Closet Photographer on the Edge?

There are too many puns and jokes that could be made from these situations from a recent architectural photography shoot for Marriott here in Nashville. My first assistant Rory White is lightning fast with his iPhone camera to capture me in precarious situations.

It never fails, regardless of how big a room is, when photographing architecture I always find myself crammed up in a corner, against a wall, or in this case … in a closet. No, there were no skeletons. Just a nice robe for the next guest.

Kyle Dreier stuck in closet.

Or, in this case, where we were rooftop and leaning over the edge three stories up. It was brutal cold with the wind.

Kyle Dreier out on edge.

I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait for a later post to see the finals. It was a good day of shooting and the client was very good to work with. Here’s hoping that we do more for Marriott here in the near future.

- Kyle

Architectural Assignment

I was in Lexington, Kentucky the first part of February shooting for a large architectural firm from Nashville. Thankfully we were there before the huge ice storm crippled that part of the state.

This particular architectural photography assignment was to highlight an extended care facility which was a complete redesign of an existing structure. This particular architect client joins us on each shoot with the marketing director and the lead interior designer for the project.

I enjoy being an architectural photographer. It certainly has its challenges but that’s really what keeps it fun. This particular assignment we had to shoot into the wee hours of the morning when the residents were asleep. It made for a long day, but we all hung in there.

For me, my day started at 6:30 am loading gear into my SUV. I picked up my assistant at 8 am. We drove to Lexington and were setting up for the first shot by 1 pm. By the time we got our shots, packed up gear and checked into our hotel it was 1:30 am. But, we shot everything we needed.

It’s kinda funny how different skills overlap. We actually had to create some fake ice cream for one of the shots. We turned to the old powdered mash potatoes and Crisco for this task. It’s not my favorite recipe for fake ice cream but it did the trick for what we were trying to do. (My favorite recipe involves a bag of confectioners sugar and frosting. More at the another time.)

So, here are the results. Nothing glamorous but certainly what we set out to capture.

Stay tuned for the next shoot …

- Kyle