How Professional Photographers Add Real Value
Professional architectural photography goes beyond documenting a finished building. In award submissions, it functions as a form of visual mediation, translating architectural decisions into images that can be understood quickly by jurors who have no prior knowledge of the project.
Translating the Architect's Vision Into Images
Architects work with drawings, sections, models, and spatial concepts that are often complex and layered. A photographer’s role is to identify which aspects of this thinking need to be made visible, and how.
This means understanding circulation, scale, light, and material relationships, and deciding how to express them through framing and timing. Photography can show atmosphere, spatial sequence, and use in a way that drawings cannot, helping jurors understand the project’s intent rather than only its form..
Full Project Coverage, Not Just a Hero Image
Award submissions rarely succeed on a single strong image alone. Juries need to understand how the project works as a whole.
A professional approach ensures that the building is documented from multiple angles and scales: its relationship to the site, its main spaces, secondary areas, and the details that reflect care and craftsmanship. When these elements are documented as a coherent set, the project reads as intentional and resolved, reducing the risk that important aspects are overlooked.
Expertise With Light and Conditions
Light plays a decisive role in how architecture is perceived. Knowing when to photograph a project is as important as knowing how.
Soft daylight can reveal material texture and spatial depth, while low sun can describe form and structure. Overcast conditions often work best for material clarity, and night photography becomes essential for buildings designed to be used after dark. In Iceland, where light and weather change quickly, this experience is critical.
Advanced Techniques That Support Clarity
Technical tools are used to solve problems, not to add effect. Perspective control keeps geometry clear. Exposure blending allows interiors and exteriors to be visible in the same image. Aerial views, when used carefully, help explain landscape relationships that are central to many Icelandic projects.
Used with restraint, these techniques support clarity and understanding, helping juries focus on architecture rather than photographic effect.
Architectural Awards in the Icelandic Context
For projects in Iceland, the role of photography is even more critical. Many Icelandic and Nordic awards place strong value on themes such as sustainability, material honesty, social use, and relationship with the landscape. These aspects cannot be communicated effectively through drawings alone.
Landscape integration, for example, must be visible. The way a building meets the ground, frames views, or responds to weather and light needs to be readable in the images. Material choices such as concrete, timber, reused elements, or low-impact solutions must be shown clearly, without heavy editing or visual distraction.
In this context, architectural photography is not about making a project look impressive. It is about making its intentions legible. Good photography helps juries see what the architects were trying to do, how the building works, and why it matters within its cultural and environmental setting.
Hönnunarverðlaun Íslands (Icelandic Design Awards)
The Icelandic Design Awards are among the most important recognitions for architecture and design in the country. They place strong emphasis on how projects respond to Icelandic conditions: climate, landscape, material use, sustainability, and social value.
For architectural submissions, photography plays a central role. Jury members review a large number of projects in a limited amount of time, often across different categories. Images must therefore communicate quickly and clearly. A well-structured photographic series helps a project remain legible, credible, and memorable throughout the jury process.
Having worked as the photographer on both awarded and nominated projects, I have seen how closely the clarity and consistency of the images influence how a project is discussed and evaluated.
Smiðja - Winner, Icelandic Design Awards 2024
Smiðja is located in the historic centre of Reykjavík and was awarded in 2024 for its clear material logic, sustainability-driven decisions, and careful relationship with Icelandic cultural context. Designed by Studio Granda, the building combines a contemporary architectural language with strong references to Iceland’s geological and craft traditions.
The most defining element of the project is its stone façade. At ground level, stone is used both inside and outside, creating a continuous material experience that immediately anchors the building in its context. The stone references Iceland’s volcanic landscape and the historic fabric of Kvosin, while remaining precise and contemporary in its execution. Importantly, all stone used in the project was sourced from surplus materials from other construction sites, reducing environmental impact and making sustainability a visible and integral part of the architecture.
When photographing Smiðja, my focus was on making this material logic immediately legible. Exterior images were composed to clarify massing, rhythm, and the pattern of the stone façade without exaggeration. Rather than searching for dramatic viewpoints, the goal was to show how the building sits within the city and how its materials behave under natural light throughout the day.
Inside, the photography shifts toward atmosphere and craftsmanship. Custom-designed furniture, locally sourced materials, and selected refurbished pieces-some from Alþingi’s collection-add depth to the spatial narrative. Detail images were used selectively to highlight joinery, texture, and reuse, supporting the broader story of sustainability and Icelandic craftsmanship without fragmenting the overall reading. A consistent visual language across the series allowed the submission to read as a coherent whole, rather than a collection of isolated images.
Stöng Viking Ruins - Nomination, Icelandic Design Awards 2025
Stöng – (Endur)túlkun was nominated in 2025 for its sensitive architectural response to one of Iceland’s oldest archaeological sites. Located in Þjórsárdalur, the ruins of the Viking longhouse were destroyed by the Hekla eruption in 1104. The project, designed by SP(R)INT STUDIO, introduces a protective structure that allows the site to be experienced, interpreted, and preserved without overpowering it.
The new shelter acts as a filter rather than a container. A lightweight wooden structure covers the ruins, creating both interior and exterior observation spaces while maintaining a strong connection to the surrounding landscape. Perforations in the wooden façade allow light, air, and sound to pass through, ensuring that visitors remain aware of the environment even while inside the structure. Footpaths and a connecting bridge guide movement through the site, reinforcing a slow and deliberate experience.
Photographing Stöng required placing context at the centre of every decision. Wide views were essential to show the relationship between landscape, ruins, and protective structure, making clear that the architecture exists in service of the site rather than as an object in its own right. The project only becomes fully readable when all elements are seen together.
Interior images focused on rhythm, transparency, and the protective role of the structure. Soft, neutral light was used to avoid visual dominance and to maintain a calm, respectful tone. Rather than emphasising form, the compositions followed sequence and repetition, allowing the architecture to communicate its purpose quietly. In this way, the photography supports the project’s intention: to create space for reflection, reinterpretation, and connection between past and present.
Practical Guide for Architectural Studios Preparing Award Submissions
Plan Photography Early
Photography should be scheduled as part of the project timeline, not treated as a last step. Award deadlines are fixed, but light, weather, and seasonal conditions are not-especially in Iceland.
Planning ahead allows time to:
choose dates that suit the building and its use
allow flexibility for weather changes
photograph the project when it is fully finished and in use
It is also useful to define a shot list early, based on the specific award criteria. This helps ensure that key aspects of the project are documented, rather than hoping they appear by chance.
Show Key Design Themes Clearly
Award juries look for ideas, not just images. Photography should make the project’s main intentions visible without relying on text.
Common themes that need to be readable in images include:
sustainability and responsible material use
relationship with landscape or urban context
social or community purpose
material logic and construction clarity
long-term use and everyday life
If these themes are central to the project, they should guide the photographic approach from the start.
Build a Strong Photo Set
Juries usually review submissions as PDFs, scrolling quickly through image sets. A clear structure helps the project read smoothly.
A solid photographic sequence often includes:
a clear opening image: exterior view with context
interior views showing circulation, light, and main spaces
selected detail images showing materials and craftsmanship
images with people, when appropriate, to explain scale and use
aerial views when landscape or siting is essential
The goal is not quantity, but completeness. Each image should add information rather than repeat it.
Organise Files Precisely
Even strong projects can be weakened by poor organisation. Award submissions often have strict technical requirements, and ignoring them creates unnecessary friction.
Before submitting, it is important to:
follow image size, format, and resolution rules
prepare short captions if required
ensure image rights, credits, and releases are in place
Clear file naming and consistent ordering also help juries and organisers review the project without confusion.
Careful preparation does not guarantee an award, but it ensures the project is judged on its architecture rather than on avoidable issues.
Return on Investment for Architectural Studios
Investing in professional architectural photography has value well beyond a single award submission. Winning or being nominated builds credibility, strengthens reputation, and often leads to broader visibility through publications, exhibitions, and industry recognition. These moments tend to attract new clients and collaborators who already share similar values and design priorities.
At the same time, photography created for awards rarely serves only one purpose. A well-planned photographic series becomes a long-term asset that can be used across portfolios, studio websites, social media, publication kits, lectures, presentations, and future competition entries. Instead of producing separate images for each use, one coherent set can support communication over many years.
If you are preparing an award submission or building a long-term visual archive of your work, I’m happy to discuss how photography can support your projects. As an architectural photographer, I work with architectural studios across Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, focusing on clear and accurate documentation that reflects architectural intent and context. Feel free to get in touch and tell me about your project and vision.
