Rachel Trautmann's Weekly Post 04/11/16

Ricardo Oliveira Alves

 Ricardo is a professional photographer that solely works in architectural photography. He discovered his love for photography at a young age but decided to attend school for architecture. After working national and international as an architect for 10 years, he decided to focus his energy on photographing the buildings he loved. In 2010 he launched his photography company, Ricardo Oliveira Alves Photography. He currently photographs very high-end and unusual properties created by some of the most respected architectural studios in the world.

Since I do a lot of property photography with my company, I thought including a photographer that has most of their focus on property photography would be interesting to do. Ricardo was an easy selection for me because of his wonderful collection of work. Beyond his wonderful framing and use of the angles created within these properties, I was drawn to his use of people within some of the properties he has photographed. I have never come across a architectural photographer that actually wants people in their shot.

Clearly, the man does amazing work. He uses the angles of the unique properties to his advantage. He also likes to photograph areas of the house that people may not experience otherwise; the sense of looking directly up at ceiling details, for example. The most unusual accent to his work is the use of people without his shots. The people add an interesting and more editorial feel to the images. It also creates images for people who may not be interested in architecture but are more drawn to an interesting image. The people within his frames are sometimes shown with motion blur but they can also be seen in very realistic setup for how the space would be used. However, like the image above, he also likes to use them for a bizarre twist on an image.