Julius Shulman, Modernist Architect Photographer

What Makes Good Photography?

I stumbled upon Julius Shulman and I found his work superbly well composed and powerful. Julius is one of the most talented and influential American Architectural Photographer in the century. His best known photograph "Case Study House #22,  Los Angeles, 1960 by Architect Pierre Koening, simply gave a phenomenal spatial presence. In my observation from Julius work, there is a sense of dynamism. For any picture to be interesting, there must be a strong sense of movement. The perspective of the roof and the city horizon almost meet in point gives visual impact. Julius contrast the hard lines with softer organic ones like women in dresses and a plant outside. This adds interest to the story of what he was trying to portray. He framed the picture with planes, shooting towards the building. Your eye travels from one point to another. He also combines the texture of hard lines of the roof to the smooth glass planes that may shutter at any moment...
(BTW, the lady is actually sitting on a Kohler toilet seat...  pretty cool!)

Another of Julius's incredible photograph is shown in Convair Astronautics, San Diego, CA, 1958, Architects, Pereira and Luckman. I wanted to analyse why this photo works so powerfully. In the composition Julius loves the play on perspective. The contrast of near and far. Movement from one point to another is typical in Julius' photography style. Yet again, you see the organic beings climbing up the great path structure, adds to the contrast of grandeur. The reflection looks like a mirror of water or a reflection of light in contrast to the white, matte plane above. What adds depth are the vertical lines that makes it three dimensional.

More of Julius Shulman biography and works can be found here.
And more of the Stahl House in LA
http://www.juliusshulmanfilm.com/blog/