Modernist House

[Darren Bradley]

Spent the day today playing hookie from work and touring the relics of post-war architecture in Long Beach and Orange County, south of Los Angeles (but north of San Diego). Here's a sample. More to come later...

These homes are distinct in their post & beam architecture, which negates the need for load-bearing walls. The facade towards the street is fairly stark, but they all have glass-enclosed courtyards and the walls facing the rear garden are also all glass walls that slide out of the way, blurring the distinction between indoors and out. This design is very popular in Southern California, but probably not terribly practical in the UK

This was shot hand-held with me crouching on the ground, using the 5D2 with the TS-E 17mm at f10, 1/640 sec, 160 ISO.

 

[Pete Askew]

I like that a lot Darren, both the architecture and the shot. I like the composition you have used and the way you have chosen to divide up the frame.

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thank you, Pete. You are correct in that I deliberately chose to divide the frame that way, to exaggerate the sky and emphasize the "floating" roofline of the structure.

 

[Pete Askew]

I do like this sort of modernist design although, as you say, not necessarily a wise choice for the UK. No only because of the climate (or, weather as we like to call it!), but to work aesthetically I think these designs need space around them. Not easily achievable in many places in the UK these days.

 

[Darren Bradley]

oder Wetter, wie sie sagen in Potsdam... . That's true what you say about the space, Pete. These are the quintessential suburban homes, meant for large yards because they are so open without much privacy, otherwise.

 

[Paul Lange]

I'm with Pete on liking the way you have structured the composition on this, makes the shot quite striking.

 

[Mark Grant]

I really like this, I like the way the clouds are almost in lines with the beams and house roof.

 

[Pete Askew]

oder Wetter, wie sie sagen in Potsdam... . That's true what you say about the space, Pete. These are the quintessential suburban homes, meant for large yards because they are so open without much privacy, otherwise.

Genau!!

 

[Paul Lange]

Genau!!

Ich Sprekenzie nicht gross deutchlande - as you can well tell by my terrible spelling and choice of words.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I really like this, I like the way the clouds are almost in lines with the beams and house roof.

That's exactly what I was going to say!

So are you finding the 160iso best for noise then?

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks, guys!

Hamish, I actually find the 50 ISO to be the most noise free. It may have a more limited dynamic range, but for noise, it's the best by a wide margin. I had to use a fair amount of noise cancellation (aka "luminance") for these shots. So not yet sold on the switch. But I'm playing with various ISOs to see what seems to work best.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Nice one Darren - loving the clean lines

How do you find the locations - do you have info on where certain properties are located, or do you do drive-by's in likely neighborhoods?

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks, Chris. I actually do both. The homes in this neighborhood are well known to the architecture-obsessed like me so the challenge isn't so much finding them as trying to get a fresh perspective on them. They've been photographed before and there are books published on them.

Also, there's a loose network of architecture photographers and other fans of that time period who participate in message boards such as www.lottaliving.com, and who post the addresses of interesting homes they find that are still well preserved from that era. In my free time, I frequently drive around neighborhoods that were built in the 50s and 60s, looking for good examples.