ASID Industry Partnership

ASID Industry Partner Logo

Today I joined ASID as an Industry Partner.

I am proud to be associated with such a distinguished organization with such high professional standards as ASID. Since the vast majority of my clients are ASID members I felt joining this professional organization would be a good way to meet other members and expand my professional network.

I look forward to participating in the chapter activities and become a part of the interior design community as an architectural photographer in the san francisco bay area.

Photograph of the Month: Thistle

Dramatic Photograph of a Thistle Blossom

This month’s photograph is titled “Thistle”

I was at the farmers market and spotted these wonderfully dramatic flowers in the Flower Sellers booth. I have always been attracted to the surreal beauty of these formidable plants. They look so  intimidating, but there is a dignity and beauty that captures my heart and speaks to me in a language unknown to all others.

I hope you enjoy this month’s photograph.

All images in my “Photograph of the Month” series are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. You can click on the image to open in a new window or download; please, share it with your family and friends, with my compliments.

B&M Tear Off Roofing

Last year I was working with Rebuilding Together Peninsula to document the rehabilitation of their new permanent facility at 841 Kanyne St. in Redwood City, CA and I had the opportunity to work with B&M Tear Off Roofing as they were installing the new hot tar roof. I worked with them for two days and found the B&M Crew to be one of the most conscientious and professional that I have ever had the opportunity to work with. And I did roofing in the early 1980′s.

The men at B&M were all polite and professional and they obviously took a lot of pride in their work. Every one of them wore their safety equipment and followed all the rules to the letter. I was very impressed with their attitude and how efficiently they got the job done.

Last week Daniel from B&M called me to ask about getting some of the photographs I took for B&Ms’ use. As is standard polcy on RTP projects all the contractors and volunteers have free access to the photographs I create all they need to do is call me.

It was a lot of fun documenting the tear-off and installation of Rebuilding Togethers’ new roof. You can view a gallery of the entire process by following this link to my portfolio galleries, but here are two of my favorite shots from the roof.

A little background on High Dynamic Range Imaging and theory going forward

Tone mapping used in High Dynamic Range Imaging is a relatively new technique, but photographers have been working with high dynamic range images since the invention of the photographic process back in the 1820’s.

Photographers have used darkroom techniques to control the dynamic range of our images such as selective development of film and prints as well as dodging and burning of prints to make dark areas lighter and bright areas darker. In extreme cases a conventional photo lab would employ contrast masking to either increase or decrease the contrast of prints or duplicate transparencies.

When shooting the use of supplemental lighting is one means of controlling the high dynamic range of an image, as is the use of graduated filters. When shooting with my 4×5 I would regularly shoot multiple exposures to selectively expose different areas of the image, or employ dodging techniques at the camera lens to tone down light fixtures while still utilizing the light source to illuminate the image.

I have used image compositing utilizing layers and layer masks in photoshop for as long as I can remember. Modern technology provides us tools to use tone mapping and exposure blending to achieve results never before possible through the use of powerful computers and advanced software, but everything still depends on the eye and vision of the photographer. As photographers we decide what the image we are creating is to look like, what emotional message it is to convey and how that message will be presented. We do this through pre-visualization of the final image.

The Zone System developed by Ansel Adams is still the most important tool available to the photographer because it teaches us to have a thorough understanding of our tools and materials, whether that is a digital camera and computer or a pinhole camera and homemade photographic paper. The Zone System also teaches the value of pre-visualization of the final image at the time of creation. This pre-visulization combined with our understanding of the limitations of our medium and our expertise in the use of the tools available allow us to achieve our vision.

A thorough understanding of, and application of the Zone System combined with technical expertise with the modern High Dynamic Range Imaging techniques allow us to better understand and utilize modern HDRI tools. This command of the entire process, from beginning to end, is what allows us to create stunning images that speak to the viewer and engages their imagination.

2009 ASID California Peninsula Chapter Design Awards

I am proud to announce that all of my clients that entered the 2009 ASID Design Awards competition won gold or silver awards and will be featured in the upcoming issue of Gentry Magazine. This is quite a coup for any architectural photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

And now the awards my clients won – in alphabetical order…

Joseph Hittinger Designs

1. Silver Award – Single Family Residence under 3000 Sq. Ft
2. Silver Award – Kitchen
3. Silver Award – Bathroom

Miller Design Company

1. Silver Award – Single Specialty Space

Viscusi Elson Interior Design

1. Gold Award – Single Family Residence under 3000 Sq. Ft

You can review all photographs for each project by following this link to my portfolio galleries. And you can see the ASID slide show of all the winning entries by following this link.

We all know how important design competitions are, and photographs play a critical role in the presentation of your designs. Throughout my career as an architectural photographer, my clients, both  interior designers and architects, have have used my photographs and consistently won design awards.  I am very glad to see that my track record in helping my clients win professional acclaim is continuing in my new home.

My photographs help my clients win design awards because of my ability to capture the emotional content of the spaces I photograph, my talent for visually communicating the design concept, my use of sophisticated composition, and close collaboration with my clients.

All of these award winning projects were photographed using various forms of the High Dynamic Range Imaging technique I am working with, and the results are impressive. The fact that these HDRI photographs are part of the award winning entries speaks volumes for value of this innovative technique.

More good news about the 2009 ASID Awards

Last week ASID had their annual awards ceremony and I just learned that all three of my clients that entered a project won an award.

• Miller Design Company got a silver
• Viscusi Elson Interior Design got a gold
• Joseph Hittinger Designs won not one but three silver awards

This is great news and in reviewing the projects I found that all three projects were shot using one form or another of High Dynamic Range Imaging.

You can follow this link to view a slide show of the winners at the ASID CA Peninsula website. I will be making a longer post and including specific images from each project in the next few days.