Landscape Architect

There are many reasons why you should incorporate landscaping stones into your landscaping design. The main one however is for beauty, pure aesthetic beauty. For a landscaping design to look perfect it needs to have layer and this can be a hard thing to achieve without the use of landscaping stones.

Landscaping stones are not the only way to give your yard depth but they are the easiest way. You could try to change the slop of your yard. You could dig lower sports and build up higher ones but this could take forever and you would have to know a lot about landscaping to try to tackle a job like that. Just think of the trouble you could get into with the drainage issues if you were to make a mistake! No, it is far easier to simply use landscaping stones to bring some depth to your yard.

You can use landscaping stones to accent certain portions of your yard, you can even plant some plants in these landscaping stones. They look great round the patio and the fence and you can even get colored landscaping stones to bring more color into your yard. This kind of color is especially nice to have in winter when everything is so bare and cold looking. The fact of the matter is that you can transform the whole look of your yard with the simple use of landscaping stones. They are like jewelry only for the yard.

There are many different kinds of landscaping stones and they come in all shapes and sized. The landscaping stones that are right for you will depend on the effect that you are trying to create with your yard. And different parts of the yard might require different sized landscaping stones. You can get a wide variety of colors for your landscaping stones and in some cases you may want to mix a couple of colors together to create a whole new and interesting look.

If you are planning to overhaul your yard this year then you need to start looking into using landscaping stones in your design. These will bring the whole yard together and if they are used right will add balance and harmony to your entire garden.

You can get landscaping stones at your local gardening center and even some home building stores will carry them. Shop around and find the landscaping stones that suit your home and your needs best before you make a purchase.

Labels: landscaping, stones, use, why

There aren't many but some of us take an interest in architectural landscape photos. With a view to giving some insight on this subject I have created this article to give a basic understanding and supply some facts about its origins. Some of us become interested in architectural landscape photos later in life, it doesn't matter when you take an interest but when you do you'll be hooked.

If taking architectural landscape photos is one of your hobbies, it might be interesting for you to read a brief history of architectural photography. Commercial portraiture was the main area of interest in the early years of photography. The ones who made architectural landscape photos were generally travelers, for different business reasons, not only especially for photography. At that time (the middle of the 19th century), photographers usually worked from a convenient window rather than at street level, as they do now.

WHF Talbot, one of the first photographers, used to take architectural landscape photos from his hotel window, in the cities he visited. Roger Fenton, the first war photographer was the first one to take fine architectural studies, using calotypes, both in Britain, his home country, and in Russia (in Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg). He learnt the waxed paper calotype process from Gustave Le Grey, its inventor, in his journeys to Paris.

Francis Frith was the first one to make the Middle East familiar to the civilized world, by the architectural landscape photos he took in his journeys. He beard with him very large cameras and used the collodion process, as he had to work in hot and dusty conditions.

Samuel Bourne is another British photographer that became famous for his work in India.

Most of the early architectural landscape photos give the subjects the impression of import and grandeur. The lenses needed for architecture were quite different from the ones used in portraiture. They had to give sharpness and linear drawing, but there was no need for high speed, as buildings sit still.

In the late 19th century, photographers were advised to keep the camera back vertical and to photograph buildings from the normal eye level, instead of using elevated viewpoints, in order to suggest the normal impression of height. The frontage and a side of the building had to be both included in the architectural landscape photo. Camera movements were also considered essential, and the most important movement was the rising front.

Frederick H. Evans is regarded as the finest architectural photographer of his era. He is famous for his images of the exteriors and interiors of English and French medieval cathedrals. He adopted the platinotype technique, which best suited his subject matter. His ideal regarding architectural landscape photos was the "perfect" photographic representation, unretouched and not modified at all.

The city growth at the end of the 19th century lead to the development of commercial architectural landscape photography. The most important companies that took advantage on this new opportunity, in New York, were the Byron Company and the company founded by Norman and Lionel Wurts.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the modern movement brought new standards, both in architecture and photography. Some of the new modernist photographers in 1920s were Berenice Abbott in New York, Ilse Bing in Frankfurt and Margaret Bourke-White, best known as a photojournalist. One of the best-regarded companies that made architectural landscape photos was Hedrich-Blessing. It was founded in Chicago in 1929 by Ken Hedrich and Henry Blessing. Today, Jim Hedrich, Ken's son still runs the firm. The founder’s well-known quote "Don't make photographs, think them." suggests that their photos had something to say about the building, not only record an image of it.

Although he was an architect by profession, Ezra Stoller established himself as a leading architectural photographer. Some of his most important works are the architectural landscape photos of Le Corbusier's Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp. The key elements in Stoller's work are light and space. Esto, the company founded by Stoller still makes some of the best work in the field.

Julius Shulman took a revolutionary approach upon modernism, turning the modernist principle upside down. He was the first one to introduce people in the frame of the camera. He did not want to show abstract images of wall details or empty rooms. In his architectural landscape photos, he "humanized" the houses designed by architects such as Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig or Rudolf Schindler. Shulman is best known for his photograph"Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect". The end of modernism also represented the end of Shulman's career, as his ideas of composition, the sensitive images and his ways of working were deeply modernistic.

Some of the most important contemporary architectural photographs are Gerald Zugmann, Mark Citret and Richard Margolis. You can take a look at their architectural landscape photos on their web sites.

By Roy Barker

Labels: architectural, are, landscape, photos, what

Design landscaping is meant to create a setting for your home and garden areas that reflect your personality and make people feel welcomed into your world. Whatever landscape design you choose will create a sense of style for the grounds that surround your home and will set the overall tone for your visitors. Landscaping that is well-done can also significantly raise the value of your property.

There are many ways that you can improve the landscaping around your home. Some people worry that to improve their landscape design properly, they need to hire landscape architects or contractors. This can be wonderful if you can afford it, but many people very successfully undertake the landscaping design for their homes on their own.

If you would rather do your design landscaping yourself rather than hiring a professional, then the first step is to learn the basics of landscape design. Good design is actually quite simple if you know and follow the four following principles. Combine these landscaping principles with your own tastes and preferences and you will quickly be able to create a plan for your home and garden exteriors that will be a reflection of you.

The first element of it is the concept of balance. If you concentrate most of your new plants in one area, then the rest of your garden landscaping area will look rather neglected. Distribute the plants around the yard or the garden at least somewhat evenly and with a sense of flow. This will help draw the eye though the entire landscape design and engage your visitors.

The second aspect of great landscaping is proportion. The idea here is to make sure that any design feature you choose fits in appropriately, in terms of size, to the surrounding areas, fixtures and structures. Trying to wedge an huge gazebo into a tiny back yard will end up looking almost comical, and will not provide a great effect. At the same time, if you have an enormous front lawn, then you will need to add larger elements in plantings or features that will be noticed and not overwhelmed.

Transition is the third principle you need to know for your landscaping project and is closely related to proportion. Even though your design can include flowers, plants, large shrubs, bushes and even trees, the way to make them really work together in a beautiful way is with the use of transition.

It is the smooth flow from one type and size of plant to another. You want to lead the eye from delicate plants to larger ones with some in-between sizes. Color transitions can also be a very effective aspect of your overall landscaping design plan.

The last of the four concepts of landscaping is unity and it is the ultimate sense that you are trying to express with your design. All of the choices that you make in how you balance, proportion, and transition the various colors, sizes and textures of your landscape elements should be governed by a unifying theme. This is what brings the design together to work in harmony and create a spectacular home and garden.

It is best to choose a theme for your design landscaping and make sure you stick to it throughout. If you want the look of an English garden, then choose only elements that will fit with that theme. If you prefer the ambiance of a Japanese garden, then only choose features, plants and accents that reflect that theme.

By Mike Selvon

Labels: best, design, homes, landscaping, tips