Digital Photography

The communication age has been a boom time for the resources available to architectural photography. Until recently, budding photographers were left to pour over reams of history books or other people's albums to source new or original subjects for their work. The only alternative was to grab a camera and hit the road – a time consuming and impractical method, albeit a fun one.

 

With the advent of the internet, however, the whole world was thrown open to architectural photography research. First it was just famous cities and notable monuments, but the user-led nature of the internet soon meant anything worth looking at had its image online, and probably fairly comprehensive directions of how to get there and links to a good local hotel alongside it.

 

This combined with powerful search technologies meant anyone with an interest in architectural photography could find hundreds of suggestions for what to photograph within seconds. Suddenly there was all the fun of the shooting with none of the laborious research, a development beyond many photographers' wildest dreams.

 

Just recently the internet has gone one step further with Google Street View, a technology that means you can not only locate a subject for your architectural photography, but plan nearly the whole shoot from the comfort of your study.

Finally it is worth mentioning the connecting influence the internet has had in the architectural photography fraternity, as now traditionally solitary individuals can now communicate instantly with other enthusiasts and professionals all over the world, and even upload their work for peer review or public appreciation.