Lab conditions
The photography of architecture and interiors applies to large, commercial premises as well as residential spaces. One of my clients handles the marketing efforts for the huge Roche Diagnostics, who produce hugely complicated machines which analyse the gamut of bodily fluids. These bits of equipment are installed in almost every hospital in the UK – testing bloods for cancer cells, urine for various proteins which indicate kidney problems, and the presence of Coronavirus more recently. It’s a great client to have – and imagery required for their various publications is quite diverse.
On this occasion, I was dispatched to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead with a brief which covered all aspects of my technical ability – architectural exteriors, interiors, and people at work shots. My first task was the most difficult to fulfil – finding somewhere to park in this godforsaken place. At certain times of day, the public spaces are jam-packed, and the car parks are blocked with people just sitting there waiting for someone to come out of a space. The surrounding streets are consequently for residents only, and are policed aggressively by those blue-band parking officers. I spent 30 minutes going round and round before giving up, and driving to an estate of tower blocks a few hundred yards away. I was bogged down with a huge, steel Manfrotto tripod, but had portable lighting gear alongside my kit in a Peli case, so it wasn’t too much grief to haul the stuff back to the hospital.
Exteriors first – the client wanted a simple, technically correct, quality shot of The hospital’s main entrance. A lot of people would insist on shooting some abstract image of the curved shelter and a bit of the brick building to “accentuate the contrast of the geometric & non-linear narratives within the constructs of the architectural whole” or some other old bollocks, then over-process it in Photoshop. That’s architectural photography nowadays unfortunately. This was mine. I had to remove a whole bunch of cones, and shoot a couple of frames at different exposures to get some detail in the shadow areas which could be retouched in later. I got prior permission to shoot on NHS premises, and a property release for the client. I was asked not to remove the cone next to the transport vehicle by a security guy who really, really needed to exercise his authority in the matter.
The interior shots were a bit more involved. I did all the people-at-work images first – they involved a few of the key clinical staff staring at machines, taken from varying angles. basic stuff for the specifics of the brief. My last shot was for a page-wide panorama of the lab environment in which the Roche equipment was being used. the area was wide, and quite evenly lit, so there wasn’t any need to use additional lighting. I didn’t want to set up lights, and have to balance the colour to match the flourescent tubes anyway. I used my 24mm PC-E specialist lens, which is able to capture 3 sets of shots along a horizontal axis, which can then be stitched together into a seamless panorama without any distortion. I waited for a moment when there were a few staff in the shots, then took them after getting an exposure reading that was slightly over. This helped to retain detail in the dark areas to the bottom of the frame, and allowed me to dial down the brighter bits at the top. To the eye, the room looks evenly illuminated, but to a digital sensor, the light falls off dramatically from top to bottom. The histogram on the preview screen can help with ensuring that the raw file can be manipulated at a later time.
The client was delighted with the final images, and I look forward to the next job for Roche when it pops up. I’ll make sure I get there before visiting hours next time though – not sure my old back would be able to manage the trek again.
