Neutral Density Awards 2017 – architectural photography winners are announced!


-text by Mark DeKay and Pygmalion Karatzas

Neutral Density Awards – the annual international photographic competition organised by Neutral Density Magazine – is a melting pot of some of the world’s most outstanding and talented souls in the field of photography. Unconventional approach and strong vision of development direction in photography are some of their overall criteria. The jury comprises from respected industry professionals, including gallery owners, publishers, editors and acclaimed photographers. In its 4th year, ND Awards 2017 received 6849 entries submitted from 89 countries.

As with previous competitions featured here on archisearch, ND dedicates a section to architectural photography with subcategories for buildings, bridges, cityscapes, industrial, interior, and a category for other themes outside the above five.

Below we present a selection of images from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners as well as from the Honorable Mentions. The ND architectural photographer of the year goes to Friederike Brandenburg from Germany for his image ‘The hunter’s home’.

THE HUNTER´S HOME, FRIEDERIKE BRANDENBURG, ND ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AND 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
LITTLE ODESSA, FRANK BOHBOT, 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – CITYSCAPES
PARIS, ROBERTO MANETTA, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – CITYSCAPES
CITY OF THE FUTURE, SEBASTIAN TONTSCH, 3RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – CITYSCAPES
DRAMATIS PERSONAE II, SEBASTIAN WEISS, 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
BOSWIJCK, NIV ROZENBERG, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
ORDER, ZOE WETHERALL, 3RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
HOLINESS, VESA PIHANURMI, 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INTERIOR
OBLIVION, JUN EPIFANIO PAGALILAUAN, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INTERIOR
NON PLUS ULTRA, NIKI FEIJEN, 3RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INTERIOR
RETRO FUTURE, ANDREAS OROZCO, 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BRIDGES
THE LAND OF CONNECTIONS – SEASON II, YOSHIHIKO WAFA, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BRIDGES
VIZCAYA BRIDGE, FREDERIC DUCOS, 2RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – BRIDGES
ST. STAN’S, MARSHALL GOULD, 1ST PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INDUSTRIAL
CLOWNS, ADOLFO ENRIQUEZ CALO, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INDUSTRIAL
MANUFACTURES OF CLOUD, ADOLFO ENRIQUEZ CALO, 3RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – INDUSTRIAL
URBAN SPRAWL – EMPTINESS, EMMANUEL MONZON, 2ND PLACE ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
AUSCHWITZ – TYPOLOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE EXTERMINATION CAMP, TOMASZ LEWANDOWSKI, 3RD PLACE ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
FLATIRON BUILDING AND THE SNOWSTORM, MICHELE PALAZZO, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – CITYSCAPES
LARGE SITES, TONY MCATEER, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, MARY ANNE CHILTON, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
THE LAGOON, PYGMALION KARATZAS, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
UNDERGROUND L.A., ANDREW HEISER, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – INTERIORS
METROPOL PARASOL, FREDERIC DUCOS, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
SILVER HORSE TOWN, JI HOON KIM, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
BLADE RUNNER, OSCAR RIALUBIN, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
THE ICEBERG, FREDERIC GRAMOSO, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
BIRD’S EYE OR SPIRAL STAIRCASE?, STEFANO KOURATZIS, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – INTERIORS
VILLA PERUGINI, MARCO PONZIANELLI, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
ACQUA ALTA, ROHAN REILLY, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – OTHER
WELCOME HOME, MARTIN PITONAK, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – INTERIORS
FLOATING CITY, VESA PIHANURMI, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
LAND OF THE FREE, SHAY VELICH, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
VENICE, ARTE, GLAMOUR Y NOSTALGIA, FERNANDO JOSE SORIA CASTRO, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – CITYSCAPES
CYCLADIC, PYGMALION KARATZAS, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS
THE LAST ONE, NOEL BALDEWIJNS, HONORABLE MENTION ARCHITECTURE – BUILDINGS

Looking back at the history of architectural photography in the 20th century, we can point to four distinctive approaches/perspectives:

Walker Evans’ ‘documentary style’ represents a relatively objective view, using little intervention between object and subject to descriptively record the American rural vernacular culture through its buildings and cityscapes. In that sense, it is a third-person view of architecture, intentionally taking – as much as possible – the photographer’s point of view out of the frame. 

Alfred Stieglitz’s ‘Pictorialist movement’, in contrast, presents a highly subjective view of the built environment, a first-person view in which reality is less important than impression. The photographer’s intention is to engender an aesthetic experience, rather than present a topographic record of the scene. The expressive possibilities and artistic potential of the medium are the primary focus, in an aspirational dialogue with the powerful internal – and more intangible – characteristics of fine arts.  

With Charles Steeler’s narrative imagery from the Ford Motor Company plant, we are presented with an inter-subjective view, enrolling the viewer in a cultural story where the built environment’s meaning takes priority. Photography in this case sits inside a second-person view, a perspective of “we”, with the intention gravitating neither towards documenting nor the artistic expression, but rather their collective interpretation and influence as symbols.

Yet another approach can be seen with Bill Hedrich’s ‘Fallingwater’ image from Edgar Kaufman House designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and commissioned by Architectural Forum magazine. This is photography intended to make the best presentation of an architect’s work and to be published broadly for the consumption of and influence on future clients and study by other architects. This kind of editorial photography is driven and defined by the situation, the context of its production, and as such takes as its basis a different inter-objective view, the institutions and regulations of the architectural profession and the building market business and networks. However true they are to documenting, to providing an aesthetic experience, or becoming iconic symbols; they are primarily products set in the complex plural world of socio-economic systems.  

The above introductory analysis is based on Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and is an adaptation from the paper ‘The Integral Lens – exploring a multi-perspectival approach to architectural photography’ by professor of architecture Mark DeKay and architect and photographer Pygmalion Karatzas. Contemporary international photography competitions are used as case studies to observe how these four perspectives are visually present and propose a more comprehensive definition of and for architectural photography. The book ‘Integral Sustainable Design’ offers a deeper study of how integral theory applies to architecture and sustainability.  


SOURCE: text by Mark DeKay and Pygmalion Karatzas

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