Howdy folks!
You're probably familiar with the Nairobi half-life images I make every so often [like the one below]. In addition to those composites, I've also tried to employ the same mindset in some architectural works, and that's the subject of this month's post.
In 2018, just as I was establishing myself in the architectural photography trade, an architect asked me to help him document his ongoing restaurant fit-out projects. When discussions began on how to best capture the spaces, we agreed to work on showing a seamless transformation from the construction stage to the final product stage, achievable only through a Before-&-After sequence of images.
Today's post seeks to break down the process of making that possible.
In future, the plan will be to begin the documentation early enough to capture the spaces prior to the commencement of the actual construction [the 'raw' space], through the construction phase up until the final product.
Step 1: Project & Design Review
We look at the floor plans and 3D renderings of the designs, just to understand the scale of the project, how the spaces work and how the furniture is laid out. More on furniture in Step 2.
Step 2: Site Survey
With the drawings at hand, we survey the site with the Architect so they can highlight the main aspects of the design. Here, we pay close attention to where the furniture is positioned. This will then allow us to map out where the cameras will be positioned during the final shoot because you want the almost-exact position during both before and after phases of the shoot, without any furniture getting in the frame (unless that was the initial intention of course).
Step 3: Shoot day!
We show up on location ahead of call time, then walk around the site to pick out the spots that we'll be shooting from and at what time of day based on the ambient light and the activities within the spaces we're shooting. Curveballs are guaranteed to come our way so getting to the site early accords us enough time to reorganize ourselves and come up with a new strategy should the initial game plan fall through.
Now, it's important to understand that the building contractors are in charge of the site and we are essentially in their domain. This then calls for respect of any boundaries they've set as we mind the safety of not only ourselves and our gear, but of their personnel as well. We therefore have to be in contact with their representative at all times so as to avoid getting in each other's way as we both undertake our different tasks within the different spaces on site.
Step 4: We start shooting!
Armed with the full set of the architect's vision in form of 3D renderings of the entire space, we now position the cameras to match the vantage point on the 3D renders because we want to show how the space has transformed from a bare site to the architect's vision, to the execution on site and finally, to the finished product.
It's important to note that even with a full set of 3Ds to reference from, more opportunities will present themselves every so often and we have to be able to see them and take advantage of them at that point in time. This is usually communicated to the architect during the initial discussions and this gives us additional creative freedom on location to make additional images that we think will aid the architects in telling the full story of the project.
So, if we bump into compositions that weren't initially planned for, either because of how the light behaves or how a space looks to the eye, we add that to our shot list and sure enough, we've ended up with quite a number of keepers by adopting this mindset.
Without further ado, here's a series of some Before-&-After shots taken at two Artcaffe outlets.
First up, Artcaffe Capital Centre, Mombasa Road.
And finally, Artcaffe Kitengela Mall, Namanga Road
For the architects, interior designers and anyone willing to document their projects, we hope you can use this approach to create compelling stories of how your amazing creations are coming to life. When you're ready, we'd love to help you get started or get going on that front and so, if you have any questions or suggestions, reach out to us via eyeconic-media@mail.com. We're more than happy to engage and walk with you step by step through that journey.
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