Shoot ’em up

Aim straight up at buildings and structures to celebrate their bold angular shapes

The most successful architecture is usually a perfect marriage of form and function, but with architectural photography we can dispense with the function and celebrate just the form. One way this can be achieved is to reduce the structure to a series of surfaces, textures and shapes. Stripped of context, the structure takes on a more abstract form. Find an unusual angle, such as looking straight up from the base of a tall building, and perhaps use a wide-angle lens to emphasise how the lines recede into the distance.

You might want to try a monochrome conversion, as this helps to emphasise patterns and shapes, and can bring out interesting textures, but bold blocks of colour like the blue here can work as well.

I used to think you could learn how to be a photographer by learning the rules of composition and how to use a camera. Now I think just the opposite: if you have to learn rules, then it’s already too late John Rosenthal