Architectural photographers we’re now following online (part 1)

Goethe once called architecture frozen music. If that were so, then architectural photographers memorialize moments in and around this music on gel, ink, and surface.

Much like most of you, the BluPrint team scouts for projects online. More images now stream through our personal news feeds after the creation of our first special issue of 2018—architectural photography.

Here’s a rundown of the architectural photographers we’ve been following. Some of them have contributed to BluPrint over the years, while others are newfound friends and inspirations.

READ MORE: Architectural photographs (or the remains of our buildings)

Tom Epperson

Manila-based photographer Tom Epperson used to be entrenched in the arena of moving images. He was a cameraman at Hanna Barbera until he chanced upon the work of Vietnam War photographer Catherine Leroy. A career shift followed. Today, his eponymous studio, whose portfolio spans portraiture, food, travel, and architecture has become synonymous to high-caliber photography. Follow him on Instagram @tomepperson

Hiroyuki Oki

Hiroyuki Oki’s childhood hobby of trainspotting in Japan flourished into a desire to pursue photography, which he did as he studied photography in college. Oki first visited Vietnam over ten years ago and realized that it wasn’t the norm for architects to document their projects. And while demand was a big part of why Oki made the big move to Ho Chi Minh City, the burgeoning architectural scene also excited him. See more of Oki’s work here.

Angie McMonigal

Despite moving from a small town in Wisconsin to Chigaco over 15 years ago, Angie McMonigal maintains the visual curiosity of someone who has moved to the big city for the first time. Her photography crystallizes vignettes of buildings that an ordinary city dweller might be oblivious to in the thick of the bustle. This is most evident in her ongoing Urban Quilt series, in which she captures interesting patterns in the overlap of buildings. Follow her on Instagram @angiemcmonigal

Hufton + Crow

Photographers, like other auteurs, are usually known and become successful by a singular name. Named duos and partnerships are far less common, but if we think about some of the famous in the visual arts—Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Gilbert & George, Bernd and Hiller Becher to name but a few—one thing is clear.: the dynamism of both parties produces work that is greater than the sum of its individual contributions. The same can be said of Nick Hufton and Allan Crow, the British architectural photography duo behind the images of highest-profile buildings by all the stellar names in the architecture world today. In terms of capturing the crisp novelty of the built project, few do it better than Hufton + Crow. Follow them on Instagram @huftonanadcrow

Marc Goodwin

Marc Goodwin’s viral photography series of architecture studios depicted the day-to- day activities and the spaces that house practcies from all over the world, big and small. The series fed on the curiosity of many and answered the lingering question in the heads of architecture fans: what goes on behind the scenes of the world’s top firms? What Goodwin delivered in this series is a slice of reality often glossed over and eradicated from view in architectural photography. His portfolio brims with an images that assimilate the character of their locations in an unfussy manner, possessing of an ‘archmospheric’ quality, a term he coined to summarize his approach. Follow him on Instagram via @archmospheres

Ed Simon

What is a Bluprint shoot without our resident photographer Ed Simon? Sir Ed, as we fondly call him, is always on the lookout for juxtapositions in the built environment. Nobody in our team has documented more local projects, in their pristine and precarious states, than he has. In his more intuitive shots pre- and post-shoots, also known as his #arteshot, he exercises more freedom as respite from shooting projects for our magazines and books. Follow him on Instagram @monsied

READ MORE: Architectural photographers we’re now following online (part 1)

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In BluPrint’s first Special Issue of the year we hear the stories behind the numerous approaches to architectural photography directly from the best image makers from across the world. We identify the project photos included by the year they were taken, not when they were completed, to stress that architecture does not stop when the architect steps away. They have done as much as any in the profession to preserve every architect’s aspiration to create a tangible legacy.

BluPrint Special Issue 1, 2018 is available in digital format via Flip100, and in newsstands and bookstores today. Cover photo by Hufton + Crow