Archinect: What is your relationship with architecture? What drew you to architecture, as a photographer?

Alexander Severin: My first exposure to architectural photography happened during my time as a high school intern at an architecture office. Armed with an overabundance of excitement and a subscription to Architectural Record, I would spend my subway rides flipping through the magazine, trying to understand how such jaw dropping visuals were possible. Who got to make these images? Compounding my fascination was the almost mystical reverence towards architectural photography of the designers around me. That’s how the idea was planted.

After completing an undergraduate degree in architecture, I worked as a designer for a couple of years. I totally love the design side of the practice, but I kept feeling that urge to take the risk of pursuing photography. An opportunity arose to photograph a couple of projects for the firms where I’d worked, which I jumped on. As I started to immerse myself in the practice of architectural photography, I began to see it as an extension of the design process. Working closely with the designers, architectural photography offers the opportunity to see and experience spaces, to examine them thoroughly, and, in some ways, to shape the way they are perceived. Once I fully realized that was on the table, I was all in.

Describe how you work... who are your clients?

AS: I mostly work with architects and interior designers, but am also engaged by professionals in the real estate industry. My chief concern is exploring, unpacking and expressing the intentions of the designers or stakeholders involved with a project. As a project gets underway, I aim to understand the process by which the designers made their decisions, map out the landscape of their goals and constraints, desires and limitations. I love to see sketches, drawings, models, to trace the design process to its point of genesis. While I am making images for a broader audience, I am focused on having my photographs speak primarily for the designers. I believe that my work should function as an extension of the hand of the architect.

A lot of my work deals with residential spaces at all scales, from new high rises like 56 Leonard and historical towers like 70 Pine Street, to single-family houses and apartments. I also have expertise in photographing commercial, educational and community spaces such as offices, spaces for non-profits, schools, healthcare facilities. Many of my clients work with historical structures and I’ve had the opportunity to work with many landmarked buildings, both in their restoration and adaptive reuse.

Do you mostly work in a specific region? What is your travel schedule like?

AS: I’m based in the New York area - though my practice is expanding to soon include more travel.

What is your goal when capturing buildings in photographs?

AS: There is something magical about the implementation of design. The very basic idea of something being created according to a singular plan has always been moving to me. I’ve spent half of my life interacting with people who invest all their energy into making abstract ideas concrete reality. When I encounter the finished products of all that labor, I find it deeply meaningful. I am extremely fortunate to be in a position where I get to translate the result of all that effort into a series of images. If all goes well, my images become the de facto record of the design, which is a huge responsibility and something I take very seriously.

What are your thoughts about including people in your photos? Is it important to photograph a building in use, or by itself?

AS: In my opinion, including or excluding people in photographs is part of a bigger issue: providing visual context in images. The human figure, setting and site, scale, light, motion, and even a visual explanation of function, all contribute to the visual context of space and to our understanding of design. Spaces and the images produced thereof require an individualized approach. Some spaces only need appropriate light to express their intentions. Other spaces require the human figure to deepen the understanding of scale, motion, etc. Sometimes function needs to expressed with people, but in specific cases, function is best understood by the careful arrangement of inanimate objects. I do believe that a project should be photographed to express its use, but sometimes that means photographing the space completely unadorned.

What are your favorite pieces of equipment?

AS: In graduate school, I used an Arca Swiss 4x5, which still holds a special place for me. Unfortunately it’s not very practical for the commercial side of photography. I use Canon DSLRs with tilt-shift lenses. I’ll confess that one of my assistants thinks I should name my first child “Extender,” for all of its dutiful service. (Thanks, Manuel!) Probably the most amazing piece of gear I have is the Arca-Swiss “Cube” tripod head.

Do you work alone?

AS: Folks help me with shoots as needed. I have assistants for almost all interior shoots, as there’s quite a bit of labor involved with setting and re-setting styling objects. I also love to have clients on site with me. The photography process is slow and can be a bit tedious to watch, but having clients join in on shoots offers an invaluable focus and interchange of ideas. But then again, having sunrise at a project all to yourself is also pretty special.

How do you feel about seeing your photographs on blogs and websites?

AS: While I still have a bit of a romantic attachment to seeing my work in print, I love seeing my work in any media that responsibly promotes the work of my clients and myself. The digital design press has ushered a profound expansion of our understanding and appetite for visual culture and I am thrilled to be a part of the democratization of design.

Alexander Severin:

"I love the built environment. My photographic practice is anchored by my fascination with design, urbanity and the tactile experience of our surroundings. I believe that our built environment is in tension between intentionality and circumstance, the whole made more powerful by the nature of its duality. My passion is creating photographic representations at the intersection of design, implementation and context.

I believe in telling stories. Great photography creates narrative strings that enhance our understanding of the built environment. I use my experience to highlight, finesse, contextualize the ideas embedded each project. My goal is to explore implementations of great design, distilling and connecting photographic vignettes that offer insight into the ideas that shape our world."

-Alexander Severin