Architecture and industrial photography in digital medium format (DE/ENGL)

In the two-day workshop “Architecture and Industrial Photography in Digital Medium Format,” a maximum of ten participants will develop their personal perspective on an outstanding industrial history building, the OSRAM plant in Berlin Spandau. Historically, architectural photography has been a domain of large format cameras, which allow for perspective corrections such as shifting. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to extensively work with cameras from manufacturers ALPA and Phase One, and digital backs from Phase One.

Friday:
The workshop begins with an introduction from tour teacher, Alexander Schippel, an experienced architectural photographer known for setting benchmarks with his work. He will present his own photographs and discuss the creative and technical aspects of the genre through his images.

Following a brief theoretical introduction to technical aspects, the workshop will cover topics such as shifting, the effects of various lenses, the impact of perspectives, and an initial introduction to the camera technology.

Saturday:
We will dive straight into practice, using the historic OSRAM plant in Berlin-Spandau as our subject. The site on Nonnendammallee is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and was built in 1927 – in the style of the New Objectivity. Currently, the David Chipperfield architecture firm is planning a heritage-protected renovation of the buildings, giving us an unique opportunity to photograph the interim state before the conversion. Alexander Schippel will accompany participants throughout the entire shooting day, advising on fundamental technical issues such as optimal depth of field, correcting converging lines, and artistic aspects of composition. The cameras with Phase One backs allow photographers to precisely capture the architecture. Utilizing and artistically implementing this capability is the focus of the second workshop day.

Meeting Point:

10:00 AM, Nonnendammallee OSRAM Works, Gate 1. Cameras and tripods will be provided for all participants, though personal cameras are welcome. Please bring your own food as our food truck is still under construction.

We will have ample cameras available, including the ALPA Max, Phase XT, and backs like the IQ 4 with 150 MP.

Sunday:
The second workshop day is dedicated to an introduction to the software Capture One and developing the photo series with Capture One (including lens color cast correction and distortion correction). We will print some images exemplarily in our p: berlin laboratories to demonstrate the process from digital capture to print. The workshop concludes with a detailed image review with Ludwig Rauch, the artistic advisor of p: berlin academy.

Alexander Schippel

was born in Berlin in 1979 and grew up in the metropolitan outskirts. He trained as a photographer at the Free University of Berlin from 1997 to 2000. In his graduation year, his first photographic publication, “Potsdamer Platz – Urban Architecture for the New Berlin,” was released by Jovis Verlag. In 2004, he founded Atelier Schippel, focusing more on artistic photography. Long-term projects have taken him to Lausitz (2011) and the Berlin State Opera, whose complete renovation he documented artistically over six years (published in 2018 by Hatje & Cantz).

Alexander Schippel is the founder and director of p: photography unlimited e.V., a network and artistic production site for photographers during the radical transformation of photography.

He regularly curates exhibitions in galleries and works on further photo books. Currently, he is photographing the renovation of the Bauhaus Archive and the Komische Oper in Berlin. Schippel’s works are in public and private collections, including the German Historical Museum Berlin and the art collection of the German Bundestag.

For more information, visit www.alexander-schippel.de.