The Document, the Story and the Expression

Abstract

Architectural photography is a way of seeing and understanding architecture as well as a way to generate and critique design. Eric de Maré separates the general types of architectural photography into three categories: “The Record, the Illustration and the Picture”1. However, a better way to describe these categories is the Document, the Story and the Expression because these terms can guide how architectural photography responds to the production of architecture as well as the mode of expression of architecture in different ways. By distinguishing the categories it becomes clear the many ways that architecture can be communicated through photography. The technical considerations of architectural photography are linked directly with creative expression and are used together to tell the story. Architectural photography is far more complex than simply showing a building but is often mistaken to be just that. The act of translating an experience of three-dimensional space into the two-dimensions of photography is a process of careful and creative thought. This paper expands these three categories as a way to understand the dynamics and possibilities of this form of media.