FOCUSED PHOTOGRAPHY

Matera, Italy is mind blowing.

I think I would like to offer a course which might be titled Form Appreciation.  The course would be of benefit to both practicing architects as well as architecture students.

This entire city is made up of simple forms that are fully integrated with the landscape and the people who inhabit them.  The built forms are neither modern nor traditional.  They simply are.  And I firmly believe all architects would benefit from an intense exposure to this wonderful, wonderful built environment.

Here in the Old City, or Sassi, I found myself doing something new as I was walking thru the city.  As I came upon a building that interested me, I was then absolutely sure to take photos of it from at least three sides.  This is not as easy as it sounds, as Matera is built on a steep hillside.  So getting three photos of a building meant walking away from the building and then back again on another pathway.  You have to keep the building that you are interested in one eye as you find ways to photograph it from different sides.  You might have to climb steep steps, go around two other buildings, and then find an opening from which you could then take your photograph.

I found myself calling this Focused Photography.  You have to focus on the building that you want to draw, and then take 3 or 4 photos of it, mostly in succession.

As I was walking up and down pathways taking my focused photos, I saw my activities analogus to the 3D computer imaging systems, which do the same thing.  They take digital readings from various points, and from that dataset they are able to construct a realistic 3D image.  We touched on these systems, for example, at this page, FULL CIRCLE TRANSPARENCY.

At any rate, it was a new experience to focus solely on one building for a span of 10 or 15 minutes, and then get myself in position to take the photos that I need to be able to draw the building.  I’ve never approached it quite this way, and it was fun.  And now I have sufficient photos to be able to accurately close the forms of these organic and plastic stone buildings.

The modest drawing above, and the photos below of a simple Matera building, illustrate Focused Photography.