A Career in Architectural Photography
I’m passionate about photography
When I travel I always bring a camera with me. Sometimes I think that the main reason for me to travel is to take photos. I can freely explore a city, shoot 36 exposures, take three months to develop the roll and look at the pictures two years later without a care in the world. This is a mindset that I cannot have while being a professional architectural photographer aspiring to build a career on this craft.
With this said, what does it take to build a career in architectural photography? The following are some thoughts on this subject
Be professional
By being professional you are turning a hobby into a job. You are now providing a service and there is a client on the other end - you should elaborate a contract, be specific on how you work (duration of the session, number of images delivered and price), set a deadline and deliver the work on time. I believe that being professional is as important as the quality of the images so you should pay equal attention to both.
Research
The work behind an image starts before the session. There is a good amount of research to be done in order to deliver a set of images that are successful in communicating architecture - studying the sun’s position during the day, learning how the space is used and setting a plan of action. You are documenting architecture and you are expected to do it under the best light and circumstances available. Showing up on the day and start shooting without a plan is not ideal.
Work with your client
You have the technical ability to create images but no one knows the project better than the architect. Architectural photography is deeply dependable on its subject so it is very important to work with the architect in order to understand the space in its essence. Have a talk (preferably on site), ask questions and establish a work relation. By doing this you are setting yourself to deliver images that are valuable to your client.
What does it take to build a career in architectural photography?
You can be an architectural photographer If you know how to operate a photographic camera and have sensibility on communicating space with images. Most architects are architectural photographers when they document their projects with their smartphones (and some are very talented doing that) but they entrust the final images to a professional architectural photographer.
It can be daunting (and to some extent ruin the joy of photography) to deal with anything besides the act of taking a picture - deadlines can be stressful, most of the time the ideal conditions to make photos will not be met and you will work with clients that don't have time to get involved. By being professional you must find a way to keep the passion while providing a service.