2018 Spaces First Place Winner Profile – Alan Karchmer

by | Jul 2, 2018 | Contests, Spaces 2018

Washington, D.C.
https://alankarchmer.com/
Images © Alan Karchmer
World Trade Center Transportation Hub, Santiago Calatrava Architect

World Trade Center Transportation Hub

First Place – Series of Images

ASMP: What was your inspiration for taking this photo?

Alan Karchmer: The objective of this assignment was to create a comprehensive portrait of this spectacular building. It was somewhat intimidating being commissioned to photograph a building which, at the time, what known as the most Instagrammed place in the world. Being large and complex it takes a suite of images to tell the story of a building that represents so much about American resilience following the attacks of 9/11/01. The most salient single image (4 of 10) gets to the heart of the architectural aspiration of the work. The building is oriented so the axis of the skylight aligns with the sun on the morning of September 11th. On that day, once each year, for 102 minutes, the interval between the first impact and the collapse of the second tower, the glass of the skylight retracts and the interior space is open to the sky. When I was asked to make a photograph the first year it was opened I thought the most effective way to convey this visceral moment would be to shoot into the sun so it would be visible in the image with a swathe of light and shadows coming toward the viewer.

ASMP: Is there anything unique about your style or approach?

AK: I continue to work slowly and analytically like I did when I used a view camera for the first 25 years of my career.

ASMP: What type of lighting did you use for this image or series?

AK: Natural light, which I always prefer if at all possible.

ASMP: How long have you been shooting this type of photography?

AK: Forty Years

ASMP: What other photographers’ or artists’ work inspires you?

AK: Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman, the early masters of commercial architectural photography on one end, Timothy Hursley who I think inspired a generational shift in the 1980s in how architecture is interpreted in photographs, and Iwan Baan who rose in the digital age and shoots with the (apparent) ease and spontaneity enabled by DSLR photography.

ASMP: When did you join ASMP and what do you find most valuable about your membership?

AK: Strength in numbers of a group of photographers who stood for quality, and respect for the value of their work.

ASMP: What is the more important relationship you’ve formed through your ASMP membership?

AK: Finding assistants.

ASMP: What kind of gear do you use?

AK: Alpa XY medium format technical camera, Phase One IQ260 back, Really Right Stuff tripod with Arca Swiss Cube head, MacBookPro computer with Capture One and Photoshop, Instand portable laptop stand.

ASMP: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started your career as a photographer?

AK: When you think the phone will never ring again it always does.

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