In this multimodal presentation, I have created a brief overview of architectural photographer Julius Shulman and his body of work. He shot architectural photographs from 1936 until his death in 2009 at the age of 98, and is well known for photographing much of Los Angeles as it developed into the city it is today; however, he is better known for his photos of mid century residential architecture, which I focus on in this presentation. I use four of Shulman's photos to demonstrate his use of light, composition, and color to create aesthetically evaluative images that convey the beauty of mid-century architecture. More specifically, the images that I have chosen to analyze use black and white, various lighting techniques, and deliberate compositional control to place what could be seen as an appealing, simple, domestic life in modern architecture of the time. In doing so, he has become an important figure in the history of architecture, and the history of photography.

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          This project has helped me to see how techniques that we have learned in our class are used by a professional photographer. It has also allowed me to focus on architectural photography and what techniques are used to successfully shoot architectural photography as I researched in preparation for my analysis of Julius Shulman's work. I have always loved architecture, and it was interesting to get to know a little bit more about how to effectively shoot architectural photos. Additionally, Julius Shulman is known for his deliberate composition through staging his photos. I have found that staging photographs is generally looked at as inferior to spontaneous or natural photos. After viewing Shulman's work, I have come to see the value in the control that can be had in staging photos in the way that he had. Especially for the technology that he used to take photos, the control that he had helped to design impactful and aesthetically appealing images that have stood the test of time.