Breaking the Rules: The Art of Architectural Photography With Ema Peter

Breaking the Rules: The Art of Architectural Photography With Ema Peter

With the birth of the smartphone, millions of people around the world gained access to incredibly advanced cameras, opening up the world of architectural photography to the global public. But while anyone can snap a photo, it takes more to create a truly compelling image. What kind of photograph captures the essence of a place? What can it tell us about the people that live, work and play within it? Can a photograph tell us a larger story about the cultural context of a home, city or country?

As the 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge opens for entries, we invite award-winning photographer and competition juror Ema Peter to explore answers to some of these questions. We'll look back at some of the best images from last season, examining the photography rules they follow — and which they break — to tell powerful stories about architecture.

By attending this talk, you'll learn:

• How to harness unexpected lighting and composition to create a compelling architectural photograph
• How to spot opportunities for a great photograph in different places and moments in time
• What it's like to be a professional architectural photographer and what it takes to succeed in the business

About Ema

Ema is the principle of Ema Peter Photography. In the past 10 years she has works with some of the largest architectural, interior design and engineering firms in North America. Ema’s photography has helped many of these firms reach award winning status. Her images have been published in Architectural Digest, Objekt International, Dwell, Wired, New York Times and many more. Ema holds a masters degree in art and applied photography from the national academy of theatre and film arts in Sofia Bulgaria as well as a PHD in Photojournalism.

She started her career as a TV anchor on Bulgarian National TV and then as an intern at Magnum Photo Agency in Paris. She then led one of the largest photography teams in North America at VRX Studios Inc. She was also the lead photographer for ad campaigns at Hilton, Hyatt and Fairmont and was responsible for creating photography standards for some of the top hotel brands around the world.

About Paul

Paul Keskeys is Editor in Chief at Architizer. An architect-trained editor, writer and content creator, Paul graduated from UCL and the University of Edinburgh, gaining an MArch in Architectural Design with distinction. Paul has spoken about the art of architecture and storytelling at many national industry events, including AIANY, NeoCon, KBIS, the Future NOW Symposium, the Young Architect Conference and NYCxDesign. As well as hundreds of editorial publications on Architizer, Paul has also had features published in Architectural Digest, PIN—UP Magazine, Archinect, Aesthetica Magazine and PUBLIC Journal.