My teacher told us that architectural photography isn't her thing. But it was part of the curriculum anyway. So made the risky move of picking the "Architectural photography" assignment this year.
It's not a long story. We have to visit a building and return with 1 photo of the exterior and 1 photo of the interior. And since I love symmetry, buildings, lines, etc, I thought: "I can do that!".
Coincidentally, last week, the city of Amsterdam hosted its annual Open Tower Day. A match made in heaven? I'd just bring my camera and see.
I decided to go to the business district with the more modern high-rise towers (still not super tall, but the soft soil in this country makes that challenging).
The first tower: WTC*
*our WTC tower has a bunch of vacant floors
Just the tip of the WTC tower
I received a warm welcome when entering the building. My camera was welcome too, so that was a relief. They showed me the elevator and before I knew it, I stepped into a bare office floor with a lot of people staring out the windows.
After shooting my first photos, I laughed a little on the inside. A few years ago, I would have grabbed my camera and stood next to everyone else, and try to capture a photo of the views. But now, I didn't care about the views at all. These people... and the shadows... and the empty office space... THAT was what I needed to capture.
Second tower: The old ABN AMRO Headquarters tower
I had high hopes for this building. It was the first high tower in this area and it has one of the more interesting designs (the rest is just plain boring...). When I went to university near this building, I admired it often. But never had the chance to see its interior.
But after the high of the first tower, it was a bit disappointing. The interior was outdated and very bank-like posh. Wooden panels and copper... Not my cup of tea! It was a quick visit and I struggled to get 2 interesting photos for my assignment. If I had to pick 1 interior and 1 exterior... these 2 would be my picks. But lucky for me, photos of one building would be enough. So up to the next!
Last tower: Amsterdam Symphony 2
<Tiny segue>
When I did an architecture tour in Chicago, I learned that many of the skyscrapers in that city have a "sister" in a different spot in the city. I thought that was a lovely story of symmetry if it were true or not...
</Tiny segue>
The Amsterdam Symphony towers are more than just sisters. They are twins. One tower is used for office spaces, the other is used for residential apartments. From a distance, they look the same, but they are different at their core.
I am pretty happy with the interior shot (who doesn't like shadows?) that I took of this building but am nervous that my teacher will send me back to the tower to get a photo of the exterior when it's more cloudy outside. Or I'll have to do some fancy dodging & burning instead.
Anyway... 1 architecture assignment: 3 buildings. Fingers crossed my teacher likes any of it.