5 Architecture Photographers: Their Views and Takes

Architectural photography is a complex art. It goes beyond just capturing and creating beautiful images: a truly good architecture photographer’s eye must be able to dialogue with the light and the space. Here are five architecture photographers whose work has shaped the relation between these two disciplines in unique manners.

Frederick H. Evans

Evans (1853-1943) was a British photographer who worked with the platinotype and used to photograph English and French cathedrals. He was also a profound thinker on photography and its relation with space, his photographs can be considered among pictorialism. He is, to this day, one of the most respected names in the discipline.

Julius Shulman 

Shulman is one of the most influential American architecture photographers of all time. He was one of the key observers of Modernism, he captured iconic stages of Bauhaus and the work of legendary architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry. He stated that he pretended to freeze time by controlling the visual acoustics of the buildings he photographed.

Wolfgang Georg Sievers 

Wolfgang Georg Sievers (1913-2007) was a praised architecture and industrial photographer. He had a sharp eye for the relation among industries and their workers. His work reached unsuspected lengths, from being an aerial photographer during World War II to registering extensively the Kodak Factory in Coburg (some of these pictures are now exhibited at the Collage Heritage Collection in Museum Victoria). 

Eric de Maré

This British photographer, who passed away in 2002, was also an industrial photographer. He studied at the Architectural Association where he nurtured his passion for both photography and architecture. He affirmed that the photographer’s work is key to understanding architecture, and he believed in the images as a way to discover and reveal corners of architecture that would have stayed hidden otherwise.

Julia Anna Gospodarou

Gospodarou is both architect and photographer, proving that the dialogue between both disciplines demand a thorough understanding of common aspects like light, space and volume. Her work has an aesthetic dimension like no other due to its focus on abstract details while preserving the building’s context.

All art forms can only be enriched while dialoguing with others and these photographers are solid proof of this. Which other photographers would you add to this list? YOU MUST READ Five Museums with Outstanding Architecture