PC's new pro photography career: Real Estate and Architecture

[Puma Cat]

As I'm now in retirement from my science career, I wanted a new "career" where I could stay intellectually engaged and active.

As I really enjoy photography, I did quite a bit of research on photographic disciplines or "genres" where a professional level of expertise and execution is still required, unlike many other disciplines where there has been a "race to the bottom" (e.g. your cousin offering to shoot your family's wedding for $250 rather than paying a pro $2500).

My research led me to professional real estate and ultimately, I hope, to architectural photography. The reasons for this are clear: despite what non-photographers or amateurs may think, RE and architectural photography is actually technically quite challenging, and requires skill in using off-camera lighting and also excellent skills in post-processing and composting, as the highest standard of photographs are actually a blend of ambient and flash lighting.

And, as the SF Bay Area RE market is pretty much always red-hot, with the median price of a upper mid-tier to lower upper-end single family home around a million dollars in price, there is a need for very high quality photography by a real professional for purposes of marketing by the agent (i.e., no race "to the bottom"). So, RE and Architecture it is!

I took a training workshop in Q4 last year and have been working very hard, both alongside a pro who has been mentoring me, and also on my post-processing skills and have started to pick up some assigments. So, this thread will show some of my recent RE Photography work to those interested.

My gear is all Fujifilm X: my Graphite Silver X-T2 and X-H1 and a 12mm Rokinon prime, or the lens I just purchased today, the fabulous new Fujinon 8-16mm f/2.8, which is perfectly rectilinear (key for RE and Architecture). I shoot everything on a tripod with a geared head and almost all interior photos are a "blend" or composite in PS of ambient and flash lighting. The next two posts will be some representative assignments.

Here are my two workhorses: my Graphite Silver X-T2 and X-H1, both with their respective vertical power booster grips. I only use the grips for my racing but not for RE work.



And the new primary lens I will be using, the recently released Fujinon 8-16mm f/2.8 (yes, its big...but fabulous!)