What Are Architectural
Landscape Photos?
By: Roy Barker
 There
aren't many but some of us take an interest in
architectural landscape photos. With a view to
giving some insight on this subject I have created
this article to give a basic understanding and
supply some facts about its origins. Some of us
become interested in architectural landscape photos
later in life, it doesn't matter when you take an
interest but when you do you'll be hooked.
If taking architectural landscape photos is one of
your hobbies, it might be interesting for you to
read a brief history of architectural photography.
Commercial portraiture was the main area of interest
in the early years of photography. The ones who made
architectural landscape photos were generally
travelers, for different business reasons, not only
especially for photography. At that time (the middle
of the 19th century), photographers usually worked
from a convenient window rather than at street
level, as they do now.
WHF Talbot, one of the first photographers, used to
take architectural landscape photos from his hotel
window, in the cities he visited. Roger Fenton, the
first war photographer was the first one to take
fine architectural studies, using calotypes, both in
Britain, his home country, and in Russia (in Kiev,
Moscow and St. Petersburg). He learnt the waxed
paper calotype process from Gustave Le Grey, its
inventor, in his journeys to Paris.
Francis Frith was the first one to make the Middle
East familiar to the civilized world, by the
architectural landscape photos he took in his
journeys. He beard with him very large cameras and
used the collodion process, as he had to work in hot
and dusty conditions. Samuel Bourne is another
British photographer that became famous for his work
in India.
Most of the early architectural landscape photos
give the subjects the impression of import and
grandeur. The lenses needed for architecture were
quite different from the ones used in portraiture.
They had to give sharpness and linear drawing, but
there was no need for high speed, as buildings sit
still.
 In
the late 19th century, photographers were advised to
keep the camera back vertical and to photograph
buildings from the normal eye level, instead of
using elevated viewpoints, in order to suggest the
normal impression of height. The frontage and a side
of the building had to be both included in the
architectural landscape photo. Camera movements were
also considered essential, and the most important
movement was the rising front.
Frederick H. Evans is regarded as the finest
architectural photographer of his era. He is famous
for his images of the exteriors and interiors of
English and French medieval cathedrals. He adopted
the platinotype technique, which best suited his
subject matter. His ideal regarding architectural
landscape photos was the “perfect” photographic
representation, unretouched and not modified at all.
The city growth at the end of the 19th century lead
to the development of commercial architectural
landscape photography. The most important companies
that took advantage on this new opportunity, in New
York, were the Byron Company and the company founded
by Norman and Lionel Wurts.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the modern
movement brought new standards, both in architecture
and photography. Some of the new modernist
photographers in 1920s were Berenice Abbott in New
York, Ilse Bing in Frankfurt and Margaret
Bourke-White, best known as a photojournalist. One
of the best-regarded companies that made
architectural landscape photos was Hedrich-Blessing.
It was founded in Chicago in 1929 by Ken Hedrich and
Henry Blessing. Today, Jim Hedrich, Ken’s son still
runs the firm. The founder’s well-known quote “Don’t
make photographs, think them.” suggests that their
photos had something to say about the building, not
only record an image of it.
Although he was an architect by profession, Ezra
Stoller established himself as a leading
architectural photographer. Some of his most
important works are the architectural landscape
photos of Le Corbusier’s Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Haut
at Ronchamp. The key elements in Stoller’s work are
light and space. Esto, the company founded by
Stoller still makes some of the best work in the
field.
 Julius
Shulman took a revolutionary approach upon
modernism, turning the modernist principle upside
down. He was the first one to introduce people in
the frame of the camera. He did not want to show
abstract images of wall details or empty rooms. In
his architectural landscape photos, he “humanized”
the houses designed by architects such as Richard
Neutra, Pierre Koenig or Rudolf Schindler. Shulman
is best known for his photograph “Case Study House
#22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect”.
The end of modernism also represented the end of
Shulman’s career, as his ideas of composition, the
sensitive images and his ways of working were deeply
modernistic.
Some of the most important contemporary
architectural photographs are Gerald Zugmann, Mark
Citret and Richard Margolis. You can take a look at
their architectural landscape photos on their web
sites.
This article has been supplied courtesy of Roy
Barker. Roy often works closely with
Photography Business and is dedicated to
coaching on how to start your own photography
business but places strong emphasis on profitability
issues & guidelines. You can also gain photography
insights, help (mostly free) or even a
Digital Photography Tip or two. For brief
reviews on services or equipment see
http://www.profitable-photography.com/resources.php
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