Architecture

I have always been drawn to the "structural" aspects of imagery, be it line, texture, pattern, perspective, or sharp contrasts.  I find it most compelling in the architectural photography of artists like Julius Shulman, Ezra Stoller, Lucian Hervé, and Henrich Blessing.  The vast majority of their work focused on black and white work, frequently addressing the more modernist buildings of their era, featuring the designs of such notables as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van derRohe, and others -- men of great structures, and the men who perceive those structures visually.

 

The use of black and white forces the viewer to following the light and address the textural elements of the landscape, without the distraction of color, or in the case of color shots, to consider the presence and power of color in how it creates mood and moves you through an environment.  The play in flow versus minimalism, the juxtaposition of structure to nature, whether balanced or not, presents an ongoing dialogue between man and his natural environment.  The architecture works to provide a place for man within his buildings that can elevate him, shelter him or even include him in nature.  When successful, it will also provide function that serves his life, his efficiency, and his comfort.  The work here is somewhat traditionalist in nature, almost in homage to the great artists working before me, but also as a place of comfort for me as a photographer mesmerized by architectural detail and design.