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street documentationWeeks 1-3: Photographic Mapping NOTE: A complete set of Examples for Series 1 to 7 and Templates for re-sizing and assembling your photographs is available in the Arch 1060 Course Folder. Week 1. Walking: an experiential volume. Series 1 & 2 in combination [see diagrams] These two sequences will be recorded at each intersection touching on or included in your site AND along both the north and south sidewalks of the entire stretch. Note: per group, Series 1& 2 for each intersection + block segment should be recorded by a single photographer in order to maintain a consistent eye-level for the combined sequence. 1. Holding digital camera at eye-level, maintain a perpendicular between the picture plane and the ground. Do not zoom In or Out to change the frame from its default camera setting (50mm or ‘portrait,’ natural to the way we see) Begin standing on the NorthEast corner across from the most eastern block of your site. Plant your feet about 3 feet from each curb. Your first shot will be straight ahead + across the intersection + parallel down the sidewalk on your (north) side of the street . Remember this camera angle by choosing markers or landmarks at the right and left edges of the frame. You will return to this frame as the first shot of sequence 2. Shooting a total 9 frames, rotate your body and photograph this intersection in 360 degrees. 9 frames should provide sufficient overlap to recreate the entire circle view.  2. Holding camera at eye-level, maintain a perpendicular between the picture plane and the ground. Do not zoom In or Out to change the frame from its default setting. Maintain the same walking direction and camera position for the entire sequence. Return to frame #1 of Sequence 1. This is now frame #1 of Sequence 2: a shot of the opposite corner of the intersection you are about to cross. Cross the street to the NorthWest corner. Shoot Frame #2 fonce you are standing on the NW curb facing straight down the block you are about to walk. Proceed down the block, stopping to photograph your progress every 15-20 feet. The final shot should be taken just before you step into position for Frame#1 of the next block, with views of the lateral cross-street opening out to the sides. This sequence will be edited down to 8-12 frames per block. You may wish to shoot more frames than actually necessary so that you can select the appropriate frames to recreate your progress down the block without ‘jumpcuts’ or gaps of information.  Series 3 Now that you have walked your block and experienced the progression through the planes and volumes surrounding you, you will select 2 vertical ‘slices’ or 360-degree rings to record and recreate as a pair of two 180-degree floor-wall-ceiling composites on either side of your walking corridor [see diagram]. Choose two different slices of particular interest for spatial transitions such as changes in building heights, degree of enclosure / recession of buildings from the sidewalk; or perhaps for changes in textural elements, degree of detail, jumps in contour between building outlines. Keep in mind, both sides of the street form the 360-degree record, and you’ll want to pay attention to how the buildings on both sidewalks contribute to changes in the volumetric experience. There will be a total of 4 slices or rings for each city block, and the two students who recorded Sequence 1 + 2 on each side of the street will have to coordinate to make sure they are not duplicating the same slices. 3. Do not zoom In/Out to change the frame from its default camera setting. Begin standing at the curb on the north side of the street facing south. Without moving your feet, you will start from a tilt-down shot of the road and end tilted-up to the sky. Frame your first shot to place the street’s centerline just inside the bottom of the frame. Locate and include markers at the top of the frame to use for overlap guides to the next frame. Raise the tilt of the camera and record each progressive framing up the opposite-side facades until you see only sky in your last frame. Cross the street. From a position exactly opposite from where you stood on the facing sidewalk, repeat the same photographic sequence from the center-line of the road to the sky.  Week 2. ReCreating the Floors & Walls: surfaces, planes, horizon Series 4: the flatplane façade The object of this series is to photograph then composite the continuous vertical façades forming the ‘walls’ on both sides of each block. From curb to curb you will document the building fronts (or empty lots or recessed plazas) as a flat plane, and re-assemble the photographs as if to form a backdrop or theater set. [see example] 4. Hold the camera at eye level and maintain a perpindicular from the picture plane to the ground. Starting at the corner, stand on the curb across from the façade you will record first. Without tilting the camera, use the zoom lens to set a frame which places the opposite curb as a datum line visible just inside the bottom of the frame. Maintain this exact same zoom position for the entire block. Make your way sideways down the street, choosing a marker at the left or right side of the frame which will provide an overlap to the next shot. Again, this sequence will be edited down to 8-12 frames per block. You may wish to shoot more frames than actually necessary so that you can select the appropriate frames to recreate the entire block without gaps of information.  Series 5: materials, seams and transitions underfoot. 5. Point the camera directly down at the walking surface, maintaining a parallel between the picture plane and the ground. Do not zoom in or out, but try not to catch your own feet in the frame. From crosswalk to crosswalk, you will proceed down the block recording the materials that make up the horizontal walking surface. Each time there is a seam or transition from one material to another, take a photograph. The narrow spacing lines between two concrete slabs would not constitute a transition or border. But a significant transition element such as a thick painted stripe or tiled trim should be recorded as delinenating a new walking surface.  Series 6: vertical textures closeup. To record and composite the textures materials of the vertical plane, you’ll be making abstracted ‘swatches’ of material framed close enough to exclude the volumetric shape of the objects photographed. Limit the materials recorded to those that stand vertically + that cover a significant area to contribute to the overall texture of the street + within a comfortable viewing range of your eye-level. The swatches may be formed by combined materials – such as glass and steel mullions in combination – that together create a textural surface like a wallpaper; while a single strip of steel – such as a window frame – may not significantly add to the experience of the street’s flat vertical plane as a quilting of materials. 6. For each material you choose to photograph, zoom in, as much as possible, to frame it close enough to eliminate the outline or borders of the object or form that it creates a skin for. Facing away from the road, choose a sequence of materials as you proceed down one sidewalk. You will want to select materials within your natural frame-of-vision, between about your knee-height to about 4-5 feet overhead, as you walk like a normal pedestrian down the street. To frame the closeup shots, however, you will need to approach the surface as closely as possible, with the camera parallel to the surface you are photographing, and zoom in your camera angle to cut out extraneous details. You may need to bend down or walk into an inset plaza in order to frame the material parallel and sufficiently close-up.  Series 7. meeting of vertical to horizontal planes. Again working in closeup, you will be recording the ‘corner’ or line where the streets vertical and horizontal surfaces meet. You will photograph each different pair of materials that form this horizon line, taking a new shot each time two new materials come together. For the most part, these will be the building exteriors meeting the sidewalk, though stairs and inclines create particularly interesting transitions 7. Hold your camera at a 30-degree angle to the ground framing a seam where a horizontal and a vertical surface touch. You may need to crouch or kneel down to replicate a natural viewing angle. Place the ‘horizon’ line across the center of the frame. Use your judgment in zooming the lens closer if it helps to frame out unnecessary information. You are photographing how the union of materials is handled, and you can try to create a shot sufficiently abstract to resemble a photograph of the ocean meeting the sky.  Links to this Page
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