Reddit mentions: The best architectural photography books

Well I guess I found this pretty late, so if it's still open, I'd love to enter!

I've never had the chance to go to Japan, but from what I've seen and heard from friends that have, it's almost like a dream world. What I love most about Japan, honestly, is their fresh view on the world. They have a very different way of seeing things and it's truly inspirational. The entire country, Tokyo especially, is a mecca for high fashion. As a photographer, I'd love to do more research on photography works by Japanese photographers & fashion photographers. I have been yearning for more inspiration, and I feel like that's exactly what I need. A few I've found on Amazon.jp are 1, 2, and this one is kind of fun.. 3. Honestly, if you see something that you think may be better suited for me, I'd also love a surprise. Thank you SO much for this contest. I am not able to escape the US just yet, and having a piece of Japan (even if it does come in a little box) would mean the absolute world to me. <3

There are lots of options - I'm not quite sure if they all transfer over to Europe but I'll give it a try.

• Lush has these really cute sets that they are offering for Christmas.
  
• You could make like a spa kit? Include some lotions, nail polish, and some slippers.
  
• There are lots of books out now, you could get a fun memoir that almost everyone will like. A couple of good ones are Mindy Kaling's, Tina Fey's, and Amy Poehler's
  
• Another really fun book is Humans of New York which is on sale right now.
  
• Otherwise people always enjoy going to the movies - you could get them a gift card or make a little gift basket; include your favorite movie or one you think they would enjoy and then some popcorn and various candy [http://www.grannastreasures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/movie-night-gift-basket.jpg]
  
• Pinch Provisions offers some really cute emergency kits [http://www.pinchprovisions.com/]
  
• a perfume set?
  
• a cute mug with a starbucks gift card or some tea
  Hope this helps!

I would suggest signing up for New master's Academy. It looks like you need a lot more figure drawing. I don't know the standard for your school, but if its anything like RISD or Calarts here in America, you're going to need more practice.

But if the exam is in 2021, you've got PLENTY of time.

First things first, you need to do figure drawing every single day. Do at least an hour everyday and aim for 3-4 hours. Do mainly 2 minute drawings. Here is something that I like to do in 2 min. I feel the need to put down volumes in proper perspective with good simplified anatomy every time I do a figure drawing. You can also do 5 min drawings if you feel the need to. You can use any medium.

Secondly, watch Steve Huston's Lectures on New Master's, especially his figure drawing lessons. It clears up a lot and it will help you also learn to draw from imagination. It'll also show you how figure drawing skills apply to drawing interiors and still-lives.

Thirdly, do interior perspective drawings every day. Buy a book like this and copy the drawings in there using horizon lines and vanishing points. It helps with speed, accuracy, and understanding.

Fourthly, study anatomy from Bridgman and Victor Perard. Copy each drawing 20-30 times in each book and draw each part from imagination all the time. Here is one of my comments on how I like to go about studying anatomy.

Lastly, you can go ahead and study any mediums you want. Just play around with them. I would also not exclude watercolors, because when you're good with watercolors, you can do them on any paper that will take water. Also, you can erase charcoal with kneaded erasers.

About Rendering, that will come with an understanding of form. It's as easy as tracing once you've got a good drawing. But for more understanding of rendering, New Master's has several classes on rendering, but a better option would be to sign up for schoolism. Especially Craig Mullin's Digital Painting course. The course is called digital painting, but all he talks about is fundamental painting principles and their relation to drawing.

Good luck man. Keep it up. You've got plenty of time to get good.

Really focus on your lighting. Lighting can be tricky in a forest, but the two golden hours can be your best friend.

Also, find something interesting, fill your frame with it, and use the forest as your background. Forests can be extremely "busy", and you often need to try to focus on one subject.

Last, I would recommend checking out "Capture the Magic" by Jack Dykinga. Dykinga's an accomplished nature and landscape photographer, and although this book is far from a how-to guide, it is easy to understand and may give you some good ideas. I bought a copy about a year ago, and loved it.

http://www.amazon.com/Capture-Magic-Improve-Photographic-Composition/dp/1937538354

Edit: I think this needs to be said... You've taken a huge step by evaluating your photos and identifying problems on your own. I also think it takes a lot of courage to publicly display your work (especially on Reddit), and ask for advice on how to improve it. It took me about fifteen years to get to a point where I'm generally happy with my photos and feel like they have my "look." I've taken thousands of photos that I wouldn't care to share. :)

Keep at it!

Before getting into photography, my background was corporate IT (with a heavy emphasis on asset management, disaster preparedness & recovery).

First, I strongly recommend getting a copy of The DAM Book for Photographers. The latest edition is from 2009 so some of the software references are probably dated, but the concepts aren't bound to using any specific software.

Next - based on the content of the DAM book, I really recommend creating a folder structure for organizing your projects that don't rely heavily on software. (Cataloging software is great, and I love it, but you want a system that's scalable so that you can move to different software in the future if you want, and that's easy enough to stick to that you're not dead in the water if your catalog dies)

Unlike many photographers, the approach I use relies on assigning a serial number to each project rather than by date. This is not a new idea, and not mine by a long shot. But essentially, all of your files have metadata in them. If you want to organize by date, just sort the files by date.

By assigning a serial number to each project you're able to:

• Quickly see if things are missing because folders & files wil be out of order.
  
• Easily be able to organize images that were shot on different days but might belong to the same project
  
• Immediately know where something belongs if it gets moved to the wrong place by accident.
  
  Each project gets a folder like so: [Serial Number]-[Project Description] such as:
  
  00001-Project 1
  
  00002-Client headshots
  
  00003-Home Depot Campaign - Spring
  
  Each image file has the project number, and then a frame number like so:
  
  00001-0001.cr2
  
  My RAW processing workflow is all in Capture One Pro, which lines up well with this project folder idea since that's basically a session - but it's easy to integrate this into Lightroom or ACDsee or Bridge et.
  
  Once your structure is in place, then just pick a catalog system to index the directories as you add them for new shoots/projects and you're all set to go.
  
  I really like NeoFinder (AbeMedia if you're a Windows user) since it's literally designed to index multiple hard drives, DVDs, and network drives to be searched offline... but if you stick to this folder structure then it doesn't matter what application you're using.
  
  
  

Wow, OP, this is a seriously impressive chair. You really did a great job of balancing an elegantly designed form with thoughtful details. I've been waffling on the idea of building an armchair recently and seeing your rocker is very inspirational.

If you haven't already read it, can I recommend Handcrafted Modern by Leslie Williamson. It's a great look into the homes of some influential 20th century designers, I've found it a great inspiration for design.

Maybe a book? I think the Humans of New York book could pretty much be given to everyone, it's all happy and uplifting and cool.

You said she's on her feet all day so maybe something to help relax a little like a foot spa? Otherwise they make these little balls that you roll under your foot (my grandma used to do this with just a tennis ball) and it's supposed to good for your muscles and kind of like a mini massage.

Does she use anything to help treat her bunions? They make some cool products like this and this that might be helpful! They have some really good reviews, she may already have something like this though?

Not the best ideas haha but maybe it will help! Good luck with shopping! :)

Oh, it was not a critique of your photos at all... They're great! I was just assuming you had a lot more that you didn't include in the posts. Since it was a blog (versus book or magazine), I was saying it would be cool to see more pics, even if they weren't the "perfect shot", if that makes sense.

I absolutely love photography of industrial decay. One of my prized possessions is a copy of "Ruins of Detroit", which sadly is out of print, but the publisher page has some good pics from it. Each one tells an entire story. (If you're not familiar, it's worth clicking through that second link.)

BUT... I would love to see the photographer's b-roll pics that didn't make the book! That's what I was trying to say about yours, albeit not so eloquently.

Again, thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed it and passed it on to some friends as well.

That is amazing! So weird, but amazing!

I would love to be able to shape shift. It's the perfect power. Need to be invisible? Cool, become a tiny insect or something instead. Need to fly? No worries! Bird! Need to walk through walls? Easy, become a ghost! (I'm sure that counts as shape shifting, right? Right. ¬_¬)

Failing that, I would love to have the power, that when I go to buy anything, I have the exact amount of change in my pocket (or if it's bigger, the exact amount needed in my bank account). Think about it, if you just had a load of money, you would run the risk of running out, this way, you will always have enough for what you want/need. Fabulous.

If I win, I would very much like you to surprise me. Or, failing that, I would really like this, this, this or this. I'm sorry, I couldn't decide D: (all are in my wishlists)

We are RAOA. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Edit: words

The Dyckman house is cool. You should go there. It’s been there forever. images of America did a book on Washington Heights and it’s included in that book along with other things that are still around. It’s kinda eerie to see streets that are almost empty compared to today.

Alexander Hamilton’s house is in Harlem. Technically not WH but close enough.

Fort Tryon is awesome to visit. Every year they do The renaissance fair (it’s free too). Close by is Inwood hill park.

You can take the trail starting from 125 st on the west side and end up in Dyckman. That’ll take you to the red light house along the way. It’s a nice trail. You can even go all the way downtown. There’s also a new pedestrian bridge around 157th.

Back in the old day, the Bronx used to provide water to New York City through a water bridge. They recently reopened the bridge and you can walk it to the Bronx and back. Not really much to do there except walk it, read the history located on the ground. It’s on Amsterdam but I can’t remember the street. Don’t go there when it’s cold because you’ll regret it.

If you have a dog, there’s a cool coffee shop where you can take your dog and hang out called Cafe Bark on 181st street towards the west side. Pretty awesome. We take our pupper there to socialize with other dogs. Dogs can roam around and sit on furniture. It’s really cool. You can also go down a little further to take the trail towards the red lighthouse if you want.

As for food, go on YouTube and search Washington Heights and you’ll see all sorts of videos on restaurants.

Let me know if this helps. I’m down for meetups too if anyone want to organize it.

>"I always felt I'm more Betty than Veronica, myself." Nobody gives a fuck, lady.

Aw.

>When we wake up to a certain degree, we tend to shuck and chuck lots of things from our lives. We purge. The purging feels so good, we look for what else can be purged.

I called the disposal company today to get a roll-away for this yard ancient yard-waste we keep finding around the field and brush. We've probably done three rounds of purging useless crap and stuff over the past two years. There was a book we had, lent it to friends and it never made it's way back, BUT, it's called: Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors.

Description:
>Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century cross-cuts the ranks of important books on social history, consumerism, contemporary culture, the meaning of material culture, domestic architecture, and household ethnoarchaeology.

>Using archaeological approaches to human material culture, this volume offers unprecedented access to the middle-class American home through the kaleidoscopic lens of no-limits photography and many kinds of never-before acquired data about how people actually live their lives at home.

This book was repeatedly shocking to see how much people own, and how much time they really spend outside, even though they talked about how much they valued nature. They talked and acted like...2D people.

Purging is hard with kids. But necessary. Who needs 22 pairs of pants, honestly?! We're grateful because we get so much second hand stuff, but it builds up quickly. Purging helps reduce the time I spend with stuff management and organization.

Thanks for sharing your day in Big Sur. That water and forest look amazing. Ever hike around in that beautiful greenery here or find any hidden treasures?

Thanks for sharing!

One of my personal faves is my 6th and 7th g-grandfathers' longtime business partner, Enoch Freeman; a land surveyor and attorney in what is now Portland, Maine. Freeman outlived his wife and some of his children. By the time he died, the burial ground lacked space for Freeman to be interred with his own family. His solution, which clearly had posterity in mind, as did the stone you shared, was to therefore list a directional azimuth to his family's gravesite, from his own. His stone reads:

This Stone is erected to the memory of the late Honorable Enoch Freeman, Esq'r, who died Sept. 2d, 1788, aged 82 years. His wife lies near and four children, S. I7" W. 4 or 5 Rods from this Grave

If I remember right, only one stone among his wife and children had survived the years -- therefore making Freeman's directional message, carved by Bartlett Adams, a terrific source of information!

JFRHorton had a good guess but Autographic is not correct. From the /r/photography thread, user av4rice says:

"4x6" glass plate negatives and a good long lens in soft light. That format used a large wooden box camera on a tripod with accordion-looking bellows and a black blanket over the photographer in the back.

The size and chemistry of the medium brings out nice details and tones. A soft-lit scene also contributes to the look. The lenses use a long focal length which narrows the depth of field and blurs the background, but still provide a relatively wide angle of view due to the large format."

And my comment from that thread:

In case you're interested, these are from the book called 'City of Shadows', a collection of police photographs out of Sydney. Great book, you can get it here though Amazon's price is way high. I think I got it for about $40-$60 from book depository though they're out of stock.

And in response to another question about the book (if it had details on the process):

From memory it doesn't go in to a huge amount of detail about the photographic process so much (I could be wrong) but I think there's a fairly large section on the archiving and all - if I remember they basically dug up thousands of these slides and had to sort them all. It ended up being a gallery exhibition in Sydney (if I remember at the old police station / museum by Circular Quay) which is where these photos and the ones from the book are taken.

Sorry I can't be more of a help as far as details go, it is a really interesting book and the portraits have a distinctly... Creepy tone to them. Crazy old ladies and cold eyed killers.

I think u/hellosputnik's list of already-purchased gifts was really helpful, so here's what I bought so far:

• HONY Stories book for SO's mom
  
• Bracelet made from my handwriting for my mom
  
• Romantic cabin weekend for my SO (king bed, hot tub, etc) :)
  
• A Louise Belcher mug and chocolate for my boss
  
• DJ Khaled - The Keys for my roommate
  
  Also, my boss got me two thoughtful gifts:
  
  
• Guitar pick puncher (you can make picks out of credit cards, etc)
  
• Business Cat calendar (I LOVE cats and work in business, so this is perfect)

This and many like it are featured in a collection at the Sydney Police and Justice Museum after being lost for many years. I forget the exact context but my neighbour worked on the initial collection and many of the old police files were lost due to buildings being transferred between departments. Eventually a building, then belonging to the Historic Houses Trust, was flooded and boxes of hundreds upon hundreds of these glass negatives were found in original condition however the attached notes were destroyed. Peter Doyle has (I'm sure along with many other people) worked for a number of years to put together information on these and created a book called City of Shadows which we gave to our neighbour last Christmas and was captivating just to look into these people's faces, stories, and I really loved the emotion in their eyes.

We went there back in Year 12 a few years ago and they were telling us how the criminals were allowed to adopt any pose they desired, but with the photography at the time (early 1900s) were essentially long exposures so some have blur as one of the men in the picture. Other images can be found here including the man who refused to open his eyes . Doyle has also noted that many faces appear several times with differing names and outfits showing the success of their alias'. Cool Stuff.

Haha, thanks! No gold needed. If you want to learn more about the subway, I highly recommend checking out Jake Mecklenborg's book: http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

Jake's an awesome guy who I had the pleasure of seeing the subway with once and who taught me all I know about it.

If anyone's interested, this book is a pretty interesting rundown on Torre de David, though it's not quite as in-depth as I'd like. I guess like Kowloon, it'll be history now...

Read this book. It's really fascinating, and sheds a lot of light on the situation.

The Charterites pushed out the Republican machine, who was behind building the subway, and when the Charterites (Murray Seasongood) got into power, they canceled the subway to embarrass the previous administration (the machine) by making them responsible for a boondoggle of epic proportions. (Very similar to what Cranley tried!)

If Cranley had succeeded in canceling the streetcar, realize that 80 years from now (if it were spoken about at all) the line would probably be "the city ran out of money building the streetcar".

Edit: It's also interesting to read about the formation of the Charter Party.

The reason I bothered writing a long comment was because I got the general sense from what you've posted that you were passionate about what you were trying to do, and working it out/improving and not just an asshole. Glad I was right.

See if you can get a copy of this book from your school or local library: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597111945/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i1_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1VBT2F8340N6KEZVM8KK&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

or any Bruce Davidson book for that matter. I think he manages to capture 70s/80s NYC, which was arguably a far worse place than current Baltimore, in all of it grit/grime/crime/drug use. Try to understand what about his photos works, and what doesn't. What compositionally elevates his subjects of helps you connect with them, then go out shooting with that in mind. To be honest, I think the biggest thing you can do to help yourself is to edit yourself much harder. I think a class where you are getting ripped apart can be good for teaching you to be even harder on your photos than anybody else. This will also make you shoot more because fewer things will make it past your cuts, and shooting more will always make you better (though, for me at least, posting more can sometimes be a negative to me getting better). I think if you can learn to see your photos in the harshest of lights then the good ones that are left will really be great.

Make it something related to what she likes related to, but outside of interior design. First thing that comes to mind would be travel and fashion:

Worlds Greatest Trips
Humans of New York
Paris in Color

I wholeheartedly agree.

Did some research!

The photographs were exhibited at the Historic Houses Trust, and taken down on Sunday 11 February, 2007. A 239 page book was later formed called the City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948, though a little out of my price range. Fortunately there are tons more mugshots floating around for those interested.

Cheers.

My friend (Cincy native) just wrote a book about it. It's really comprehensive. If you're into this sort of thing pick up a copy, he could use the support!

http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

Punk House is a pretty entertaining photo book about... well, punk houses. The house I used to live in is in there, too, so that's cool for my nostalgia.

I recently read a book from the architecture library where I work on Torre David that provided great analysis on how the vertical community came to be, etc. I highly recommend it.

Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities https://www.amazon.com/dp/3037782986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_u-91AbHF7AS8V

It’s kind of expensive, but if one can track it down through their library, I highly recommend it.

Taschen makes some wonderful budget photo book options. They have this one on New York which is $10. Bernice Abbot's Changing New York is a wonderful book but is most likely out of your price range unless you're willing to buy used. Diane Arbus' Revelations also falls into that category. There is also Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton though I don't find the photography particularly compelling.

Agreed, though it's not really written by him and he wasn't too stoked on the eloquence with which his story got told. Check out the original journal. It's so bad, it's actually really good: http://www.amazon.com/More-Readings-From-Mans-Wilderness/dp/1616085541/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

Humans of New York is a wonderful book. It also happens to be a blog and an Instagram account. By interviewing his subjects, Brandon Stanton brings an interesting sense of reality to his photographs.

Are you looking for a novel or a non-fiction book? If it's the latter, maybe this one? It's about the Torre David in Caracas, Venezuela. I'm sure there are other books about it as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Punk-House-Interiors-Abby-Banks/dp/0810993317

I haven't done that sort of coffee table book before, mine are all black & white and priced for very small tables. And yeah, color printing is super expensive, especially if it's a small production run.

I recently got the book "Monument" which is pretty good.

https://www.amazon.com/Depeche-Mode-Monument-Dennis-Burmeister/dp/1617755931/ref=asc_df_1617755931/

I was given this book on one of my first dates with my now husband. It's still one of my faves.

Also, I love to give the book "Humans of New York" to people who don't live here.

Pretty sure they're taken from here or here.

Monument is what you're looking for. Best DM book out there period.

https://smile.amazon.com/Depeche-Mode-Monument-Dennis-Burmeister/dp/1617755931/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499365772&sr=8-1&keywords=depeche+mode+monument

This pic is from a great book called City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948. seems all these guys were freshly arrested and these special photos were made allowing them to pose as they wished.

Brian May also has a very good book about a lost collection of stereoscopic photos that he and his co-author reassembled. It also goes into detail about stereoscopic photography and includes a stereoscope so you can view all the pictures. It's amazing!

A Village Lost and Found

He's also an avid fan of stereoscopic (aka "3D") photography and has a published collection of Victorian stereoscopes.

Amazon link for those who are interested.

For those that don’t know - Humans of New York is about a guy that goes around the city every day and finds one person to talk about their life. It’s almost always eye-opening, and an absolutely incredible Facebook page to follow.

He has also written a book, which can be found here for $16.
https://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250058902


I can’t express how incredible this page and book are. For what it’s worth, this redditor gives it a 10/10 and recommends it to EVERYONE!


Edit: For those of you without Facebook, here’s a website! http://www.humansofnewyork.com

This is the work of photographer Bruce Davidson! Find his book here. Just wanted to get visibility for him :)

He also makes these sweet 3D Victorian historical picture books

May also co-authored a stereoscopic book called "A Village Lost and Found" which depicts scenes from a small English village ca. 1850. The cool thing about the book is that it uses a stereoscopic viewer to make the scenes appear to be 3D. http://www.amazon.com/Village-Lost-Found-Brian-May/dp/0711230390

He's an interesting guy

It's a set of images from a Bruce Davidson book - "Subway". First published in 1986.

Anyone interested can have a look at amazon.

FYI that book was redacted quite a bit. Proenneke had a lot to say about the various government shenanigans that affected the Twin Lakes park and much of it was taken out by the publishers. More Readings... gives the full story straight from the horse's mouth.

It's also not his voice narrating the video, despite the impression it gives.

It's a book on digital asset management.

Those are photographs by the well known photographer Bruce Davidson.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: A Village Lost and Found


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

the book is 400 usd and up on amazon. it's from australia. however, if you go to australia, the book is much, much less.

http://www.amazon.com/City-Shadows-Sydney-Photographs-1912-1948/dp/1876991208/

http://shop.hht.net.au/Home/Catalogue?productid=e5ebe56a7a9ed9a6

I've wanted to buy this book for ages, it's called City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 by Peter Doyle.
It's on Amazon here but it's rather expensive.

http://amzn.com/1931745617

1. Photographer Bruce Davidson
   
   
2. Here's a video of Bruce Davidson talking about his experience taking these pictures
   
3. This is the book http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945

Read Jake’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

Here you go.

https://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250038820

All by Bruce Davidson from his book 'Subway'
http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382469250&sr=8-1&keywords=bruce+subway

Here's a few:

Mid-Century Modern: Interiors, Furniture, Design Details (Conran Octopus Interiors)

Making Midcentury Modern

Mid-Century Modern Furniture: Shop Drawings & Techniques for Making 29 Projects

Handcrafted Modern: At Home with Mid-century Designers

He also co-authored this book.

born november 14th and girl.

$20 $40

> 'Subway' by Bruce Davidson

http://www.amazon.ca/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945 ?

My brother just finished a book on the abandoned subway of Cincinnati. He had to sneak down there to get shots for the cover and insert. Check it out, we're finishing up a promo video today that will have more of the photos that didn't make it into the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952


EDIT

Here's the video we just finished about an hour ago.