20/09/2024
Today I will be addressing the question of how early should a client engage us for an architecture shoot? Short answer, as early as possible.
The reason is simple, we will need a lot of time for pre-planning and schedule the shoot at the best time of the year, month or week if we do not have the luxury.
In this first image example below, the top image was a recce shot taken more than a year ahead before the opening of the hotel in May 2022 through my own effort as I aspire to be photographing this project. While the final image at the bottom was shot in Aug 2023.
Well, I do have to admit it is a little overkill to recce so early prior to the shoot. In common practice, we usually do not need such a long recce ahead of the shoot because it may be impractical to do so given the chances that major change will happen during the time frame throwing all the pre-planning work out into the bin.
However, I personally do see some form of benefit in getting photographers involved in the early stage. The reason is simple, the more time we have for us to familiarised with the project and location, the better we can craft the images that portray a particular building's narrative in the best light possible.
A good rule of thumb for photographer's engagement in my opinion would be at least 2-3 months ahead of the shoot to cater for all the communication, paper work, planning and preparation to be done prior to the shoot.
Leaving room for discussions. For fellow clients, How long do you usually start engaging photographers for your shoot? and For photographers, how much effort would you usually put for a recce and pre-planning before shooting a project?
Learn more of my resort and hotel work at https://www.yzhensiang.com/resorts-hotels