Three Defining Movements in Architectural Photography

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From the first experiments carried out by the French Joseph Niépce in 1793, and his most successful test in 1826, photography became an object of exploring and a resource for registering lived moments and places of the world. Within the broad spectrum of photographic production throughout history, architecture has frequently played a leading role on the records, be it from the perspective of photography as an art, document or, as it was often the case, an instrument for cultural construction.

Having great autonomy as a practice and of particular debate inside this theme, architectural photography has the ability to reaffirm a series of expressive features of the portrayed works, create tension in their relation to the surroundings, and propose specific or generic readings of buildings, among other investigative possibilities.

World Photography Day is celebrated on August 19th, therefore, we have gathered examples of significant productions within the field of photography that deal with the theme of architecture, separated, as it were, in three moments or approaches: urban photography, from the end of the 19^th century to the first half of the 20^th century; modern photography, highlighting the relationship between influential architects and the photographers who recorded their modern works; and architecture within fine art photography, with examples of well inserted productions in the artistic field, but whose themes are found in architecture and the built environment.