnected from the rest of the building it was connected to. Perhaps an addition trying to distinguish a change from past ideology?
This row home caught my eye for two reasons. #1 It was the best looking car on the street. #2 The balcony and facade give the impression of barrel distortion in the camera, but they are actually bowed out to the street. I'm sure if I caught this house earlier, some morning, there'd be some great tonality cast by subtle shadows to accent the curve.
A residential tower just completing construction, just off a park on the Chicago Canal. One can only hope their prices match this economy.
This spire just jumps out at you. It's just far enough away from many of the other towers, that it must provide some great views from all sides.
The same tower as #7. The form of this tower is actually very simple, but it's subtly detailed in a way that reveals much more as you focus.
Have you ever been to Vancouver B.C.? Change the glass to green, shift the concrete to grey, and your there. I love how the balconies break up the mass of the north side.
I am fascinated by the way the old and the new intersect, overlap, and weave together. The challenge is how much do you acknowledge the past or do you simply give it new definition by separating yourself from it.
Which do you prefer: 20 minutes in the car, or 20 minutes in the train?
Click the image to go to the project galleryAnother terrific example of Jockimo's Liquid Lava Floor Tiles. These were installed in another Illinois Hospital designed by OWP/P Architects. In fact this product was installed in three separate areas in the children's wing of the Hospital. 2 Waiting Areas and a water fountain, just outside the entrance to the children's wing.
Click the image to go to the full gallery.This Liquid Lava Installation of Jockimo's is located in the Childrens ER at Northwest Community Hospital, designed by OWP/P Architects. It provides an interactive element to help give children, waiting to feel better, something fun to keep their mind on. These children needed no coaxing or stage direction to know exactly what to do. It was a fun shoot and they did a terrific job.
Click to go to the Image GalleryLocated at the Westin North Shore, Tramonto's Steak and Seafood offers a fantastic dining experience. Jockimo's Die Bar Glass Chandelier could be the center of attention if the food wasn't so good. Check out the details at opentable.com or go directly to the Westin and see for your self.
On Tax Day 2010, Pella put on a great event for Architects and Builders in Minnesota called "TheProExpo". Held at the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN.
This 100% Free event consisted of Burgers, Brats and free drinks and was a great opportunity to learn more about fantastic products and services while also being very well entertained by some fun activites including a baseball and football challenges. On top of that, up to $10,000 worth in prizes were given out.
Another great draw for Architects was the opportunity to receive several hours of Continuing Education Units as part of the presentations.
These are just some of the highlights. I'll be posting a link to a full gallery for attendies to view if their interested.
While i have some family in town this week to help out with my Daughter and newborn Son, I was off to Fergus Falls, MN for another project for Jockimo Art Glass. This product was installed in the Radiology Department of Lake Region Healthcare.
Recently I really had a great time with the Crosstown Camera Club back in February at Alec Jonson's Studio in Edina, MN. There were about 30 photogs there with everything from point and shoots to 5DMKIIs. I think the overall equipment price total would have easily reached near $30k.
We used three different stations with different looks for lighting and backgrounds. Not alot of time was spent in post here since this shoot wasn't a paid gig. But I'm trying to catch up on several projects all at once with my in-laws in town to help with our two little-ones.
We had three models at the shoot. Rex, Nicole (the blond), and Tearra.
I'm always on the look out for cool tools for Architecture. This morning on Twitter, Alan Rapp posted a link to this video about Holographic Imagery for Architectural Presentations. The product is from Zebra Imaging and it is SWEET. What an impressive technique for representing ideas in 3D space in presentations to clients.
Holographic Architectural Imaging by Zebra from Core77 on Vimeo.
Will this change the needs for physical models?
How do the costs compare?
What will interns do for architects, if they can't get their fingers stuck together in high strength glue?
What are your thought? I'm curious.
My son joined this world on 3/4/2010 @ 2:20pm @ 7lbs 2oz, 21" tall with a head of dark hair.
His journey was a topsy turvy one, filled with flips and kicks, so much so he even managed to tie a little knot around his umbilical cord. If it hadn't been for close monitoring of his mother, we may have been less fortunate.
He's considered to be a "last minute" preemie baby, since he was born just a day before 37 weeks.
If you have any trouble viewing the slideshow below, please visit my "work in progress gallery" at, http://ryansiemers.smugmug.com/People/Families/Connor/13912228_nDCs8#802873139_8XEmX
Recently MS&R began a discussion about the future of the Library.
I took this to mean "The Library" as place and not the physical physical repository of printed media. The following are some of my thoughts on the matter.
If you want to look at the library of the future, you need to look beyond just their physical contents. It will take an understanding about what the library functions as for community and we can examine that through what the library does now.
You can break that down into 3 major categories.
1) Accessibility:
Libraries are an access point to the digital knowledge and resources available on the web at a HIGH SPEED of access that may otherwise be out of budget for the home.
2) Community Gathering:
Principally the library is a community gathering space for research and acquisition of knowledge. but when you really think about it, they may be the first public social networking site in the analogue world.
3) Community Building
Libraries provide cultural exposure to different societies relevant to the community we are apart of locally. This includes clubs, speaking engagements, book readings, children’s story time, and topical discussions about current issues that provide a forum for discussion. This is the backbone of community building.
One direction of thought
If you want to keep the library relevant you have to look beyond the physical and understand the cultural relevancy of the place. So looking at each category.
1) Accessibility:
If publications move more to digital copies. That doesn’t mean the price of either the devices to access that material or the bandwidth to download it will be be attainable to the public.
2) Community Gathering:
The need for a place that offers publicly accessible gathering will always be there… if we foster it. In an age of Facebook and Twitter, there may be more need than ever to offer something that can’t be done in a virtual world. Perhaps it’s meeting people we don’t know, who share ideas, problems, or interests that are in common or in conflict.
3) Community Building:
While it’s nice to keep in touch and spy on my friends activities on my personal time and from the comfort of my own home. It still isn’t a replacement for in person communication. The relevance of nuance and subtly of intonation is hard to express in 144 characters.
A Final Thought
While I can listen to 20 podcasts about Photography, and I can read and comment on hundreds of blogs about industry news and tips and tricks. There is still something about coming together at my monthly Camera Club, that I can’t get else where. There is a tangible benefit to getting to meet people who share a similar interest at a local happy hour.
You can find the full post on MS&R's blog here.
While there are many technical aspects to producing high quality Architectural Photos, there are a few soft skills that are important to develop in conjunction.
Understanding Architecture is the first key to approaching Architectural Photography and what an Architect looks for in capturing their design intent. Here are 6 Elements I look for on every Architectural project.
Massing and materiality of archtiecture identifies unique opportunities to capture the various qualities that give meaning to how it’s built. How a project reacts to various environmental conditions, and how a user defines approach
Finding meaning in moments that define your space or place with users engaged in the environment generates a personal relationship to scale and usability that is otherwise less tangible.
Sometimes what tells the whole story extends beyond the 1 block radius of the site. Other times, it may be defined solely by the form of the land it sits on. Identifying how the project either complements, challenges, or blends with context tells the broader story of how you approach the whole of a project.
The combination of all the elements above provide relative relationships to scale. In addition, understanding that sometimes even the most intimate details like hardware and handrails create a complete user experience.
Architecture is something that is dynamically affected by time of day, season, & weather. Just knowing how light approaching from one side of your project will dramatically change its character from another is just one example.
To capture a place or space, one must be able to experience it beyond a single 2 dimensional image. Movement through a space provides a deeper sense of the relationships between form, function, context, and scale.
My work is being featured by Pella in new ad campaign for promoting their 2010 Archtiect Events. They are featuring 28 of the images I produced from covering their ABC days in the Fall of 2009. This image is the front half of the print piece and has been altered for publicaiton on the web.
This Animated movie shows the power of three professions combined into one. I can't help but republish this work. You have the stay to the end of this, you won't be disappointed!
As a student of architecture, 3D, and photography, I am just blown away at the craft and quality Alex Roman created in this piece. Personally I think the power of this will inspire people in all of these fields and dramatically alter the way Architects design and document the spaces and places they create.
The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.
Jockimo Advance Architectural Products again contracted my services to also capture the public welcoming areas of Amery Regional Medical Center.
Jockimo's art glass was incorporated extensively in several unique ways that allow privacy and screening of the various areas of the Medical Center's welcoming, registration, scheduling, and waiting areas.
Technical Note: All images were shot with available light.
Jockimo Advanced Architectural Products was so happy with our first collaboration, they invited me to photograph another project in a very difficult setting.
The Mayo Clinic's Bookstore is a beautifully renovated space which incorporates a very contemporary receptionist/sales desk and study space. This desk separates the sales and display area from a study/meeting space.
The most formidable challenge to this space was lighting. Do to constraints of working within operating hours, no additional lighting equipment was used beyond a couple strobes for tests. The range of color casts by the "native" light available, included Yellow, Pink, Blue, Green, and Daylight. Even with an Expo-disk, Another challenge was deciding how true to the "existing" conditions in post.
This is a perfect example of when a Color Card is more critical than a Grey Card or Expodisk. Because the conditions of light change with every position.
For an upcoming article about her experience with Industrial Design and the IDSA, Kerstin requested two types of portrait sittings. Business and Casual.
Check out Industrial Design Society of America and her website at: http://www.kerstinstrom.com/ and learn more about how Industrial Designers create the world around us.
I met Tim Czechowski from Jockimo Advanced Architectural Products at the AIA-Minnesota convention recently. I was very impressed with the quality and interesting properties of his glass products. The Following is a product installation in St. Cloud at ING-Direct. If you're in the area and want to see it in person, the wall is in the public cafe.
I believe this is a product type that is given valued by going beyond the static image. So I decided that this is a perfect test case for my DSLR's video capability. Frankly speaking, I'm personally not satisfied with it's video quality yet. I saw a lot of noise and grain even before I started to play with contrast and exposure in post. If I have a client specifically interested in this use, I'll specifically rent better equipment.
However, the video (Viewed at higher quality here) is an example of how to incorporate mixed media for product promotional material using the photographer's eye.
(Please note, this video is not intended for commercial use. It is only an experiment.)
Rochelle Gibbs and I were fortunate to cover another fantastic event organized by Solutions Twin Cities to entertain, inform, and engage.
"Oil: A Love Story" was presented November 12th at 7PM at Intermedia Arts, in Minneapolis, MN.
George Henderson - Tuned our TV back to the past with "Oil Science Theater"
Matt Huber - Drove us to see how "Oil As a Way of Life" is embedded in our lifestyle choices
Bruce Braun - Reconnected us to Oil and the "Technological Unconscious"
After a quick Q&A with George, Matt, & Bruce The audience and speakers smelled Oil from around the world, made smoothies with their own energy, and learned how much pedal power was needed for light in incandescent and florescent light bulbs.
Matthew Schnider-Mayerson rounded off the evening by presenting the "Post-Carbon World" expressing both hope and realism in the effects of being caught off guard or well prepared.
For the official descriptions of each topic: click here