Hello! Welcome to my website. I’m Rick. I photograph buildings, nice places and buildings in nice places. And I write about photography on my blog.
I am a professionally qualified photographer based in Dorset. I specialise in architectural, commercial, landscape and travel photography. And that is all!
I am an all round nice chap. Please get in touch so we can create some great photos.
Rick McEvoy - Country House Photographer
Another image commissioned by the architect Etchingham Morris Architecture Ltd, part of the shoot of a lovely convterted barn in the grounds of another stunning country residence.
That was the 20 interior images from my architectural photography portfolio – what have I learned?
I was meant to provide a bit of a break after the 20 interior images in my architectural photography portfolio. I missed that but no matter, I will do that just now after image number 25. Lets just pretend that I did this 5 days ago…..
As a reminder, I submitted 40 images to the BIPP to support my application for Associateship Membership, which was successful.
I really enjoy photographing the interiors of buildings and have been very fortunate to photograph some very special buildings for architects and property owners.
There is something about photographing a lovely room in a classic English Country house which I just love. And processing the images is a joy too.
And my recent work gave me plenty of interior photographs to chose from.
I will write a full post about my evolution over the 7 years that it has taken to create the images which constitute my professional architectural photography portfolio. I will do this after I have posted and written about all the 40 images on my photography blog.
For now, I want to focus on the interior images, and give a few thoughts on some of these 20 images.
This was a bit of a landmark image for me. I was commissioned by the architect Andrew Stone to photograph a private library which he designed and oversaw the construction of. The library was an extension to a stunning Dorset country residence.
This shoot, and the set of images that I produced, really got me wanting to do more of this kind of photography work. This was the beginning of me starting to find my way. The beginning of starting.
And this photo was taken with my Canon 5D, still a great camera even now. Don’t forget that if you want a full frame DLSR but are on a budget.
We were waling down one of those lovely streets in Lucca, and I spotted this fantastic wall to wall wine rack, so I walked in, took the photo and walked out!
And this picture was the beginning of another thought about a way I could go forward commercially with my photography.
And this is the only personal shot in this collection of 20 interior photography images – all the rest are paid commercial work.
Well when I say paid commercial work the next image should have been, but things did not work out as planned. I met the agent at this stunning waterside property in Sandbanks in Poole, took a few test shots, discussed the brief then it all went pear shaped.
This photo was taken in 2014, using my recently purchased Canon 6D. I replaced the 5D with the 6D after a problem caused entirely by me with the Canon 5D.
This is a rest area at the University of Southampton. I was photographing two entirely refurbished floors of one of the University’s buildings in Southampton City Centre – this was my favourite shot. I find shots of small parts of a large space are often more interesting than the big open plan wide shots that everyone wants, and indeed needs.
And this is a photo is of a new classroom at a school in Poole, constructed for the client, the Borough of Poole.
I wanted to capture that big bright sun in a shot, which took two return visits to achieve – one of the problems of photographing recently constructed buildings which are rapidly handed back and turned into use within days of completion.
Thankfully I am used to this.
The rest of the images in the interiors half of my photography portfolio are taken from a single commission for the architects Etchingham Morris Architecture Limited. When I first met Adrian and Mike they did not have a website, so they commissioned me to photograph 10 of their projects for them. In the end it was 11 projects – there was a late addition early in 2018.
Again, this commission gave me access to some fantastic, special buildings. I cannot say any more about the properties, as client confidentiality is very important to me, but the images hopefully speak for themselves.
I won’t include all the images in this post – there are in my daily blog posts. You can also view all the images on my portfolio page – insert link
Tomorrow I will be back to my architectural photography posts. I have said it before but I will say it again – I am tremendously proud to have achieved the designation of Associateship in the British Institute of Professional Photography – this is why I am posting my portfolio set in celebration.
I qualified as a Licentiate Member in 2014, and deferred my application for Associateship last year as I was not happy with the set of images.
It was when I set the targets for my photography business for 2018 that I decided to pursue my application again. I cunningly set myself the target of achieving my ABIPP in 2018. That worked, giving me the metaphorical kick up the you know what that I clearly needed.
Well this and the fact that I had lots more images to a much higher standard that I was much happier with.
So that is what I did. Goal achieved – ABIPP. Insert logo to the right
ABIPP is defined by the BIPP as
“A high standard of craftsmanship and creative ability”
Yep – that is me now. How utterly excellent.
OK I will shut up now and tomorrow it is back to the portfolio for another 15 days.
Chideock Catholic Church, Dorset
This is one of my favourite locations to photograph in Dorset - Chideock Catholic Church. I was commissioned by the architect, Andrew Stone, to photograph the new roof to this lovely traditional catholic church.
This is the view from the pirvate side of the church. I wanted to include the lovely grounds in the foreground, which you can see in this photo.
This was taken with my Canon 5d Mk1 - I have been going on about the validity of older cameras for a while now, and this image is a case in point.
Check out this article on Improve Photography - Full frame DSLR photography without breaking the bank – this is how I do it
No-one has looked at this image and turned away in disgust because it was taken on a 12 megapixel camera released in 2005!
Bench by architectural photographer Rick McEvoy
I like this image.
"I was photographing an extension to the most fantastic private library you could possibly imagine.
The interior was amazing. But that is a story for another time. Or another page on my website, my interior photographer page.
This is one of those detail shots. A bench in front of a window framed by a rainwater pipe.
I like this composition.
I like the warmth of the stone being warmed by that lovely sunshine. I like the texture of the stone.
And against that the man-made window and rainwater pipe.
Just a picture of a bench. A detail shot from a shoot commissioned by the Architect, Andrew Stone."
Sometimes it can be this simple. Do you find this warm sunny bench nice and relaxing or is it just me?
Rick McEvoy Photography - Architectural Photographer
Rick McEvoy Photography - Bournemouth, Poole, Sandbanks, London, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire
Dorchester Fire Station by architectural photographer Rick McEvoy
On my new architectural photographer page I write the following about this image.
"This is a picture of the Dorchester Fire Station and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (since merged with Wiltshire to form Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue) HQ building at the point of completion of the works.
This site is in Poundbury on the outskirts of Dorchester, which is a unique development on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. And a fascinating place to take architectural photographs.
I was commissioned by the architect Calder Peel to photograph the completed buildings, constructed by Morgan Sindall.
One thing about this image. This is pretty much a straight, clean, technically correct architectural image.
Apart from the tarmac, which was scarred all over the place – which is why I darkened it to hide all that horribleness which also made the front façade stand out even more!"
Yes. Scarred old tarmac. This is often a problem. You get a shiny new development but the tarmac immediately surrrounding all that new loveliness is often a complete mess. I quite often have to do something creative in Photoshop to deal with this issue.
Rick McEvoy Photography - Architectural Photographer
Bournemouth, Poole, Sandbanks, London, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire
Poundbury, Dorset - a dramatic image
With added mood and drama.
This is a picture of Poundbury in Dorset. I was commissioned by the architect, John Simpson Architects, to photograph the buildings they designed as part of the development of Poundbury.
I have to remember that my portfolio images are just that – portfolio images. They are not client images. I have the freedom to do what I want to these images, so for this shot which I have always really liked I decided to add some mood and drama.
This is the RAW image, taken on my Canon 6D with Canon 17-40mm lens.
Poundbury Architecture, Dorset
The exposure was 1/250th second at F16, ISO100, with the camera firmly mounted on a tripod.
I was photographing this building, which houses the Morrish Builders sales and marketing suite (I could have removed the signs but decided to keep them in), and liked the composition with the rAiling in the footpath (I think by the bus stop). Again the contrast between the RAW image and the final edited image is startling.
For my portfolio I removed the cars and extended the sky and the left part of the scene using that amazing new content aware crop feature. The reason I did this was to give more balance to the image, moving the railing away from the edge of the frame.
Dodging and burning gave me a brighter footpath and building, darkening the road, sky and edges of the image. I want your eye to take you from the footpath to the building first, which I think happens quite well.
Tomorrow I will be posting another portfolio image, and I might stick to the external image set until that is done. So far I have 9 images completed, 8 external architectural photography images, and just the one interior photography picture of the dome.
Let's see how quickly I can produce another 12 images to complete the architectural photography image set.
29th July 2016
Architectural Photography detail shot - Chideock Church Roof, Dorset
Yesterday I posted the picture of Chideock Catholic Church and the new domed roof. Today is the close up of the tiles on the roof. Yes, if you go back to yesterday’s post you can see just how detailed this shot is.
This is another of my favourite architectural photography images. I was commissioned by the architect to photograph the new dome. The architect is Andrew Stone, who I have worked for before and since.
Chideock Church Roof
This image is a single RAW file edited in Lightroom only. I have boosted the colours and contrast from the client issue image and no more. To the rightis the RAW image.
This picture was taken on my Canon 6D with Canon 100-400mm lens. Not bad detail for such an old and much aligned lens! (Shame I got rid of mine). And I have cropped in from the tight shot, taken at the 400mm end of the lens range.
Sorry quick rant there.
Tomorrow I will be posting the first interior photography image from my Portfolio.
I have been looking at the images I have produced so far, and am liking the set of images that is emerging. The collection is beginning to make sense, and has a coherent feel.
I was going to complete the exterior images before starting on the interior images, but I wanted to get the middle point and the link between the two sorted. Which I have nearly done now.
Join me tomorrow for one of my favourite interior photographs I have ever taken here on my blog at www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk/blog
27th July 2016