Architectural Photographer

If you’ve ever tried to photograph a towering skyscraper or your own cramped bedroom, you know it’s difficult to fit it all in and make it look, well, not terrible. What you’re lacking are the techniques and equipment that an Architectural Photographer uses to capture large-scale photos of buildings.

For an Architectural Photographer, it’s all about perspective and lighting. You’ll have all sorts of doodads in your camera bag to get the desired effects: a bubble level, a telephoto lens, a fully adjustable tripod, filters and flash units. You might have to run up and down stairs or stand in the middle of a busy street to get the perfect angle, or set up your camera in one spot for hours to let in just enough light.

The job of Architectural Photographer offers a lot of variety. One day you might be providing photos of a renovated kitchen for a Real Estate Agent; the next day you could be getting dramatic shots of some ancient ruins at sunset for a history magazine. All of your work must be done on site, so you’ll get to hop around town or around the world—with your heavy bag of equipment in tow.

Architectural photography can be lucrative for a career in the arts, if you show off your work and find the right markets. You may have to cater to the whims of many different clients, but you can also gain access to architectural treasures and be invited inside remarkable homes.