As you may or may not know, I’ve been a PhotoShelter customer for several years now. I love their service. It is, by far, the BEST way to show proofs to clients and deliver high rez finals. It also easily fits in to my digital workflow with Lightroom via a plugin, so using it saves me tremendous amounts of time and energy. Time and energy that I now spend focusing on my business, rather than mundane tasks that waste countless hours like creating Adobe web galleries, FTPing files, or (cringe) burning DVDs.

Every job I’ve delivered since 2010 is online high rez. Not only can my current clients redownload their images at any time, but I can quickly share and relicense available images to new customers. As a bonus, it also serves as an offsite backup in case something every goes terribly wrong at my office (knock on wood).

Anyway, when Lauren Margolis of PhotoShelter asked me to do in an interview about my architectural and interior photography, I jumped at the opportunity. I was totally flattered and I think the interview came out really great. Click the link below to read it on PhotoShelter’s blog:

Architectural Photography: Just Like Playing Tetris…Right?.

It’s been a busy summer and I’m really excited to start showing some of the work I’ve been doing lately. If you’re wondering why I haven’t been blogging much, it’s because a lot of my shoots are under embargo until the images are published. This week, I’m going to recap some work from three very different clients.

This first project is an architectural shoot for long time client DLR Group. DLR is one of the top architecture firms in the country and their work has always been standout. This project in particular struck me as truly inspired design. I scouted this project in January and didn’t actually shoot it until May when we had better light. On the shoot, I worked closely with project designer Levi Patterson wangling kids, building furniture, and even moving a piano to get all these wonderful shots. The interior of the auditorium is one of the most striking spaces I’ve ever photographed. Here’s what DLR has to say about the project:

Connection. Identity. The Scappoose High School Auditorium is designed as a community center created to link the broader citizenry and the school; the architecture creates a point of connection for the students and the residents of Scappoose, Oregon to foster a shared identity. DLR Group designed the 400 seat auditorium so the connection between school and community would grow and inform through student and citizen performances, as well as student, local, and regional art display. The notion of the theatre lobby as a space to display public and student art was enriched with its additional use as the new public entry and commons. The relationship between connection and identity in the design are codependent; by inviting connection the design has created an identity that transcends physical materials and form, but is an identity of ownership by students and the community. The form of the auditorium is kinetic energy. The staccato rhythm of the performance hall massing, with the large fly loft and new entry volume, were envisioned to create the same experience as the lifting of keys after the last movement of a piano concerto; the reflection and memory, the breath, that accompanies the end of a powerful performance.

Are here are the rest of the shots for you architecture and design lovers:

Credits:
Scott Rose – Principle-in-Charge
Levi Patterson – Project Designer
Kent Larson – Project Architect

• AIA Southwest OR Chapter Peoples Choice Award
• AIA Southwest OR Chapter Peoples Colleague Choice Award
• AIA Southwest OR Chapter Honor Design Award
• AIA Portland Chapter Merit Design Award
• IIDA Portland Chapter Honor Award
• IIDA Portland Chapter Juror Top Award

And here are the shots that helped win all those awards.

Mahlum’s press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 20, 2009

SPRINGFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DESIGN WINS FOUR  AIA  AWARDS

Mahlum, in association with Robertson/Sherwood/ Architects, has won three awards from the Southwestern and Southern Oregon chapters of the American Institute of Architects for the design of two eco-friendly elementary schools in Springfield, Ore.  The design also received a Merit Award from the Portland Chapter of the AIA.

In  bestowing  the 2009 AIA Certificate of Honor award for design of Thurston Elementary and Maple Elementary schools, the jury panel paid tribute to the contrast between “elegant refined wood detailing” in the public spaces and the large-scale exposed tilt-up concrete panels in the classroom wings.  It also applauded the integration of sustainable features, responsiveness to the scale of the students themselves, and the use of wood-framed glass walls that allow the outdoor learning gardens to flow into the building.

In addition to the top Certificate of Honor, the schools received two other awards from the AIA SWO  chapter – the People’s Choice Award voted on by several hundred visitors at a display during  the Eugene Celebration in September and the Colleagues Choice Award voted on by chapter members.   It is unusual for any project to receive all three awards from one chapter. The Honor Award is given, on average, every three years – it was last presented in 2005.

Targeted for the equivalency of a LEED Silver rating, both schools make use of natural day lighting, passive solar heat, displacement ventilation that allows classrooms individual access to outside air, and bioswales and landscaping that control storm water runoff.

The design team relied on a “kit of parts” approach that uses elements that can easily arranged to fit the topography of the sites.  Construction started on both schools in May 2008 and was completed in September 2009.

The schools have sloped elevations that parallel the surrounding hills and are divided into five distinct parts – three solid elements that respond to the scale of the hills and two transparent public zones enclosed by wood-framed glass walls that connect the entry, library and commons to the courtyards.

Thurston is sited in the middle of a long narrow site that slopes up to provide a natural amphitheater at the entry.  Maple is sited to create a community park around a grove of existing trees.

The Mahlum team responsible for the project included Diane Shiner, AIA, principal; Rene Berndt, AIA, project designer, and Amy Noe, IIDA, interior designer.  The local architectural team from Robertson/Sherwood included Jim Robertson, AIA, and Dave Guadagni, AIA.  The contractor was John Hyland Construction, of Eugene.

Springfield Public Schools, with 11,000 students, is located in Oregon’s Willamette Valley within the City of Springfield.  Thurston and Maple are two of 16 elementary schools in the district.  Funding for the two replacement schools was made possible by a November 2006 bond measure.

Founded in 1938, Mahlum is an architectural  firm of 100 people with offices in Seattle and Portland.  The firm is committed to creating enduring

architecture that enriches the human experience.

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CONTACT:

Bill Strong
Mahlum Architects
206-441-4151

or

Monty Dennison
Dennison Communications
206-264-1468

So far, it’s been featured in Portland Monthly (US), Home Beautiful (Australia), and now the photographs are running as a cover story for UK magazine Spaces. If you’re in the US, I think you can pick up a copy of this February 09 issue at Barnes & Noble.

I’m really happy to see Jessica’s work be featured in so many places. And it’s certainly nice to get my photos published all over the world, too

Spaces has also run my bio on their website and I’ve been interviewed for a Q&A that will be coming out in their April issue. Will post that when it comes out.

An article about Jessica and the home was published today on Design*Sponge, a website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney.

Here’s one of my favorites from the shoot.

UPDATE: Design*Sponge’s Grace Bonney spotlighted one of my photos of the EMP Museum at the end of last week. Thanks Grace!