Say Cheese

Thomas Ruff - Jpeg bd01 – 2007

For the viewer photography is a moment of pause to take in what is ultimately a still life, a zen moment. The viewer pauses to take in the photograph to understand the intention of the photographer, to understand why the photographer felt this was important to capture. And the photographer is ultimately trying to express this intention. The authorship of the photographer is implicit in the image.

The frame of the image forces directionality or a sequence of movement through the photograph. It creates a linear spatial depth not only physically but mentally. The viewer looks at the physical image, which conveys a depth and three-dimensionality past the image. The frame allows the eye to wander through the image.

A great photograph is architecturally equivalent to a 'moment' in a building. The stance of the viewer provides the frame of the moment. The photograph denies any advancement through the moment to further understand the building.

Can a single moment explain an entire architecture? Can a single photograph capture an entire moment? Can a single photograph capture an entire architecture?



In this example are 19 images of the Golden Gate Bridge all sourced from the online photo website flickr.com. The photos on the left are virtually identical in framing and position of the photographer. In my opinion these 12 images represent one of the ‘moments’ of the bridge. They are a seminal representation of an experience of the bridge and as such the moment is recorded. The power of any of the images on the left easily dominates the 7 images on the right which all document a significant structural detail of the attachment of the road deck to the cable supports. Architects may find the images on the right more interesting but, when considering that architecture is ultimately a public act, cannot deny the importance of either group of images.

Can an architectural experience, which can often be personal and subjective, be represented to all in a single image? Images such as the repetitive ones above are common within architecture photography and therefore I would argue that all types of people photograph images from specific vantage points because either the moment is so powerful, or they have been conditioned through the cultural dissemination of images that ‘this’ is the spot to stand and view the architecture in order to fully appreciate it.

The design of an entire architecture requires specificity and an idea of what one wants. This desire is created through the mental acquisition of previously experienced architectural moments edited and reconstructed into the final design. How many photos does it take to convey a final design? In the case of the Golden Gate Bridge both images are required architecturally to convey the complete design.

Drawings, the language of the architect, are extensively used to convey the elements of a project from the minute to the urban scale. Drawings however are not limited by what the lens can see but only by the imagination and skill of the delineator. Can a floor plan be photographed? A section? An axonometric projection?

Photograph by Alain Paiement

Or, what is more interesting, how can I develop a method of architectural projection based in photography?

Jan Theun van Rees examines architectural spaces which document the in-between. Below he exposes the substructure and access stairs of the spire of the First Methodist Church in Chicago. His photos give a deeper understanding of the architecture – it is almost as if he is photographing the poche of the spire – a place very few ever get to experience.

Jan Theun van Rees – 2007

View of Church from street [not van Rees]

An Independent Study over the summer will provide the opportunity to photographically experiment with the goal of capturing an entire architecture with one photographic image. This examination of various subjects could result in what the ultimate essence of an architecture is. I plan on examining photographers who have focused on architecture, such as Candida Hofer, Axel Hutte, Todd Eberle, Thomas Ruff, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and many others.

For thesis, looking at the role of photographs in architecture, from the dissemination of designs to the worldwide design community, to the power of the images of photographers like Stoller and Schullman, to the inspiration/sourcing of ideas for architects who are looking to do something like what they have seen before - only different. I'm thinking of designing an entire architecture from photographs of other buildings. This will bring into question the role of precedent, copyright, and the ambiguity of the design, which cannot be photographed before it exists – directly in conflict with the documentary nature of photography. Some images could be more gestural, others hyper specific.

LEFT: Vatican Museum, Vatican City, Italy
RIGHT: Marin Civic Center, by Frank Lloyd Wright, San Rafael, USA

I would ultimately like to design a building of some kind, although the process of design and the final representation is ultimately more important than the program of the building. Therefore the program of the building will most likely present itself over the course of the summer and may or may not have anything to do with photography at all.

Final artifacts could be limited to photographic media. Site model constructed of site documentation photographs, physically connected in some way, creating a 3d model out of 2d elements. Other projection methods will be explored over the summer to find ways to express a building’s design via photography