At this moment, StarTech.com is in the news for a couple of reasons. Noticing the tech company’s presence, I realized my architectural photos of the building expansion never made it into a blog post.
Some images are mixed into my architectural exterior photography portfolio or I’ve shared them only on Instagram. Which is totally against my desire to post my work on my website first.
With a new CEO, StarTech.com is making waves here in London. I decided you really should see these photos that I shot for Nicholson Sheffield Architects at the end of 2017. I know. My blogging game is late!
You can compare, if you like, the exterior photos (no interiors) captured in the morning vs the evening.
Let me know in the comments!
StarTech.com Photographed in the Morning
The renovated part of the building faces the west and this typically means morning may not be the best time to shoot. But, the thing is, I am way too curious to see the way everything plays out in the morning and evening.
And, since I don’t charge by the hour or half day/full day, I am fine with returning to the project site multiple times. This has no impact on pricing.
So, I started with checking out StarTech.com on an autumn morning to see if there would be any potential photos. And, I believe there were some.
StarTech Morning Images…
Building addition shot at a closer angle Photograph of update to StarTech.com Building and shotthough the grasseSeeing the building expansion straight on StarTech.com Building Addition with Lensflare in the morning Better architectural photograph shot through the grasses looking straight at the StarTech.com building update Tight photo of the addition
How I Felt About the Morning Session
Felt like a scouting photo session for me in the morning. It was clear to me that the StarTech.com addition would benefit most from shooting late afternoon into sunset and twilight.
It was not a waste of time at all. Going out to shoot in the morning helped me to see what I’d need to do later on. And, I’d need to pray for a great sunset.
The morning photos above are okay, but I couldn’t live with them on their own. All but 2 look off to me. Maybe you’ll get the same feeling after seeing the photos I get of StarTech.com in the evening shoot.
StarTech.com Photographed in the Evening
After scouting the building in the morning, I felt very excited to be back at the right time of day! It was time to do whatever it takes to get some bangers. Yes, that means standing in traffic too.
With StarTech.com doing sales all around the globe, I continually thought about creating images that showcase the London, Ontario building to the world. Also, I was going to create images I wanted to see when I was searching Google Image Search and couldn’t find many at all. I thought about this even though my client was the architecture firm. It didn’t matter because thinking like this also transfers to showing their excellence to the world.
In the evening images, you’ll notice how much the light changes and I can show the building addition in multiple ways.
Startech.com Evening Images…
The above sunset architectural photo could easily be cropped to remove a generous portion of the grasses if desired. The image would be strong still. The difference from the morning image is the colour of the grasses. Tough to have both though.
Or can you? I moved to a different vantage point for the building to look like it was emerging from the grasses. Doing this I was able to catch the golden grasses too.
It was a touch disappointing that the clouds rolled out for twilight, but they sure helped out in the other photo. For a twilight photo, I don’t mind the full on blue sky. Sure, I could replace that sky with another sky image, but I’m pretty firm in ensuring the sky is as shot. I believe the sky effects so many elements of the entire photo. Changing it, I feel like I’m creating another rendering and that’s not the goal here.
With this evening shoot, it was difficult to ensure I’d have any human element in the images. As you know, including people in architectural photography is important to me. Instead of people, the human activity comes from the vehicle light streaks you see. In the end, I see the photos in a more dynamic way.
Oh, and it sure was a bit intense standing on the median of Veterans Memorial Parkway to get photos. I’m glad it was just big enough to have my tripod set.
Fair Comparison?
Technically, I don’t believe this is a complete and fair comparison; however, with the building facing west, the sunset timeframe was optimal for architectural photography.
To better compare, I should have gone much earlier in the morning.
Architect: Nicholson Sheffield Architects Inc.
Builder: