Architectural Photos Published in Traverse Magazine February 2021 Issue!!!

Not bad for my first shoot ever!

My wife, Debbie, our architect and designer, Dave and Caroline Kimble (Kimble & Kimble) had been working with Traverse Magazine for several years trying to get our Northern Michigan home published in the magazine.  Several times it seemed like it was a go only to have the magazine back off.  Finally, in October of 2019, they got serious again.  Communication was going back and forth.  We kept waiting to hear when the magazine would send the photographer out.  Then, Covid hit.  The magazine announced that they did not send photographers out anymore.  That they would have to hire their own.

They all knew that I was very heavy into photography.  So, when I asked if they would give me a chance to take the photos, they all agreed.

Although I have been taking photos seriously for many years, I knew architectural photography was a somewhat different animal.  I decided to take a course in Architectural and Real Estate photography.  After a brief Google search, I found “Mastering Architecture and Real Estate Photography” by Charlie Borland (Charlie Borland Photography in Bend, Oregon – BorlandPhoto.com) on the Udemy web site (Udemy.com).  His course taught exactly what I needed.  How to handle windows, filling the room with light, staging a room, twilight photography, best views of the exterior, and on and on.  It is a great course and I learned a lot.

Charlie also taught about the equipment that should be used in shooting houses.  Luckily, my local photography instructor, Robert DiTommaso (Robert DiTommaso Photography - GetShotByBob.com), announced he was having a sale on photography equipment.  I ended up getting a set of flash units from him with light boxes, reflective umbrellas, shoot though umbrellas, a trigger, etc.

Once I thought I was ready we decided to go ahead with the shoot.  Debbie and Caroline worked together to do the staging.  After a little bit of trial and error with the flashes, I started to get shots I liked.  Using Charlie Borland’s techniques, I was able to get really pretty fall colors in the windows.

To make a long story shorter, we sent the photos in to the magazine and they liked them!!!