The Best Thing I Learned in Architecture School

And how I applied it to photography.

Sketchbook by author.

I really don’t know how to start this, so I’ll just cut to the chase. After spending 20 years in professional photography, spanning all genres from sports to studio and fine art, I still struggle to understand why so many photographers keep reinventing the wheel when they could simply look around, learn from others, save themselves a ton of work, and produce far more competent results.

All you need to do is the following: figure out what your project or idea is about, go online or to a library, bury yourself in books, and find similar projects by other photographers. Once you’ve found them, study and dissect their work. Identify strengths and weaknesses, analyze them from every possible angle, and pinpoint the elements you can take and use for yourself.

That’s it.

This was the standard method when I studied architecture. Every time we got a new assignment, the first thing to do was to go to the library, browse through dozens of books and magazines, and find finished projects that rhymed with what we had in mind. Without that, the professor wouldn’t even talk to you.

Only once you had analyzed at least four or five reference projects would you start brainstorming your own. Of course, you’d encounter…