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When scouting the ongoing renovations underway at the Oakland Museum of California, our main concern was the obvious and totally intrusive construction fence that all but covered the new entrance area along Oak Street.

The original museum, a classic, early Kevin Roche design, was being tidied up with the addition of a new entrance portico, covered stairways and a renovation and expansion of the internal gallery spaces, all designed by San Francisco firm Mark Cavagnero & Associates. 

With the aid of construction company Cahill, we were able to remove a broad section of the site fence for a few hours one afternoon. Just long enough to capture a series of views along the street. Within minutes of capturing out last view at dusk, the fence was back up, destined to keep the public out for at least another 12 months while the remainder of the galleries are renovated.

Over the past month or so, I’ve been photographing a series of commercial and residential towers across the planet. Each has its own particular design, its own sense of place, its own skin.

The projects are often best differentiated by the materials and patterns used to enclose the basic structure. These curtain walls of glass and stone create a distinct aesthetic for each project. While often hard to discern at longer distances, the detailing on any one curtain wall has a profound effect upon the way each project reads on a more intimate and human scale.

For me, catching some of the intricacy in the detailing of these curtain walls plays a very important part in describing the overall sense of the project.

International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong    Kohn Pedersen Fox

Millennium Tower, San Francisco   Handel Architects

Shanghai World Financial Centre      Kohn Pedersen Fox

China World Trade Centre, Beijing   Skidmore Owings & Merrill

The Sail @ Marina Bay, Singapore   NBBJ

Centennial Tower, South San Francisco    Skidmore Owings & Merrill

The Met, Bangkok   WOHA Designs

It’s been a while since we’ve been back at Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences. Our old pal the Giant Sea Bass maintains his inscrutable gaze from within the tank. Silently and slowly giving the endless stream of onlookers the once over with his enormous eyes.

During a visit to the Academy Bookstore yesterday there were certainly a few surprises in store.

That morning cup of coffee will just never be the same again….

In the gentle afternoon breeze flowing up through the valley, the intoxicating sway of the bamboo forest was a delicious distraction as we set the camera for our next shot…

Last time I had this feeling was…..

“…that’s right, two vegetarian spring rolls, a #7 and side of bamboo shoots…”

No, wait! That’s not it….

Anyway, back to today’s shoots..!

So I was wondering what might happen if Albert Watson and Richard Avendon went over to Ezra Stoller’s place in Mamaroneck for lunch….?

Talk about hitting a high note in Opera….

Leaving Sydney this afternoon the beautiful clear day presented me with a wondeful view of the always inspiring Sydney Opera House. From this distance you can really see what an astounding icon it is for Sydney and Australia. 

I am humbled to have recently been named Capture magazine’s 2009 Australia’s Top Photographer at an industry event held in Sydney. The award is voted on by all the professional photographers nominated across a variety of categories. This is the third year running I was named winner of the Architecture category but my first with collecting the overall prize. My thanks again to Capture Magazine, Momento and the other industry sponsors for their generous support of the event.

Two days later in Frankfurt, the 2009 European Architectural Photography Prize was being presented at the Deutsches Architektur Museum. My series of images on the theme New Homelands was awarded Second Prize. Thanks to Thomas for sending some photographs of the event.

Photograph by Thomas Koculak

I was pleasantly surprised to see Taschen’s recent Architecture Now 6 featuring my image of the National Aquatic Centre in Beijing on the cover.

This series of images was made during the first few days that the major Olympic venues were open to the public in mid 2008. As such, security was extremely tight and tripods were not allowed within the site.

Fortunately, my pared down kit also contained a baby Manfrotto table-top tripod. Using this to support the Alpa SWA, albeit six inches off the ground, provided a rather interesting perspective on the groups of people walking past the building.

Seems most jobs these days involve spending at least a little time behind bars.

As access to potential vantage points for views to our projects become harder and harder to arrange, one is increasingly restricted to shooting from wherever you can get a clear view, or within the short space of time available until someone in a uniform turns up to harrass you. 

Even with explicit and confirmed permission, the suspicion that now surrounds taking photographs of buildings has become a daily hassle in the photography of architecture.