Layetana Headquarters Building. Design by RCR Architects.

In Focus is Archinect's series of features dedicated to profiling the photographers who help make the work of architects look that much better. What has attracted them to architecture? How do they work? What type of equipment do they use? What do they think about seeing their work in blogs?

In this feature, we talk to Barcelona-based photographer David Cardelus.

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

My relationship with architecture has a lot to do with my character—I feel that I can say this without any doubt. I have the kind of personality that looks attentively at the city. I have the ability to look quietly at all the pieces that make up the building, and the know-how to wait until the proper lighting reveals the appearance of a building so I can get the precise photograph that I have already anticipated in my mind. I also know that I am always fascinated by how the city evolved without stopping and that I can't avoid looking at buildings as if they were precious sculptures rising in the urban landscape, transforming both their environment and how we look at them. When I think about it, I guess that is what I am always trying to share with people: the fascination of discovering what I see in the city. 

Describe how you work.

When I am working, I have in mind some simple idea that I consider to be essential. Above all, I think that architectural photography is a way of interpreting the reality that is in front of the camera and is never a mere documentary resource. I also assume that all photography is a dialogue — a continuous exchange of looks, of the photographer with the city, and of the viewer with the architecture represented in the photograph. It is a dialogue in which all parts of the conversation should always have the opportunity to learn something new about what they are contemplating. My mission as a photographer is to start the conversation and to make it interesting.

My mission as a photographer is to start the conversation and to make it interesting.

Then, I try to get as much information as possible from the author of the architectural project that I am going to photograph so that I can really understand his/her work and am able to properly explain it. If possible, I like to walk alone with the architect by the newly finished building and talk to them. I think that all architectural photography is actually born from an informed look that then becomes an intentional look.

That allows me to plan a series of narratively sequenced points of view, in which I try to find and establish the simplest elements that make attractive, coherent, and intelligible the architecture that I am going to photograph. There is nothing more important than choosing the right point of view to determine a frame in which you harmonically arrange the lines, shapes, and colors that will actually draw attention to the image itself and, through these plastically simple elements, to the architecture that is being portrayed. What I hope to establish is some kind of emotional communication with the viewer through the image, the architecture that I am showing them, and the way it is represented. 

Who are your clients?

My clients are usually architecture and publishing firms, construction and engineering companies, and increasingly, advertising agencies, organizations related to architecture and the built environment, and government agencies. Recently, I have also repeatedly worked for companies that manage architectural heritage sites, collaborating in the communication in photographs of these unique historical buildings. 

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

I currently work in the Barcelona area although I am always available to work anywhere in the world. I have collaborated with large firms that I have worked for many times in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, wherever....It is always really interesting to see how light is different in all those places, but maybe this is a personal perception.

What is your goal when capturing buildings in photographs?

My goal as a photographer—as an architectural photographer in this case—is always to provoke a reaction in the viewer who looks at my photographs, to never leave them indifferent. I want the viewer to stop and contemplate the photograph that I have created so they can talk to each other. Both the viewer and the picture get involved in the conversation that I have started with my greeting. Then, I get the impression that everyone participating in this dialogue—the photographer, the observer, the image, and the architecture—can learn from one another.

Somehow, my intent is to place the buildings that I photograph out of time so that they are looked at not for what they are, but for what they seem to be

Somehow, my intent is to place the buildings that I photograph out of time so that they are looked at not for what they are, but for what they seem to be: to look at them like the shapes, lines, colors, and textures that they are.  I think that the simpler the plastic language with which a photograph draws the attention of the viewer is, the easier it is to interpret it no matter where you read the image—whether it's in Boston, Los Angeles, Rome, Barcelona or Tokyo. Also, through that simple code, you can also feel attracted by the same image for many years to come. This is what it really means for me to place the subjects of architectural photography out of time and what I think is actually the spark that ignited the dialogue between the photograph and the viewer.

I suppose that I want to apply some kind of abstract art reading codes to architectural photography so that I can establish a sincere communication in which everyone can participate. But, I want to do so in a playful manner, like arranging pieces of a puzzle.

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

People in architectural photography are just another element of the image and are just as important as the shapes, lines, and colors that built it. They need to find their precise place in the frame so as not to distract the viewer from what I want them to see in the picture. If you include people in the frame, they must provide information about the scale of the architecture and the function of the photographed space. If not, the presence of people in the image is somehow difficult to control unless you stage a 'mise en scéne' that can be perceived as false. Anyway, if the assignment conditions require it, it is perfectly possible to anticipate some dynamics of people moving in space and you can always find a way to have them in your pictures. 

What are your favorite pieces of equipment?

I like to think of the camera that I use as an instrument with which I am playing a music score, not like a tool that I use to execute a task

I worked for many years with a Sinar 4x5 inches large-format camera and Schneider lenses and now I am using Canon cameras and lenses. More than a specific piece of gear, I like to think about the ceremony that architectural photography and equipment itself determine, or at least in the way that I conceive it, as a quiet and leisurely way to work. It's attentive and very careful. The equipment or technical resources that you use to create your photographs are not so important if the results you get are valid for you: I like to think of the camera that I use as an instrument with which I am playing a music score, not like a tool that I use to execute a task. In any case, it is not the camera who takes the photograph, it is me who take care of all the decisions that affect the creative process.

Do you work alone?

Normally yes, I work alone and try to be as discreet as possible. It happens many time that the mere presence of a mounted camera on a tripod cause the people around you to act differently and some even to feel uncomfortable so I always try to relate with the people and the space that I am photographing in the most respectful and fluid way. If I am engaged in a large or complicated assignment and I need to really efficient, working with an assistant can be absolutely necessary.

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

The greatest value of photography today is its circulation on the internet.

The greatest value of photography today is its circulation on the internet; it is the natural environment in which the life of the photographs happens. As I said before, I always work with the intent of making my photographs understandable anywhere in the world without anyone needing to learn a strange key to interpret them. I want my photographs to draw attention by themselves so that people stop to look at them and, from that point, let them dive in the shapes, lines and colors so they can find what is apparently hidden behind. If my pictures are published on social networks, blogs or websites, the more times the better because that means that the photographs actually work. It is always my pleasure to see that people share my photographs and that they also respect my work by crediting the images with my name. I always appreciate that.

Born in 1967 and raised in Barcelona, David majored in photography, film and video from Universitat de Barcelona Fine Arts School in 1991. His degree course work included painting, drawing and sculpture, as well as narrative, semiotics and communication. Other courses at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya included XIXth century photographic techniques and the photographic representation of the human body.

David has twice been placed as a finalist in the European Architectural Photography Prize Architekturbild, in 1995 and 1999, and his work has been shown at both the Photo España and Primavera Fotogràfica photo festivals.

David’s photographs of the Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners ‘Las Arenas’ Barcelona Project featured in the 2012 Civic Trust Awards. His architectural and fine art photographs have featured in two honorable mentions within the Buildings and Cityscapes categories of the 2013 International Photography Awards, sponsored by the Lucie Foundation.

Since year 2004, David has been lecturing on architectural photography at Universitat Pompeu Fabra ELISAVA school for graduates taking master degrees in interior design. The course analyses a wide range of architectural photographs and discusses their use as communication tools in books, magazines and blogs.

David is the author of a lecture about the relationship between photography, architecture, communication and added value presented in public at the 2016 International Conference ‘Inter = Photography and Architecture’ organized by the Universidad de Navarra.

He is a member of the Unió de Professionals de la Imatge i Fotografia de Catalunya and constantly updates his photographic equipment, imaging software and skills in order to offer his clients the best of his professional abilities.

David lives in Barcelona’s Gràcia district.

http://www.davidcardelus.com