Urban Photography Interviews Lawrence Anderson

Read the whole story here! http://www.urban-photography-art.com/architecture-photography-anderson.html

Mountains of Glass

Searching for views that communicate a design intent can often be quite consuming.  Sometimes, the quickest way to find a great shot is to slow down, breathe, and simply listen.  Occasionally, there are times that encourage this slow down.  While photographing the new Shadow Hills High School in Indio, CA designed by Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke, I came across one of those times.  With 115 degree heat, a zero wind factor, and sweat streaming through my eyes, I was constantly stopping to clear my vision.  This inevitable slow down gave me time to better appreciate the landscape of the project and led me to finding this shot.  Three rooftops up, atop the school gymnasium, I noticed a relationship between the skylights and the mountain range that I couldn’t pass up.  While this was not one of the planned shots, this view spoke loud and clear to me, be it through stinging eyes full of sweat and tears.  Here are some other perspectives from this very large, hot, high school shoot.

Good Design

Ever go into a building and you hear that little voice?  The one that says “This is only going to get better.”  That’s the feeling I had when I arrived at 1320 North Detroit Ave. designed by Predock_Frane Architects.  This space was an exciting experience.  From what I can remember, I was intrigued by the front facade, but as soon as I hit the courtyard, I just took off!  I could practically taste the shots.  I opened my eyes just a little wider and climbed up and down the steel staircases floating above the bamboo garden.  With the vision of a dusk shot from the street already gathered, and about 10 angles in the courtyard that hit me instantly, I moved on to the interiors.  With natural light flowing through and connecting every space, open walls, and skylights looking down on me, I wasn’t disappointed.  Well done Predock_Frane!

Heat Rises

If there’s one person you can’t complain to about heat, its a fire fighter. Even when shooting the new Fire Fighter Training Facility in Visalia, CA, in 115 degree weather, with natural fires starting up all around town, (HAHAHAHA) well, we jumped in two feet first. Turnouts on and 250+ degree rooms waiting, this was one hell of an interior shoot! The walls were all rigged with propane and the experience of the space helps fire fighters work through the anxiety of a real fire situation. In many ways, this building can help save lives. Hopefully, my images will accurately show the value of this type of training facility and assist in obtaining funding to build more of them. More cities with burning buildings that is.

Lose The Door, I Want More

Today, Brad Galles (Farm Advertising) and I decided to take a sexy red helicopter all over the downtown L.A. skyline to get the right shot.  The client had initially suggested a view from the ATT building, but where’s the rush in that?  I rented a gyro from Samy’s Camera and a Nikon D3X for it’s high ISO capability.  The gyro helped stabilize the camera, but we really didn’t need it as the flight wasn’t very bumpy. When I asked the pilot how close we could get to anything, he always answered “How close do you want?” The entire time we were up in the air, only a little seat belt held me in.  No harness, no cable, just this little rinky-dink belt.  HAHA, I loved it!  Here’s the url for the pilot.  http://www.celebheli.com/

Champagne and Cigarettes

While shooting the EVO Building in downtown Los Angeles, I found a perspective that seemed very strong. The only problem was it was floors up, in a commercial parking lot, basically mid air, lingering liability all the way.  Since there was a short lead time for our shoot, the property manager was already irritated with the short notice, and we had to convince another contractor on site to loan us his scissor lift, this was an interesting challenge.  I had to convince a parking lot attendant to allow us to place a scissor lift in his space and get the shots within ten minutes of our introduction.  With a respectful approach, an humble attitude, a couple packs of cigarettes, and a bottle of champagne we were able to proceed with our shoot.  Phew…….I love short notice.

Call A Fire Man

This firestation serves as the prototype for all the Port of Long Beach fire stations that are to be built in the years to come.  When scouting the project, I felt an overwhelming sense of support from the fire chief that oversees all fire stations in the district.  So, why not ask him for assistance in taking a pivital shot that could better show the context of the station.  With a single request, the chief was able to arrange a ladder truck to take my assistant and I hi above the station in order to get the shot we needed.  Oh, and lets not forget, we got to go up in the ladder of a fire engine ladder truck!!!!!!!!!!!!  I LOVE MY JOB.

Bus My Ass

To make a long story short, I ended up having to get 30 large scale busses moved in less than 30 minutes, and have two cars towed, in order to get this shot.  Despite all my planning, all the time I spent introducing myself to everyone on site the day prior, all the guarantees I was given by the local bus workers that everything would be ready when I returned, not a single thing was done when I arrived on set, probably my 8th trip there that day.  The transit workers suggested I just come back another day.  This shot was back breaking to get.  In the end, I would up with a new long term client, HOK Architects.

I Could Have Used A Boat

This shoot was my first documentation of the work by architect Santiago Calatrava.    He seems to transcend all others and is to date my favorite designer.  His designs are purely art and I felt prevlidged when I discovered his first brigde in the U.S. was in my home state. At that point, I immediately took flight to Redding, CA to interpret the project through my own vision. Apparently my vision that day was calling for me to go chin deep in the freezing Sacramento river to get this shot.  Just above the chilly water laid my camera, my new carbon fibre tripod five feet deep submerged. I dealt with the misquote bites quite well, waiting in the chilly water for the right light was beyond refreshing, but when the shots came out as I had planned, it was all worth it.