J. Whyte Photography

No trip to Rome feels complete without a stop at the Pantheon, and it’s one of those rare landmarks that actually lives up to the hype. Tucked into a lively piazza full of cafés and street life, the Pantheon somehow manages to feel both central and timeless. One minute you’re dodging scooters and espresso cups, the next you’re standing inside a 2,000-year-old building that’s still doing exactly what it was built to do. For photographers, the Pantheon is an absolute dream—especially because of the light. The massive oculus at the top of the dome is the only natural light source, and it changes the mood of the interior constantly. Late morning and early afternoon are especially great for photos, when sunbeams cut dramatically across the space. A wide-angle lens works best here to capture the scale of the dome, but don’t forget to zoom in on details like the patterned marble floors and the intricate coffers overhead. If you want cleaner shots, aim for an early morning visit. The crowds ar...

Whether you are a travel photographer or any traveller really, its nice to have that one place you always visit when you return to a city or country.  For me, revisiting and photographing places over time reconnects me to past memories, building layers of perspective one on top of the other. Sometimes if feels like I am building a single memory that extends over decades of time. Perhaps a better way to explain it is that several distinct memories blur into a single memory, you know when you can't quite put your finger on which visit that was?  Its a strange thing, but for me its familiarity and nostalgia rolled into a memory and the anticipation of future visits. Sometimes I am alone, sometimes with my family. But always with my camera.  So, I have this one place in London, England that I always visit when I am there. Every time I have visited London, I have gone there, paid the small fee to enter, climbed the stairs, sat in the pews and listened. I plan to visit this spo...

Calgary has a number of brutalist buildings. In fact, the city came of age at a time when brutalist architecture was popular, and so we have religious buildings, education buildings and many office structures spread around the city.  One of the acknowledged brutalist landmarks is Nelco Square.  Nelco Square was completed in 1979 in the community of Franklin. According to Heritage Calgary , Nelco Square is considered "a  superb example of a late Brutalist-style office building in Calgary."   Designed like many brutalist buildings, Nelco Square has a multi-story building plan with the higher levels wider than the lower ground level floor. Nelco Square also has "symmetrical fenestration separated by pronounced vertical window fins at the top storey and decorative concrete panels with embossed rectangular motifs" while the "lower recessed two storeys have exaggerated pilasters and minimalist ribbon windows."  (Source, Heritage Calgary) Discovering the  Mystery...

Importance of light Suggesting that light is important in photography is stating the obvious. Let’s be honest… of course light is important. But what I had to learn was that its not so easy to appreciate how light will impact the subject of the photograph, the particular building that is being photographed.  I came into photographing architecture honestly, as a stock photographer focusing on travel and landscape.  And if you are shooting travel stock, then its inevitable that you will need to learn how to photograph buildings.  But travel photography is different, there is a different feel and vibe.  Photographing the Pantheon in Rome? Throw in a great sunset! Make it eye-catching. With architecture photography, I think the building drives the photograph and the light is there as a compliment and not as a main feature.  Its unlikely that you want that insane sunset because that might just be confusing to the viewer. What’s the subject of the photograph? The suns...

  Brutalist architecture is a fascinating thing. Perhaps no other style of architecture captures the attention of people generally, particularly those outside the architectural profession – regular people like me.  And often the attention is not positive.  In many ways, brutalist architecture pushes itself into the consciousness because it so clearly typifies the gap between western elites and the majority of regular people. Indeed, brutalist architecture reflects the eternal project of the elites - the quest for positive social change and progressive ideological action. That was the point of brutalist design. But ultimately, the result turned out to be cold concrete, authoritarian forms, the esthetics of the prison.  How could it be otherwise? So as these buildings age, the issue of renovation has become a public issue. What do we do with these buildings? Do we demolish them as many people would like or do we renovate these structures and give them new lives? And if...

Medicine Hat is one of Canada's most historic prairie cities. Its built along the Trans-Canada Highway just west of the Saskatchewan border and has many historic buildings that remain in its commercial centre.  One of the most historically significant buildings is the historic Monarch Theatre. Located in the city's old and very historic downtown, the Monarch has a long and storied past.   I was not aware of it when I first visited Medicine Hat, but this building catches your eye immediately. I have not seen anything like it in other small prairie cities that I have visited. Historical Significance of the Monarch Theatre The Monarch was the first building in Canada to be purpose built as a movie theatre, and since it remains in use as a movie theatre today, it remains the oldest operating movie house in Canada.  Originally, the facility also included a billiards room and tobacco shop making it an entertainment destination of sorts.   The Monarch screened its...

The Cluny area of Alberta is pretty much directly east of Calgary, and just north of the Siksika Nation. I had never explored the area and search for abandoned locations for photography, and I knew from Google Maps that there was some excellent candidates for photography locations. So this past fall, I took a drive to the are for sunrise. And what a trip it was!  Check out my YouTube Channel and join be in person if you want.  North of Cluny, I found a few really beautiful locations, including one of the most amazing abandoned barns I have ever seen in this part of the world.  This one, I was not suspecting.  I took photographs from all four sides, but I liked the photographs with the tall dead grass in the foreground the best. I find stubble and cultivated fields are least nice for a foreground.  I recommend trying to find nice foreground if the situation allows it.  This fantastic old barn was actually my second location.  The fir...