Robin Hill Photography

Miami Modern Luxury Cover January 2012 by Robin Hill Photography

2012-01-05T19:12:00.000-05:00

LUXE Magazine cover photo by Robin Hill

2012-01-05T19:07:00.001-05:00

The current edition of LUXE Magazine features my photo on the cover of a modern house in Boca Raton designed by Don Yoshino and Jay Colestock.

Bacardi Building Miami: Words and photos by Robin Hill

2012-01-02T02:14:00.000-05:00

Mon Jan 02 2012 12:00am

The Bacardi Building ^Featured

Written by Robin Hill

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Photograph by Robin Hill ©

The Bacardi Building provides a striking example of Miami Modern (MiMo) hybridized with the International Style in Miami, Florida.

There are some combinations that are just irresistible: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Lennon and McCartney, Simon and Garfunkel, Bacardi and Coke. That such a relationship exists between two buildings may seem to be a little of a metaphorical stretch -- that is, until you encounter the two superbly crafted buildings that make up the Bacardi building complex here in Miami. One building stands tall and proud, the other spans wide and colorful. One is Bacardi, and the other is coke! If the Bacardi buildings were a song, they would be right from the recorded grooves of that most famous Lennon and McCartney recording: a day in the life from the Sergeant Pepper album, Lennon's more caustic lyrics rising in tone defining the plaza of their music and McCartney's optimistic retort playfully providing the backdrop. Bacardi's tower, designed by Enrique Guitierrez in 1964, rises cool and architecturally fecund from its concrete roots, and Bacardi's cube, designed by Ignacio Carrera-Justiz in 1973, dances atop a hopeful plinth behind the scenes. It’s a very graceful juxtaposition -- a juxtaposition which, in McCartney and Lennon's hands, is divided by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra playing backwards, but in the Bacardi complex, is divided by Bacardi's corporate Bat logo. Stroll amongst the plaza, and one is transported into a world of modernist sophistication, spatial clarity and a cool urban rhythm that Vitruvius would have had no problem finding delight in.

Ask many architects in Miami which is their favorite building, and many, including Allan Shulman and Chad Oppenheim, will tell you that hands down the Bacardi building beats all others. This is high praise indeed when one considers that nowadays, Miami's architectural oeuvre includes instant iconic classics such as Herzog and De Meuron's 1111 Lincoln Road, Frank Gehry's New World Center and I.M Pei's brilliant piece of corporate architecture now known as the America Tower. To further understand this unalloyed praise for the Bacardi building complex, I recently spent some time photographing these masterpieces from different points of view.

Set on its own plaza (much like the Seagram building) this 1964 masterpiece oozes tropical modern sophistication and International Style restraint, while at the same time exhibiting an intoxicating MiMo (MIami Modern) extravagance. A sheer curtain wall of darkened glass faces east toward Miami's main thoroughfare, Biscayne Boulevard, appearing to contemplate the various goings on from behind its mysterious facade. Turn the corner, though, and the sides of the building explode with the vibrant murals of Brazilian Francisco Brennand, which depict a series of tropical plants and animals concocted from 28000 blue and white tiles. It’s a rich dichotomy full of Geminian counter play. On the one hand, you can hear Mies Van Der Rohe whispering 'less is more,' and on the other, you can hear Morris Lapidus exalting 'Too much is never enough.' One would have thought that these two extremes would not result in a congruous love affair of Architectural styles, but the Bacardi building proves otherwise. It’s a stark but well scaled composition that allows both buildings to breathe and yet still allows a certain degree of spatial communication to flow between them. It is this conversation across space that gives the Bacardi building its special urban ambience.

Despite all their collective architectural delights, however, these two enigmatic lovers face an uncertain future. Bacardi USA vacated the building in 2009 and set up shop in a new corporate headquarters in Coral Gables. That building's lobby sportingly recreates the fabulous mural from the original building, a smart and creative gesture for sure, but a long way from historic preservation of the original. So what of Historic Preservation, that most understated and profound custodian of our cultural heritage? The Bacardi building is currently designated ‘historic’ by the City of Miami (significantly, before the usual 50 years necessary to ensure designation). The order protects both the buildings and the plaza that connects them. The historic designation prohibits changes in the buildings’ outward appearance and, just as importantly, allows for tax breaks and grants. Good news indeed for lovers of cool modern architecture, but as it currently stands, the buildings are unoccupied, making them aloof to the urbanity surrounding them and waiting for a new purpose. Could that purpose be a Museum of Modernism? The buildings themselves are the perfect start to an iconic collection, and this leaves many people in Miami asking the question: "Who will step forward to fund this new creation? What combination of urban saviors can 'save' the Seagram of the South?"

Text and Photographs by Robin Hill © www.robinhill.net

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Robin Hill Photography wins 'Architectural Photographer of the Year' award

2011-11-14T13:56:00.002-05:00

Photo by Robert Gibson (c)

Florida's largest chapter of the American Institute of Architects, here in Miami awarded my company the 'Architectural Photographer of the Year' award last Saturday night for achievements in Architectural photography.

Child of the Sun: Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College. Words and photos by Robin Hill

2011-11-14T13:52:00.000-05:00

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern College: Child of the Sun ^Featured

Written by Robin Hill

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Image courtesy of Robin Hill ©

The Florida Southern College Campus offers the world’s largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on a single site. The 10 inter-connected structures offer an unparalleled view of how Wright intended buildings to be part of a larger, organic whole.

‘Out of the ground, and into the light, a Child of the Sun.’ Wright’s simple but powerful statement describing Florida Southern College offers us a glimpse into the mind of America’s most influential, iconic and, yes, poetic architect. It also informs us of the organic nature of his architectural thought and practice, and is a signpost into his philosophy, while at the same time giving us something of a prophecy regarding the possibilities of biophilic design. Wright championed his own philosophy of organic architecture, and while not 100% compatible with today’s ideas of biophilic design, it certainly laid a strong foundation of intellectual and philosophical support to the movement. Wright’s statement also conjures up images of the profound relationship his buildings displayed with regard to Nature (that’s nature with a capital ‘N,’ as he was fond of saying). It is worth noting here that his words could have easily come from one of his creative heroes, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, or Walt Whitman, all of whom had a galvanizing effect on Wright’s thinking and his philosophy of how nature and architecture can be part of an organic whole.

Speaking of an organic whole, it is here at Florida Southern College (the world’s largest collection of Wright buildings in one location) that Wright’s entire philosophy of organic architecture finds its most prolific and definitive voice. The campus is not just about the individual buildings, but very much about how they integrate with one another, and how they weave into and around the rolling hills of central Florida. They are all situated close to the tranquil shores of Lake Hollingsworth, a worthy location for the project that brought Wright as close as he would ever get to imagining his grand scheme of Broadacre City (his ideal of an American urban/suburban utopia, presented in his book The Disappearing City in 1932). There are 10 integrated buildings by Wright at Florida Southern, interconnected by a series of esplanades or covered walkways that act as the veins in the body of the campus. Built over the course of 21 years, between 1938 and 1959, the campus offers a remarkable look at the evolution of Wright’s architecture. Far from being peripheral to the architect’s legendary ouevre, Florida Southern is actually central to the understanding of Wright’s architecture and his philosophy of organic architecture. Any study of the possibilities of biophilic design should include reference to Florida Southern, where the architecture is in harmony with nature and vice versa.

Much of Wright’s architecture could be considered somewhere between ‘difficult to maintain’ and ‘nearly impossible.’ Often using the most modern building techniques and materials available, Wright was prone to experimentation, and this led to all kinds of problems with the maintenance and preservation of his buildings. Florida Southern is no exception to this, and it also suffers from the fact that many of the earlier buildings were built by students in lieu of tuition fees. Wright’s use of ornamental textile concrete block is extensive at Florida Southern, and its problems have been highlighted by an excellent study sponsored by the World Monument’s fund which can be read in full by clicking here.

The World Monument’s Fund also placed Florida Southern on its watch list in 2008 to bring attention to the need for renovation and preservation of Wright’s only campus. The president of Florida Southern, Dr Ann Kerr, has been a strong advocate of the preservation of Wright’s designs while at the same time trying to bring the buildings up to 21st century standards. This is not an easy process, but it is one that is incalculably significant to the custodianship of our cultural heritage.

Although masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museum, Fallingwater, and the Johnson Wax building have captured the imagination of both the public and the architectural press, there is nowhere other than Florida Southern where one can experience a whole system of Wright’s architecture. Wright attempted to find a spiritual congruence between people, his architecture and the natural world. He manifested this philosophy by creating beautifully constructed elevations and plans and divining them into elegant space, through the use of geometry, complimentary materials, sympathy for the natural site, and a deeply profound knowledge of the interplay of light and shadow. (This last aspect of his architecture is of particular importance to architectural photographers, such as myself, who try to capture the essence of Wright’s work.) People who are fortunate enough to experience Wright’s architecture on a daily basis have often come to understand the experiential delight of his transformational spaces. There is a recognition that the interior has been united with the exterior, that the whole construct is at one with the natural world, and that the human can become elevated through this experience. Indeed, Wright saw his architecture as a crucible for the spiritual awakening of mankind, and Florida Southern is no exception.

It is of particular interest to note that Wright’s Florida Southern campus was begun in 1938, making it America’s first modern campus at a time when modern architecture was in the throes of the International Style and therefore more attuned to Le Corbusier’s ‘machine for living’ concepts than to Wright’s practice of organic architecture. Fast-forward to 2011, and many of Wright’s ideas seem particularly prescient to both biophilic design and the entire environmental movement, whereas Le Corbusier’s ‘machine for living’ ideas appear to be anathema to the integration of nature and architecture.

A special thanks to Robin Hill for contributing the text and photos in this article.
Robin Hill ©
Tel 305 785 6538

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Robin Hill

Originally from Nottingham, England, Robin Hill is an architectural photographer based in Miami Beach. Over the last 25 years his photography has been published in many of the world's leading design publications including Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Garden Design and Vanity Fair. His photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College were included in the Guggenheim's 2009 exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward and his photographs appear in numerous books including MiMo: Miami Modern revealed (Chronicle 2004), Miami Architecture Guide (University Press Florida) and The Glass House (Rizzoli 2011). Much of his work is dedicated to Historic Preservation and his photographs have helped in Miami/Miami Beach to create the North Shore and Normandy Isles districts, which are in the National Register of Historic Places, and the North Beach Resort and the Morris Lapidus/Mid 20th Century districts, both designated historic on the local level.

Website: www.robinhill.net

Words and photos on Arquitectonica's South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

2011-10-10T10:33:00.003-04:00

Mon Oct 10 2011 12:00am

South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center by Arquitectonica^Featured

Written by Robin Hill

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Image courtesy of Robin Hill ©

Cutler Bay, South Miami. The brand-new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center rises out of the flat Florida landscape in a dynamic crescendo of geometric forms that pierce the sky. Its presence offers a penetrating counterpoint to the dull and monotonous Southland Mall and parking lot it faces. Designed by Arquitectonica, the famed Miami-based architectural firm led by Laurinda Spear and Bernardo Fort-Brescia, the Cultural Arts Center delights in movement and flow, circulation and performance, geometry and color.

The design concept is inspired by motion, and the Cultural Arts Center's two complementary buildings allow patrons to freely circulate. The flow of movement begins with ramps skirting the exterior of the main concert hall and continues inside where a brushed aluminum grand staircase delivers each patron to the orchestra and balcony levels above. The drama of entry is sweetly enhanced by the expertly interwoven public art installation by highly regarded artist Robert Chambers. "Light field" uses digital technology and LED lighting to create a field of ever-changing colors that adds an electric aesthetic to the already dynamic architecture. What's more, Robert Chambers also designed two large-scale marble sculptures that are based on Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion and the geometric formulas of prehistoric tools and they echo Arquitectonica's entry feature to further add to the congruence of public art and architecture.

At 71,504 sq. ft., the Main Building dominates the cultural campus (and houses a 966-seat state-of-the-art theater); but its dominance is supported, indeed enhanced, by the proximity of its smaller sibling, the 7,538 sq. ft. Activities Building, which houses classrooms, rehearsal space, and room for smaller-scale performances. Between the two buildings an outdoor promenade, bisected with newly planted bamboo, leads gently to a sloping lawn at the rear of the complex, where outdoor concerts can be held. The rear of the property is defined by the Black Creek canal, and from this vantage point the center takes on an entirely different form of elongated rectangles perched on top of one another, whilst the smooth, undulating landscape stretches to the canal. Surrounded by nature at the back and urban vacancy at the front, the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center gives the effect of an island of artistic defiance standing against the forces of both, whilst the landscape architecture of Curtis & Rogers Design Studio and Jessica Jerez provide the interstitial backdrop that brings the whole composition neatly together.

The South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center grew out of an idea to reinvigorate the area after Hurricane Andrew devastated much of this part of South Miami-Dade County in 1992. As the building now stands it is conspicuously alone, awaiting further development of a new downtown, but it stands as a bright beacon of optimism for a region that is so under served by facilities devoted to arts and culture.

A special thanks to Robin Hill for contributing the content found in this article.
Be sure to stop by robinhill.net to see more of his photography.

On meeting Julius Shulman

2011-08-23T13:43:00.004-04:00

Rizzoli's new book: The Glass House with cover photo by Robin Hill

left to right: Julius Shulman, Robin Hill, Juergen Nogai. Photo by Hilary Lewis.

In 2007, I attended the opening of the Glass House and got to spend a few hours

with one of my creative heroes, Julius Shulman. If I were an actor, this would have

been similar to spending a few hours with Marlon Brando! He and his assistant, the gracious and talented Juergen Nogai had spent a few days photographing the Glass House prior to its opening. I had with me a recent copy of Home Miami Magazine which featured my photo of the Glass House on the cover and also had two beautifully crafted articles written by Paul Goldberger and Hilary Lewis. To say that I was a liitle daunted by showing my photography to arguably the best Architectural Photographer that ever lived was an understatement, but life sometimes throws up these moments and I wasn't prepared to just let it slip away. So I asked Julius for his critique!

Julius thumbed through the article. Sweat started to appear on my furrowed brow. I stumbled for eloquence and found these words pouring unceremoniously out of my mouth; "I think those hotspots could be a little better controlled." Julius then furrowed his brow,pierced me with his hyper intelligent eyes and asserted "Don't ever criticize your own work in front of others!!!!!!." He then went on to say, and I will never forget this, "Robin, I wish I had thought of shooting the Glass House from behind the swimming pool!"

Totally gobsmacked I thanked Juilius for his time, ordered some more champagne and took his words on board, that in times of darkness I remember to keep me going and to never, ever, ever give up on this most joyful and challenging profession. Fast Forward to 2011 and I recently learned that my photo 'Glass House Dawn' (above) will be used on the cover of the new official Glass House book to be published by Rizzoli.

Much of my photography over the last ten years has focussed on Historic Preservation and I'm a proud member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation who are doing a really remarkable job in keeping the essnce of the Glass House Estate intact. To learn more about how you can visit and support the Glass House please click here:

http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/

Robin Hill Photography: Robin Hill's show Floyd on Lloyd featured in Miami artzine wriiten by Irene Sperber

2011-08-19T15:27:00.000-04:00

Robin Hill Photography: Robin Hill's show Floyd on Lloyd featured in Miami artzine wriiten by Irene Sperber

Robin Hill's show Floyd on Lloyd featured in Miami artzine wriiten by Irene Sperber

2011-08-16T21:54:00.001-04:00

Head for the Hill’s

Frank Lloyd Wright in Central Florida Highlands

by Irene Sperber on August 16, 2011

The only Planetarium FLW ever built (Florida Southern College)

Celebrated Miami architectural design photographer Robin Hill has exposed a surprisingly little known nugget in the mine of iconic Florida architecture. The largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world is nestled in a bucolic college town in the Central Florida Highlands. Photographer Hill traveled to Lakeland, Florida 12 times between 2001 and 2010 capturing a panoply of Wright’s organic architecture; shining a light on the need for loving kindness to protect and restore this mother lode of distinction. To raise funds and awareness, Hill approached the World Monument Fund, who added Florida Southern’s collection to their “most endangered site” list in 2007. Since then some restoration has taken place, but more is necessary to preserve and honor this icon of architectural history. World Monument Fund held an exhibition of Hill’s stellar images in the Charles Cowles Gallery in NYC at the same time (2009) the Guggenheim was exhibiting a tribute to Wright and his museum design for their 50th anniversary. Hill had seven pieces in the Guggenheim’s “Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward” exhibition which showed in New York and Bilbao. All the pieces were of Florida Southern.

FSC in Lakeland is the only college designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the only theater-in-the-round that Wright ever built. Wright saw the campus as rising from the earth and aptly named it “Child of the Sun.” Twelve interconnected buildings protect students from the blistering sun, creating a lacework of design that only Wright could conjure.

I recently spoke with Hill about the project. For several more weeks, ten of his images and a video are on exhibit at the JSK Gallery and Studio in Coral Gables (by appointment only). The show is called “Floyd on Lloyd,” as Robin Hill used Pink Floyd songs (the ‘60‘s British rock band) to highlight the visuals. Inspired. “Another Brick in the Wall,” Robin!

Esplanades

Photographer Robin Hill found his way to Miami from Nottingham, England via life as a cruise ship photographer where he eventually met his wife. In 1992, after four years aboard, Hill disembarked for good onto Miami’s shores, a most fortuitous and exciting time in our evolution. He is no stranger to Florida historic preservation; Hill had just finished work on the MiMo project, (a book of mid-century buildings highlighted in the book MiMo: Miami Modern Revealed, that, along with Hill, Randall Robinson co-authored with New York Times researcher Eric Nash), when Diane Smart, the President of the Broward Trust of Historic Places mentioned the Frank Lloyd Wright campus in Lakeland, and Hill was off to investigate yet another iconic architectural enclave.

Lakeland: The Story

In 1936 the President of Florida Southern College (from 1925-’57), Ludd Spivey, visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin home in the middle of the Great Depression with a vision to build a “college of tomorrow” in the hopes of ramping up college enrollment. A handshake cemented the deal for Wright to build a dream design for the Methodist campus. It quickly came into focus as ground breaking began in 1938 and the twelve buildings continued until completion in the late ’40’s. World famous, Frank Lloyd Wright was 69 and already greatly respected during this time.

More on the exhibiting JSK Gallery & Studio

JSK Architectural Group and its Principal Jorge S. Kuperman, AIA, are involved in promoting and exhibiting art in all of its forms related to Architecture. “Floyd on Lloyd” is the second of a series after a successful “Art by Architects” exhibition that took place last March 2011 as part of the Giralda Under the Stars event in Coral Gables.

Stained Glass

Jorge Kuperman says, “It is a fulfilling experience to be able to show, along the front of our Studio location in 137 Giralda Avenue in Coral Gables, art related to Architecture and give the opportunity to current as well as emerging artists to connect with the community by exhibiting their work of art.”

Robin Hill’s “Floyd on Lloyd” Exhibition at the JSK is on view by appointment only by calling 305.674.8549.

For more information:

Robin Hill Photography

robinhill.photoshelter.com

Florida Southern College

flsouthern.edu/fllwctr

Child of the Sun Visitors Center

Guided Tours are available

800.680.4444

The Water Dome fountain gushes for an hour, 4 times a day.

Publication: Florida Southern College by Dale Allen Gyure

ALL PHOTOS BY ROBIN HILL from the Florida Southern College campus built by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Evolution of Miami Architecture Photos by Robin Hill

2011-08-12T12:47:00.001-04:00

Ocean Drive Miami Beach

2011-08-08T10:26:00.002-04:00

Ocean Drive Miami Beach Photo by Robin Hill (c)

I am slowly but surely putting together my Miami stock photo collection via my website on photoshelter. There are currently two galleries featuring Downtown Miami and South Beach with many more to come. Art Deco and MiMo will be heavily featured along with unique views of Miami photographed from hard to get to locations.

Robin Hill's photo 'Glass House Dawn' is featured on Rizzoli's new book The Glass house

2011-07-18T18:45:00.002-04:00

'Glass House Dawn' Photo by Robin Hill (c)

http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780847838165

Robin Hill Photography: Robert Chambers produces public art masterpiece at Arquitectonica's brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

2011-07-18T09:32:00.000-04:00

Robin Hill Photography: Robert Chambers produces public art masterpiece at Arquitectonica's brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

Robert Chambers produces public art masterpiece at Arquitectonica's brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

2011-07-18T09:20:00.005-04:00

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

Arquitectonica have designed a beautifully proportioned and dynamic performing arts center in Culter Bay which was a joy to photograph.

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

Robert Chambers has produced something of a marvel of public art at the brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Artr Center in Cutler Bay. Not only has Robert sculpted these monolithic vermont marble interpretations of ancient stone tools, but in a time busting acknowledgement to digital technology he has also designed the L.E.D light show that some illuminates Arquitectonica's soaring lobby. You can read more about the project by visiting Robert's website here: http://www.robertchambers.com/AdzeandCelt.html

Robin Hill at Pecha Kucha Miami

2011-07-16T13:42:00.003-04:00

I recently was included in Pecha Kucha Miami organized by Carl Hildebrand at Lester's (awesome) coffee shop in Wynwood. Click here to see a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HrPf1NV-zk

MiMo and Beyond

2011-06-15T10:55:00.003-04:00

Photos by Robin Hill (c)

On the left is the new Soho House in Miami Beach designed by Shulman and Associates, and on the right is Melvin Grossman's Deauville Radisson designed in 1957. (where the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964) Note the similarity in the designs of the Brise Soleil.

Photos by Robin Hill (c)

On the left is the Crystal House in Miami Beach designed by Morris Lapidus in 1960 and is inspired by the Architecture of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. On the right is Chad Oppenheim's, 10 Museum Park in downtown Miami from 2007. I find it particularly interesting to note the similarities of design especially the volumes toward the top of the buildings. There are many examples of this in Miami.

As an architectural photographer in Miami, I am always on the look out for new buildings and how some of them are related in certain design elements to buildings of the past. I find this conversation between generations of Architects fascinating.

Pecha Kucha Miami

2011-06-09T00:29:00.002-04:00

Thursday June 9th at Lester's Coffee Shop in Wynwood, I will be participating in Pecha Kucha, presenting a series of photographs that connect Mid Century Modern Architecture in Miami with the buildings of today. Located at 2519 NW 2nd Avenue, the fun begins at 7pm.

Robin Hill is a Miami Architectural Photographer.

Robin Hill Photography shoots cover for Landscape Architecture Magazine

2011-05-23T14:59:00.003-04:00

Photo by Robin Hill for West 8

West 8 are an extraordinary landscape architecture outfit and I was fortunate to be hired by them to shoot their breathtaking new 'Soundscape Park' here in my hometown of Miami Beach. This unique vantage point, from the top of the Frank Gehry designed New World Center (home of the New World Symphony) provided a most excellent view of the park and the city beyond.

2011-04-25T13:28:00.003-04:00

photos by Robin Hill (c)

The Coppertone Sign in Miami is an instantly recognizable symbol of Miami and now sits proudly at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 73rd street. Photographing such a well known landmark can be a bit daunting because its been covered so many times before, but I find that notion challenging and decided to approach this photo shoot in a diffferent way than usual. I often go out in the rain when the streets are soaked and photograph the reflections that are enhanced by the water. On this particular night it was raining cats and dogs and I noticed that the sunroof of my mini Cooper clubman was collecting rain drops like nobody's business. I wondered what would the MiMo neon signs along Biscayne Boulevard look like if I photographed them through the sunroof in the rain? So, I positioned my car underneath the coppertone sign, pulled out my trusty Canon 5D with 17-35mm 2.8L wide angle zoom lens, and zoomed out to 17mm and shot the whole thing through the sunroof in the rain...hence the entirely original title of this photo 'Coppertone Girl through the sunroof in the rain'...I think even Damien hirst would be proud of that one...and that's no joking matter because we were born on the same day...June 7th, 1965...which just goes to show that astrology cannot predict how successful in the art world you will be! Still, its not all about perceived success is it? In which case one begs the answer, what is success? Well, going off on some wild tangent whilst trying to stay focussed on the coppertone girl photograph might not seem like the answer, but I'm sure its buried in there somewhere....the question is where? hmmm....its pretty easy to get stuck in the mud of deranged thought patterns when you're counting ghosts of misfortune, but alas how can one possibly find the answer without questions? Still, I digress from the central point of this post, which is to bring us to the next photo.....

Another entirely original title...'COP'...Yes I now believe that it is my capacity for conceptual thought that has really garnered interest in my artworld shenanigans...still i do like the photo...popped on the ancient macro lens for this one and zoomed in to capture the drops of rain that all spelled out 'cop' and left pertone' behind in the rain (literally). As a Miami Photographer I'm still trying to find out what this city is all about...if I was to listen to our recently departed chief of police, John Timoney..he might mention the word 'cop'...once or twice...but perhaps not quite in this context...but Miami seriously is one tricky place to pin down...and I've spent almost 20 years here trying to find that 'pin'...and haven't found the 'down' yet either....of course there's the Architecture that revels in its own mediocrity despite some great buildings (think Bacardi) and some intriguing physical forms parading down Ocean Drive...and now cultural engineers coming to town and building stuff, and inviting art fairs called Basel...its a full time love/hate relationship, very similar to the one I have with my Bogen tripod, which despite the fact of being directly responsible for out of focus pictures at critical moments still lingers in my hands because I simply cannot get rid of the beautiful thing.

MiMo at MOCA

2011-04-25T13:25:00.003-04:00

5600 Collins Avenue Photo by Robin Hill (c)

On wednesday night at MOCA in North Miami, I was invited by curator and educator Edwin Stirman to give a lecture on MiMo (MIami MOdern) Architecture, along with my friend and co-founder of the MiMo movement, Teri D'Amico. MOCA was designed by the late and great Charles Gwathmey, whom I had the good fortune to meet when he was in Miami a couple of years ago. MOCA has become a very respected and dynamic Arts institution under the directorship of Bonnie Clearwater and it was an honor to give a lecture for the 'Time for Design' series. Included in the slide show was my Architectural photo of Melvin Grossman's 1967 building at 5600 Collins avenue in Miami Beach which was originally called Seacoast Towers West and developed by Stephen Muss. Melvin Grossman was originally working for MiMo master, Morris Lapidus, but then went out on his own and designed other MiMo classics such as the International Inn in 1956, King Cole in 1960 and the Seville Hotel in 1957. Down the center of the 5600 building are a series of motifs that echo Eeero Saarinen's famous arch in St.Louis giving the building a somewhat optimistic and dynamic feel. I took my cue from Architectural Photography hero Ezra Stoller in this photo and shot it in black and white, whilst also choosing the time of day carefully so as to show the building in full sunlight.

art basel conversations

2011-04-25T13:21:00.002-04:00

left to right: Fred Bernstein, Hans-Peter Wessels, Jorge Gonzalez, Fortunat Dettli, Chad Oppenheim

Art Basel Miami Beach pulls together people from many different backgrounds and connects them through Art Conversations held close to the beach. Its these events I find so interesting during the annual art fair...away from the hoards of Art aficianados and in a more intimate setting where world class Architects/Designers/Cultural engineers/Artists etc gather to talk about Architecture, Art and Design. The title of this particular talk was 'Art, Business and Architecture-How Basel and Miami Beach set the benchmark. My first reaction to that title was 'well, do they?' The panel tried to answer that basic question by referring to Basel's slower pace of growth as opposed to Miami's BOOM and bust cycle of development. Of course the political systems are somewhat different, but what was really apparent was the difference in the relationship between the private and public sectors in each city...whereby in Basel rather stricter building codes are in place and public transportation is well integrated into the urban fabric, but in Miami the power of the private developer has so often over ridden quality urban planning that diminishes the way of life for its citizens, combined with an almost pathological love for the motor car and all its sins. One is left with the distinct feeling that Miami could do with a severe dose of Swiss reasoning and zoning to knit its urban fabric together. Two Architects, Chad Oppenheim of Miami (who is doing some projects in Basel) and Fortunat Dettli ( a very refined modernist doing rigorous and beautiful Architecture in Switzerland) offered their views of working in Architecture. Oppenheim mentioned that the Architecture in Basel included excellent attention to detail...something that seems to be so often missing in Miami and Dettli gave us his somehat desultory reaction to the Architecture in general in Miami. I offered to give him a tour next time he's in town, because I'm sure he hasn't seen the BACARDI building! Thank Heavens for question and answer sessions....they are a dying breed...so often these days at lectures, there are either no opportunities for a two way dialogue or the person running the show wants to close early...not here...and kudos to Art Basel for encouraging this interaction...so I asked the following question to Jorge Gonzalez (Miami Beach City Manager) 'How the hell did that urban monstrosity called a shopping center at Alton Road and 5th street make it through the planning process and why does the most visible entryway into Miami Beach have to have that incongruous Architecture and ignominious brightly colored, over the top Britto sculpture sitting in front of it?' Jorge's answer was actually pretty comprehensive and angled the argument toward the entrepeneurship of the private developer and that all necessary criterai were met for it to pass the planning process. Could this happen in Basel? Probably not...more room for more conversation here, I thought...still, the great thing was that this one question garnered about 25 minutes worth of reaction from the panel...the genesis of an idea was born to integrate the discussion between these two cities more fully and attempt to make more cross cultural connections, so that both Cities can learn from one another...Fortunat Dettli's Architecture can be seen here http://www.morger-dettli.ch/ and Chad Oppenheim's here http://www.oppenoffice.com/

The Bilbao Experience 2

2009-10-22T18:35:00.005-04:00

Photos by Robin Hill (c)

I once heard Sting say that he will never forget the first time he heard his own song 'Roxanne' on the radio...and that it was an experience unlike any other. I can't say I felt the same way the first time one of my photos was shown in a gallery, but this time here at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, I did feel connected to my work and there was a sense of professional pride at seeing my photos projected on the walls of the museum at a nice size of about six feet by four feet. The show feels completely different here in Spain....the spatial arrangement of the galleries are not continuous and one has to visit several different rooms to see the whole show, whereas in New York, one could simply traverse down the ramp, pop into the adjunct galleries, come out again and continue the descent...a purely joyful experience. Here at Gehry's Gugg...the ceiling's are really high...too high...creating an acoustical conundrum and spatial handicap...but the show does bring together the wide range of Wright's work and presents it in such a way that one is drawn into Wright's world.

The Bilbao Experience

2009-10-22T18:16:00.006-04:00

October 22nd 2009...Bilbao, Spain. Frank Gehry's masterpiece is a profoundly unnerving experience that I'm still trying to process....there's no doubt its absolutely brilliant and is a work of Genius, but like many works of Genius...its got its issues...and not being given to sycophancy there are a couple of things that drive me crazy...but I'll get to those later. Firstly its clearly apparent to me that the Architect seriously 'Let go' of any previous notions in Architecture with both this building and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is its spiritual sister. It is without doubt a paradigm shifter...there's Architecture before the Guggenheim Bilbao and there's everything after...Gehry is clutching onto soaring ladders, making a leap into the infinite and risking everything...and the result is breathtaking and heart rending and full of delight. The photo above was made a few hours ago...the light had been shifting all day and by the time dusk came around the clouds rolled in supplying the photo with a dramatic ceiling and giving movemet to the building which was already in full flow. Dynamite! In fact 'dynamic' is the one word I would choose above all others to describe this building, this sculpture, this poem of structure, this delicious concoction of outer planetary imagination. Strange that I could also use those words to describe the other Frank's masterpiece, the Guggenheim in New York, but the feeling there is completely different....The Guggenheim in New York has a deeply mystical transcendant quality to it... a reflection of the Architect's philosophy...the Guggenheim in Bilbao feels sensual almost in a sexual way, like an explosive orgasm that's ripe and fecund and life affirming...can't say if that particular quality is a reflection of Gehry's philosophy, but there is this enormous feeling of just letting go of all previous thought...the details such as the processional steps being exactly the wrong distance apart for graceful descent and ascent can be brushed aside by the sheer magic of the place...its totally self referential...but in a really good way...and having said that...even though the building brings a lot of attention to itself...it still knits in well with the rest of the urban environment...the curvature of the River Nevion is repeated in the curvature of the front of the building and the Puente de la Salve Bridge serves as a serious backbone to the whole composition without distracting the Architecture. Processional steps to the north and south serve to connect the rest of the streetscape to the museum and one can see in the 'Bilbao effect' in full force in the surrounding area, which has and still is enjoying an urban renaissance. This aspect of the building really sold me, because I was not expecting a self referential building to blend in with the rest of the urban drama.

University of Miami School of Architecture show: Frank lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College

2009-10-07T21:19:00.003-04:00

The University of Miami School of Architecture hosted my show of Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College and runs through October 11th. This is the second stop for this particular show, the first being at Charles Cowles Gallery in New York over the summer and other photos from the series being included in the vast Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward show both at the Guggenheim in New York and upcoming on October 22nd, the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

The Gallery and adjacent lecture hall were designed by Architect Leon Krier and make for a very functional dual purpose facility. The lecture hall next door was a delight to give a lecture in and it was great to have the exhibition reception immediately after in the gallery. The photos are 30 X 40 and were sponsored by the world monuments fund who placed Florida Southern College on their 2008 watch list. The show asks the question...if we lose our cultural heritage, where do we find our bearings? Preserving fine Architecture from the past enables us to clearly see where we have been and points the direction forward. Wright's philosophy of Organic Architecture has never been so prescient as it is now and his fusion of Nature and Architecture are powerful forces that can shape the world to come in a very positive and healthy environmental direction.

Frank Lloyd Wright and Florida Southern College Exhibition at University of Miami

2009-09-28T11:19:00.005-04:00

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Photo above shows Frank Lloyd Wright's Pfeiffer Chapel (1938-41) on the left and its smaller cousin The Danforth Chapel (1955) on the right. This photo will be included in the upcoming lecture I'm giving on Wednesday night, September 30th at the University of Miami school of Architecture. Free and open to the public, there will also be an exhibition of 16 large format photos in the gallery next door and a reception afterwards...The exhibition intends to focus attention upon the urgent need for renovation and restoration of the

largest group of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in one location at Florida Southern College, Lakeland Florida. The college has made significant steps toward campus renovation with the restoration of Wright's iconic waterdome...see photo below.

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim

2009-09-15T12:27:00.006-04:00

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Give ten photographers the same assignment and they all come back with something different...sometimes it hard to photograph an Icon such as the Guggenheim because one has a tendency to think that its all been done before...however, I'm of the opinion that Architecture is new every day and is affected by weather, people, seasons and how one views it. The late, great Choreographer Merce Cunningham saw Dance in this way and always managed to find something new every day, even though he had done the same task many times before. Its this attitude I try to bring to my photography, especially when the greats of my profession have already cemented the 'standard iconic photo'...think Ezra Stoller's photo of the Guggenheim for instance and its the classic view looking up at the spiralling vortex of the interior. I've shot that view too, but last time I was in New York I was fortunate enough to have some of my photos featured in the Frank Lloyd Wight exhibit and I got to spend a lot of time circumnavigating Wright's masterpiece and on my way out of the ground floor lecture room I looked up and saw this view above, which I hadn't seen before. Not your typical Architectural photo, and one that pays attention to circular geometry and sculpture as opposed to form and function. Now underneath is something a bit more typical...showing streetlife, the Charles Gwathmey (R.I.P) addition and the view toward midtown showing the Empire State Building...deliberately taken as a quick street photo, this engages the viewer into the context of the Urban Environment in a realistic manner that is not posed, set up or art directed in any way. One would certainly not park a black SUV in front of the building if one was trying to shoot the perfect Architectural Photo....but that's not what this is about...its literally a snapshot of streetlife and how people interact with Architecture without artifice. Both photos I thnk have value but for differe=nt reasons. One is aesthetic and the other tells a story...in order to understand a work of Architecture I believe one needs a both...a series of photos that point out both the Geometric sensibilities, the flow of space and the context of the Architecture within the urban environment.

When Morris went Mies

2009-09-09T14:28:00.004-04:00

The Crystal House. Architect Morris Lapidus 1960 Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Morris Lapidus, the famed Miami Beach Architect was well known for his woggles, beanpoles and cheeseholes. He was the opposite of Mies Van der Rohe and even titled his autobiography 'Too much is never enough' as a critique to Mies's famous 'less is more' line. Morris's wild imagination, and eclectic creativity held him outside the reigning paradigm in Architecture when he designed the fontainebleau hotel in 1954. Derided by critics as 'schlock architecture', Morris spent much of the rest of his career designing brilliant buildings that were despised by many of his peers. Still, Morris kept on designing and kept on creating, eventually finding himself as the poster child for a new kind of Architecture that celebrated 'out of the box' thinking. Still Morris himself was a sometime pragmatist and the photo above gives the living proof. At first glance one could take a look at the Crystal House and see a widened north shore apartment building evoking Mies Van Der Rohe's famous rectangular masterpieces in Chicago...and indeed the building is square and very much a box. Still, on closer inpection, one can see Morris's flair on either side of the Porte Corchere there are his famous cheese holes and the porte corchere itself certainly holds no similarity to Mies's elegant and simple open box porte corchere's. Its a building with a strong sense of contradiction, fine scaling and detailed mid century modern architectural manouevres that only Lapidus could have conjured up. The building loves to be photographed dead on in strong afternoon sunlight and black and white renders the whole thing a somewhat 'iconic' air.

Tracy and Alonso Mourning Senior High School by Arquitectonica

2009-09-02T15:40:00.003-04:00

This brand new high school in Miami Dade County finds Arquitectonica in top form. The facade is a repeating geometric pattern that is striking and sculptural, making itself a perfect candidate for a black and white photograph.

Cover photo for Home Miami

2009-08-31T14:56:00.003-04:00

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Eva Zeisel's Town and Country cruet and stopper formed the subject of my recent cover photo for Home Miami. The 102 year old designer was interviewed for the magazine and is something of a legend in the design field. Originally from Hungary her philosophy remains unchanged: playfulness leads to beauty...something I try to emulate in my photography and wise advice for any creative.

Next Stop Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

2009-08-28T16:11:00.002-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pfeiffer Chapel at Florida Southern College 1938-41
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

This photo is one of a series of photos that will soon be showing at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward exhibition which just closed at New York's Guggenheim and was the best attended show in the history of the Museum. The show in Bilbao at the other Frank's building opens on October 23rd. I haven't been to Bilbao since 1970 when General Franco was still in power! But I'm hoping to go for the opening and get close up with Gehry's Masterpiece. (if that's the right word?) That's the essential conundrum in appreciating Architecture...loving it from a distance through Photographs and heresay just isn't good enough to establish a firm opinion and appreciation of a work of Architecture. One has to get up close and smell the materials, hear the echoes, assault the scaffolding, touch the vacuum, see the form, taste the space, and sense the mystery. Therefore one can be bold in stating that any Architecture competition judged solely through photographs and plans is actually a fabrication of experiential truth. For it is experience through one's senses (all of them) that brings us into contact with the essence of a space. Just because a building is photogenic doesn't mean its a good building...its just a signpost along the way. Hence I'm living the contradiction of an Architectural Photographer working in the visual realm and trying to gauge the essence of a building whilst at the same time knowing that that alone can never be enough.
Gehry's Guggenheim sure looks good, but I don't know how the flow of space occurs and I can't judge from a photograph how well it functions as an art museum. Still, I have high expectations and hope to get an insight into the mind of the Architect. The last time I met Gehry in person was in the elevator at the Guggenheim for the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright show. For some time I've had a photograph of Gehry's IAC building printed on the back of my business card and I knew that this was an opportunity I couln't afford to miss. A hesitant hand went into my pocket, retrieved the Frank Lloyd Wright designed business card holder (given to me by my sister in law, Dawn Bosco) and handed it over to FRANK. I said "Mr. Gehry I have your building on my business card"...He almost smiled at me...didn't say a word and put it in his pocket...enough said...

Frank Lloyd Wright, Organic Architecture and a seven year photographic odyssey

2009-05-20T00:48:00.003-04:00

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

Wright's only built planetarium is this one at Florida Southern College in the Polk County Science Building. Currently showing at the Guggenheim as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward show is a model of the unbuilt planetarium at sugarloaf mountain in Maryland. They could not be more different. Wright's design in Maryland is very much a precursor to the eventual design of the Guggenheim...spiralling upward like a coiled serpent....here in Lakeland, Florida you can see Wright's philosophy of Organic Arcitecture at work. Note how the building hugs the hill...or is it the hill hugging the building? Note how the falling shadows from the opened esplanades fall gracefully across the face of the main building echoing the descent of the local geology. Wright was way ahead of his time and perhaps could not have envisaged global warming, but his designs are teaching us to create Architecture that it as one with the natural environment. Currently my photos of Florida Southern College...which Wright called 'Child of the Sun' are on display both as part of the Guggenheim's From within outward show and at the Charles Cowles Gallery in Chelsea through Saturday May 23rd. These two shows are the result of a seven year project, which either means I'm somewhat crazy or that I'm really a bloody minded Englishman brought up on way too much of Winston Churchill's philsophy of never, ever, ever giving up. But I'm quite proud of the resulting photos and they focus on the beauty of Wright's aesthetic as opposed to concentrating on the parts that are falling apart...and falling apart they are...thankfully the college is raising funds to save these babies..and its my intention that the photos serve as a catalyst for more investment in the preservation of Wright's largest collection of buildings in one location thereby sustaining our priceless cultural heritage. Focussing on the positive aspects of the design ws a conscious choice to capture people's imagination and to show what could be lost without urgent intervention...its a tall task and the funds needed are in the region of $50 miilion...which currently I don't have in my wallet...but there are organizations that do...and there have been heroic efforts on the part of the college to raise funds through Save Americas Treasures/The Getty Foundation and the support of the World Monuments Fund...to start the process of preservation and renovation. To be continued....

when Architectural Photography and fine art collide

2009-05-08T22:43:00.002-04:00

Carillon Hotel Photo by Robin Hill (c)

Architectural Photography is often a commercial venture with the photos being used to promote an Architect, a developer or a hotel chain. Its part of the chain of commerce that binds capitalism together...one tiny cog in a seemingly gargantuan wheel. I've always tried to bring a certain artistic sensibility to my profession and to partner with those clients that appreciate my point of view. But I certainly wouldn't classify most of what I do as fine art...at least not in the 'narrow' version of what art is...however...opportunites do arise to express myself and sometimes that threshold is crossed as is the case with this photo, which has sold several times 5/9 in the 30 x 40 version. Architects tend to enjoy the photo. The exo skeleton was being renovated and the masonry net was blowing heftily to one side in a brisk breeze that blew north to south down Collins Avenue in Miami Beach and shifted the netting all the way over and as luck would have it...it was 6.30 pm...prime time golden hour and the whole thing just illuminated in this gorgeous golden light. I shot about 30 frames on Fuji color negative film...then had it drum scanned and mounted behind plexi. The owner, Eric Sheppard bought two, plus a huge 40 X 60 to go in the sales office and my mentor and friend visionary editor John O' Connor was brave enough to place it on the front cover of his magazine...Home Miami...one of the best magazines dealing with Architecture and Design...now edited by Beth Dunlop...and doing a fine job too...The Carillon Hotel was hotel of the year in 1957 and was designed by famed MiMo architect, Norman Giller....a true gentleman....the curtain wall has overtures of Gordon Bunshaft's Lever House or Mies Van Der Rohe's Seagram building...but the folded canopy at the bottom is a flourish that neither of those Architects would ever dare employ...The whole thing has now been transformed into Canyon Ranch Miami Beach and redesigned by Arquitectonica.

Child of the Sun Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College Photography by Robin Hill

2009-05-07T09:35:00.006-04:00

May sees two shows in New York of my photos from Florida Southern College. One at the Charles Cowles gallery in Chelsea...May 19-23, kindly supported by the World Monuments Fund and the other as part of the Guggenheim's historic show: Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward. This photo is of Wright's only planetarium at Florida Southern College...its also a photo that reveals Wright's philosophy of organic architecture. Note how the Architecture fits snugly into the hillside. I also love his understanding of light and shadow...note how the shadows from the Esplanade overhang fall diagonally across the walls of the Planetarium...Wright's Architecture still inspires and has a lot to teach modern day architects.

Click here for more information on the upcoming shows. http://www.azuremagazine.com/newsviews/blog_content.php?id=1230 and also here

http://www.thearchitectmall.com/article/10031_1_Robin-Hill.html

This photo features Wright's masterful use of stained glass in a modern context at the Danforth Chapel 1955.

Note also the repeating chevrons that front the altar that are a repeated motif throughout the campus.

Photos by Robin Hill (c)

Cheeseholes

2009-04-04T17:57:00.012-04:00

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

4pm, september 20th, 2000. Miami Beach. Union Planters Bank. Cobalt blue sky. Circular concrete masonry otherwise known as 'cheeseholes'. A Morris Lapidis invention adapted by Architect Francis Hoffman for this 1958 masterpiece. Also known as a brise-soleil. Perfect pattern of light and shadow thrown onto blank white wall on left of photo. Middle bottom of photo is a blue 'splodge' that is the logo for a paint shop on the other side of the road. Canon 20mm 2.8 on Eos-3 body. Fuji Velvia film. Photo used worldwide to promote 'MiMo' or Miami Modern Architecture and its preservation. Most famously used on the first Art Basel Miami Beach souvenir program as the front cover...flipped to vertical...chosen by Sam Keller. Appeared in numerous shows at the Municipal Art Society, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale and initially at the first MiMo show at the Seymour Hotel in Miami Beach. World famous pop artist Romero Britto was the first person to own this piece as a fine art photo.

'Child of the Sun' Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College Photography by Robin Hill

2009-03-23T20:36:00.004-04:00

Two exciting shows coming up in New York which both feature my photos of Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College; (the campus is known as 'Child of the Sun' because of FLLW's ruse...'Out of the ground and into the light...A Child of the Sun'...a reference to his philosophy of organic Architecture) The first show is at Wright's masterpiece...the Guggenheim, a rotunda of such Architectural amplitude that its hard to overstate its flourish with glory. The show is called Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward and you can read the full press release here:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/press-releases/2658-flwrelease
Featuring many of Wright's projects, I'm delighted that Florida Southern is included in this exhibition because it has been so overlooked in the past, and now its time for its day in the sun.
Its a little bizarre that Florida Southern has not been given more attention, since it is the world's largest collection of FLLW buildings in one location, plus with its ten buildings and interconnecting esplanades...its as close as the great architect ever got to fulfilling his dream of 'Broadacre City'....I would argue that Florida Southern far from being peripheral to the Wright legacy is actually central to his philosophy and in fact has Architecture that holds its own against Fallingwater and the Johnson Wax Building. To see photos please go here:
http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=113117&AT=3

Many of these photos will be included in the second exhibit in New York which is generously sponsored by the World Monuments Fund (Florida Southern is on the top 100 endangered site list of the World Monuments Fund) and is hosted at the Charles Cowles Gallery in Chelsea from May 19-23rd. Over the last seven years, I have made numerous visits to the campus in the hope that these photos will help to inspire the renovation and preservation of this amazing collection of under rated FLLW buildings. Momentum seems to be gaining ground too, as the College just received $350,000 from the save America's treasures fund...and last year the magnificent new waterdome was added as well as a full and successful renovation of the esplanades. The total cost of renovation is put at around $50 million. The president Dr.Ann Kerr and PR director Lee Mayhall have added much needed dynamism to the preservation effort and fans of inspiring Architecture everywhere should be cheering them on. Much needs to be done, but with changing attitudes in Washington and 'spade ready' projects like Florida Southern ready for a quick stimulus...things are looking up.
Now a note about the photography...Instead of focussing my lens on the decrepitude of the buildings, I chose to focus on the essence of Wright's Architecture...the interplay of light and shadow coupled with color and powerful geometric designs and open flowing space...in the hope that when people recognize the inherent aesthetic beauty in the Architecture that they will be empowered to visit the campus and help to spread the word about its possible brush with annihilation through preservational neglect. I was fortunate in using a similar philosophy when shooting MiMo or MIami MOdern Architecture here in South Florida and its been my experience that focussing on the positive aspects of preservation is the best way to go to get people's imaginations stirring.

coppertone girl miami

2009-03-15T12:05:00.002-04:00

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

The Coppertone Girl...an icon of Miami and a splendid piece of saved commercial archaeology, here seen standing up on her new home on Biscayne Boulevard in the heart of the MiMo district. Above her sits a very unusual conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter which were closer than at anytime in the last God knows how many years....Whilst making this photo, I saw another photographer up on a building about half a block north of this point and though he was waving...I couldn't make out who it was...but I was thinking...I wish I had thought of his position with its views of downtown Miami....next day I get an e-mail from Miami Herald Photographer John Van Beekum whom I've known for some time and he said it was him up there and he got a great shot of the coppertone girl and biscayne boulevard...I pondered John's adveturours spirit by getting on the roof and was reminded that photography is such an awesome way to indulge in individual expression...give ten photographers the same assignment and they all come back with something different...

On the beach

2009-03-10T09:07:00.004-04:00

On the beach part one.

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

The first in a new series of fine art photos featuring my adopted hometown's beach, Miami Beach. I try to go to the beach every day...its a cathartic release from the world of professional photography. Soaking in the prana, its still a primordial space that is mostly empty...a useful metaphor for meditation. A place that can lull you into a state of bliss without any great effort. It just requires a sort of non effort. I enjoy the minimalist elements that comprise the beach's Architecture. Here at around 8th street there are a series of poles that seem to be left over from a volleyball court. They just stand there like beanpoles, almost folly like, pronouncing their 'I' ness with a certain aplomb. Simplicity would like to reign in my consciousness and making this series of photos is an attempt to get at a singularity, a non dual aspect of creation, which when you're a Gemini with fifteen major conflicts is quite a task! Still. I am indelibly attracted to my minimalist art heroes...Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Dan Flavin and Sol DeWitt. There's also in Architecture Mies Van Der Rohe, John Pawson, Tadao Ando and Philip Johnson's Glass House.

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

The Glass house seen from an extreme angle. I love the white steps, broad and shallow...a very appealing entry into the house.

This photo was taken at the height of the Fall season and on a cloudy day, the effect was painterly and the colors reminded me

of Shakespeare's 'pale complexion dimmed'.

Photo by Robin Hill (c)

And here's a Dan Flavin installation at The Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth designed by a minimalsit Architect, Tadao Ando. This museum is a masterpiece, sitting right next door to Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum, which is also a masterpiece. How many places have two Architectural masterpieces next door to each other? Philip Johnson's Amon Carter Museum sits above these two in Fort Worth and its OK, but not in the same league as these two.

canon 5D and other camera stories

2009-03-06T10:18:00.003-05:00

Like many professional photographers, I often get asked from students, aspiring amateurs and interested observers, what equipment do I use and what equipment should I purchase. I'm virtually never asked the important questions....where do you find your inspiration? Where does your creativity come from? What really makes you tick? My inherent 'Englishness' forces a polite answer, as I grimace inside and try not to YAWN! Still, I have sympathy for the camera questioner, because when I was starting out, I asked the same questions. In fact I remember very clearly hitch hiking from Sheffield to London on the A1 and being picked up by Dodd Miller, who at the time was a successful freelance photojournalist working for newspapers on Fleet Street. I had my first SLR with me, which was a Minolta X-300 with a beautiful 50mm 1.8 Minolta Rokkor lens...still one of my all time favorite lenses, and I said to Dodd....'Hey, I really want to be a professional photographer', as I held up my prized Minolta...'What do you think of this camera'....Dodd was half way polite, but the irk in his face registered, but he did tell me that this was an OK camera to start with, but if I was serious I would probably need at least two camera bodies, several lenses and more robust cameras. So there it was...but what really stuck in my mind from this two hour car journey was the life he was leading...lots of variety, different people, different locations, different creative problems to solve...and a sense of purpose in that the photos he was making actually were being seen by lots and lots of people...I liked that idea and from then on my mind was made up and nothing was going to stop me from becoming a Professional Photographer and turns out that 25 years later, I'm still shooting. I've had many different cameras throughout this time and for many years I was a Nikon man...I LOVED my F3, which had the most beautiful shutter release, which was definitive but cautiously optimistic at the same time. I also loved my Nikon 8008s. I had a Nikon FM2 and a Nikon F...but these both left me unimpressed...I used many Leica M4-ps, which had the most astounding lenses and Mamiya 645's which were built not much better than a skoda from the old Eastern bloc countries...but the lenses were sublime...I also shot with Hasselbald's both the 500CM and the super wide with an incredible biogon 38mm lens...stupendous....I also had a couple of Pentax 6X7's which I also loved, but the lenses were not as sharp as the Mamiya's or the Carl Zeiss lenses on the 'blad'....For a while I used the Hasselblad 35mm panoramic camera, which was like a Leica on steroids.....but the biggest moment of truth came on July 14th, 2001 whilst on assignment in French St.Martin. July 14th is Bastille Day and a day of celebration...so I'm in Marigot making photographs for a magazine article and see some boats in the harbour that look colorful and photogenic. On my shoulder in my hardscrabble Domke bag are two Nikon SLR's, a 35-70 2.8 Nikkor, 300 mm F4 Nikkor, 105 2.8 Nikkor, Flash, 180 2.8 Nikkor and 20-25 2.8 Nikkor, plus I had my Hasselblad superwide tucked in there. This was quite a bit more equipment than I was used to carrying, but my client had requested both 35mm and 6X6 medium format slides. As I start to photograph the boats, I see through my 300mm F4, some boys playfully jumping into the harbour...so I start to shoot them and I'm in the middle of thinking...'WOW' these are going to really great shots for this story, when BAM....KAPUT.....HOLY CRAP.....OH NO.....THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING....I am pushed unceremoniously into the harbour with ALL my equipment in tow! Whilst in mid air I felt like Bugs Bunny running off the end of a cliff with legs still running frantically before the fall...the 'hang time' seemed to last ages before the inevitable crash into the sea. Being a good swimmer and a lifeguard saved my British ass, as I surfaced and tread water looking incredulously up at least a dozen youthful faces bathed in their accomplishment. Oh holy crapola! I swim to the jetty side and climb up the rusty ladder, and there is not a pretty scene to be had. They think its half way funny...which it is...but they've also just cost me $25,000 in I'm sad to say uninsured camera equipment. I'm in shock and start to shout 'What the %$#@!****&^ did you just do' and as the rant starts to turn to a rave, they rush me and throw me right back into the water!!!!! This time there is no 'hang time' its just a nosedive straight to the bottom and now i know I'm
completely *&^%^&*^%$^&*(&*&^%!!!!! In a moment of clarity, I realize I have a choice. Its either Rambo or Gandhi...there are at least a dozen youths between the ages of 14 and 18...I have no skills in self defence...its been 22 years since I was in any kind of fist fight...the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against me...I climb up same old rusty ladder again....and as I come out looking like a defeated and utterly soaked loser....I look around at my foe and I know.....'I;m sorry you did this, this is how I make a living'....They are gathered right in front of me and the atmosphere is has now turned from practical joke status to seriously menacing...there's blood in the air and I can smell it...I take a deep conscious breath...hold my head up, straighten my posture, and walk straight into the thick of the fire...but then an odd thing happened...the shouting quietened down and a hush fell around and a way parted in front of my steps and just as Moses parted the Red Sea...I strolled through that baying audience and walked off into the distance and became a Canon man.
This experience was my own personal 9/11 and in fact it took place in 2001, just a few weeks before that dreadful day. I realized many important lessons, not the least of which is to insure your equipment! But more importantly, I had come to the end of my career as a travel photographer..I had a few assignments left to complete in this genre...so I rented some Canon equipment and used that for those jobs. 9/11 was the nail in the coffin because most of my travel clients were in flight magazines...especially American Way for whom I had shot dozens of stories in the previous two years. Fortunately I had fallen in love with Architecture in the year 2000, so a transition was already underway and I've been pursuing that ever since. I now have a digital SLR, the magical Canon 5D, which holds the prize as my favorite paintbrush of all time. Light and powerful, it sits perfectly in the palm of my hand. Now if it was just waterproof!

Stuart Geller of The Geller Design Group: master of interior design

2009-03-05T15:45:00.005-05:00

Recently I had the great pleasure of working with one of the Design world's true gentleman, Stuart Geller of the Geller Design Group. Whilst most of my interior design work had been with modernist designers, this was an opportunity to work with a master of more traditional design and I found the experience both educational and creative. To the left is the exquisite dining room area with a view beyond to the living room. Colors are well coordinated throughout and an intelligent lighting system allows the atmosphere to glow. We combined some of our own lighting in this photo and shot at dusk, which added some nice evocative colors to the scene. The design is comfortable, soft and elegant and very livable. Excellent attention to detail and hand picked furniture make for a mellifluous interaction between different design elements.

Here's another view of the main living space, photographed about an hour earlier than the previous photo. Warm colors generate a pleasing color palette that has a soothing quality. This is not a machine for living but a temple to comfort and livability.

I worked with Stuart for two days on this shoot and his input was both incisive and helpful. I find this interaction with the designer most refreshing and the photos end up being more design informed because of it.

And here's Stuart. His website is http://www.stuartgeller.com/

miami photography

2009-03-04T10:37:00.002-05:00

Ocean Drive Classic photo by robin hill (c)

Classic miami photos are hard to come by. Trying to sum up a place within a single photo can be a tricky business, but in my former incarnation as a travel photographer, that was usually the gig...to find a sense of place...and this photo that you see to the left taps into all the cliches of Miami Beach especially from Miami Vice and has found itself on posters, backs of buses, numerous magazines articles, TV ads etc. etc. This photo could not be taken anywhere else except Miami Beach...sounds like a really obvious point, but the entire concept of sense of place is tied up in that simple fact. Thanks to the awesome efforts of the Art Deco Historic Preservation effort spearheaded by Barbara Capitman...sense of place will always be around Miami Beach. Miami photos such as these linger in the mind bringing thoughts of seduction and liberal awakening to the decadent side of life. Much of my photography has become synonomous with my adopted home town. Its a fun place to shoot...the light is magical...clear and bright in the winter...moody and atmospheric in the summer. Plus the place shows an intriguing lineage of Modernism through the 20th century, much as Los Angeles does. From early Mediterranean revival through Art Deco and Streamline Moderne and onto MiMo or MIami MOdern, a brief interlude with Brutalism and then onto post modernism and tropical modernism and then beyond to today's global Architecture.

where does the poet end and the architect begin

2009-03-02T20:08:00.002-05:00

'I believe truth to be our organic divinity'....lush thoughts from Frank Lloyd Wright. 'Colors you can hear with ears'...Marcel Breuer's incomparable ode to sensory perception and the art of Architecture. Santiago Calatrava refers to his Architecture as 'the poetics of structure' and on top of Philip Johnson's Lincoln Kirstein sculpture are the words 'the stone that was discarded has become the keystone'. Chichen Itza is sometimes referred to as a 'poem in stone' and Pablo Neruda refers to Macchu Pichu as 'high reef of the human dawn'. Hence it would seem Architecture has the power to move great minds to lyrical thought. And why not? Architecture at its best is both a flow of poetry and a frozen music. Its essence belongs to the sacred and its deepest roots are cut into the Earth and has shaped our imaginations for eons upon eons. The Pyramids rise heavenward and still inspire. Stonehenge tilts on its axis and revolves around its own sun to create portals for modern day mystics. Chartres Cathedral claims sacred geometry as its God and Poets are buried in Westminster Cathedral. Its too easy to dismiss Architecture as a purely commercial venture, a country road for the wealthy to explore...but its organic truth lies in its power to transform imagination and inspire the human to communicate with the divine.
I am deeply grateful to those Architects that have inspired my own life. Being silent in a Frank Lloyd Wright Chapel is a profound experience. Listening to the choir fill the atmosphere in Lincoln Cathedral is a mezmerizing sensory perception. Plodding my way down Morris Lapidus's famed stairway to nowhere is an exercise in beautiful decadence that entertains the soul. Measuring the geometry of neolithic stone circles on the moors in Derbyshire purifies the mind.
The poetry in Architecture never ends...its an ongoing baptism into the mystical causing poetry to flow.

Absurdity and joy in Architectural photography

2009-02-28T19:49:00.003-05:00

Photography....the voyeur's paintbrush and the nemesis of truth, but also the provider of visual identity and the creator of greater fictions than words. When I look at the 'masters' of my particlar field, which in its current incarnation is Architectural Photography...the names that immediately spring to mind are: Balthazar Korab, Ezra Stoller, Julius Shulman and Hedrich-Blessing and that body of work leads me to the conclusion that they were all trying to impress their clients...and in a commercial sense of attempting to prosper in business, there is nothing wrong with this...in fact I do the same thing myself every commercial photo shoot I undertake. But the difficulty here is that Architectural Photography by trying to 'sell' Arcitecture is not really providing society with a true representation of what Architecture means. For example, I met a wonderful lady recently who had been born and raised in a house designed by Le Corbusier. When I mentioned to her that 'WOW' that must have neen an amazing experience she countered, 'quite the contary it was a cold, uninviting space that I hated'....hmmmm...i found that absolutely fascinating. Here we were talking about one of history's most revered Architects, whose house was a nightmare to live in! And part of that particular problem lies squarely with the Architectural Photographer and I include myself in this. Having had the amazing opportunity to photograph Le Corbusier's Villa La Savoye...actually its spelt La Savoie..but nobody seems to recognize that...I felt that I had entered into a temple of Modern Architecture...which was precisely my problem. People don't live in temples...they live in homes...not houses for which they have no emotional connection...but a home....and Corbusier's rigor and poetics of structure did nothing to help create an emotional context for the space...but it sure photographed well!
Here's the difficulty...because Photography is a very powerful communicator...especially when one thnks of classic Ezra Stoller photos of Fallingwater or Shulman's equally classic photos of Neutra's Kaufmann house...these photographs are inherently beautiful, BUT they do not ask the question...'what is it like to actually live in one of these Architectural masterpieces?' We then can move on to such magazines as Architectural Digest/Florida design/LUXE or House Beautiful...here one can see the prevalence of 'perfect' Architectural photography in 'perfect' Architectural environments...whilst one can appreciate the technical aspects of both the photography and the architectural design...does anybody actually live like that? In my experience of photographing high end houses...yes, some people do....but these places are generally lacking in soul, life and creative mess. The organs of spontaneous life. So, I am captured by my profession of pleasing the client and showing an Architectural place in literally its very best light, whilst betraying society in selling something that can almost never be that perfect. What to do?

Earth Art: Collision of Architecture, Design, Sacred geometry and Photography on a Miami Beach

2009-02-27T12:21:00.002-05:00

Photograph and Earth Art by Robin Hill (c)

I'm a big fan of this spaceship earth and our stewardship of this precious place is a continuous source of inspiration and angst. I also love the Earth Art movement and artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, James Turrell and Michael Heizer. (who has a terrific piece at the Margulies collection here in Miami) Every full moon I trek over to the beach to a geomantic nodal point and create a native american Medicine wheel honoring the four elements of Fire, Earth, Air and Water and the fifth element of Consciousness represented in the middle by a either a sacred staff or sometimes a not so sacred but equally portentous, photographer's unipod. A group of friends meet and we meditate taking in the sublime atmosphere and finding communion with Nature...The diameter of the circle is set in direct proportion to the inner circle at Stonehenge, which in turn is set in direct proportion to the diagonal of the great pyramid, which in turn is in direct proportion to the circumference of said spaceship earth. Its all deeply profound and weirdly wonderful to be a 'guest' here on the spacehip and this monthly ritual is an ideal way to celebrate our ancestors wisdom and our current incarnation as stewards. Plus I get to indulge in my favorite artistic passions bringing together Photography, Architecture and sacred Geometry, whilst at the same time finding some peace and joy amidst the sometimes overwhelming negativity of the collective consciousness or should i say collective unconsciousness. Whilst I'm building the circle, many people ask me what I'm doing and is this a religious 'thing'. My answer is that no its not religious in the typical sense, but at its essence...yes it is, because the root of the word comes from the latin 'religio' meaning to bind together or to reconnect..so this is a binding between human and nature, which ultimately are one and the same thing being all part of the soup of energy in the universe's own casserole..:)

Downtown Miami and Icon Brickell

2009-01-30T12:53:00.007-05:00

Downtown Miami is evolving with some spectacular projects going up including The Related Group's Icon Brickell with Architecture designed by Arquitectonica. Seen here from across the Miami River, three towers very much in the spirit of Le Corbusier rise dramatically against a magenta sky. On the right hand side is another Related Group/Arquitectonica project called 500 Brickell, with the oculus at the top which joins the two towers together.
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Here's another view of Icon Brickell taken from Brickell Key.

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

This view evokes the spirit of the United nations Building in New York.

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

are we shadows of each other?

2009-01-29T12:53:00.006-05:00

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

In the flood plain of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire, some barrels of hay had been harvested and the sun was going down, so I asked my nephew Jo Barnard to dance in front of the sun thereby creating the shadows you see here. I ended up using this in an exhibition that first appeared at Britto Central in Miami Beach, called Song of Light Dance of Shadow...a title that I both love and loathe. Leonard Cohen would have entitled it:
Songs of love and hate...and I know what he means, but the Song of Light part had to be, because it resonates with the song I wrote to accompany the exhibition performed by HereIIHere which you can hear, here:
http://www.hereiihere.com/freesongs/Birth%20of%20Freedom%20(short%20intro).mp3
The other photos appearing in the exhibition can be seen by clicking here:
http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=200255&AT=3
The words to the song appear under each photograph, so you might want to open both the song and the slide show at the same time to get a taste of the whole experience.
The photographs in this collection are all very personal, featuring my family, friends, sacred places I've visited and photos that have a significance beyond their immediate visual communication. Telling the story of the inner life of an artist, tackling both life's shadows and realizations...this was my attempt to convey my journey.
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

I was shooting at Joshua Tree National Monument with Anton Corbijn's classic photos of U2 dancing in my head. I found the best way to resonate with my surroundings was to strip naked and lay myself down amidst the rattle snakes and Joshua trees. Its a very powerful experience to let yourself go in nature. I wrote the caption for this photo at the time which read 'I will lie down in the womb of Mother Earth and surrender unto her my solitary vessel'. I stayed there for most of the day and then meditated as the sun went down and the stars appeared...all alone in blissful solitude. As I sit here in my office in Miami Beach divorced from that experience, I notice that the breadth of my experience is able to take it all in...That experience has become a part of me, just as every other experience has...its just that sometimes the power of the moment and the amplitude of the location provide me with greater 'grist for the hill'

So, this is my favorite all time photo that I have made. That's my daughter, Grace..ten months old with bright pools for eyes, staring intently into my portrait lens. She's leaning over the shoulder of my friend, Linley who has just been in the ocean and then lay down in the sand, which has stuck onto his deep brown skin. I had been something of a fan of Herb Ritts and had gone to see one of his exhibitions at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale in 1994. As I looked around at the show, I said to myself that one day I would have a show at this museum. Little did I know that in July of 2005 that 47 of my own photos would be hanging in the same place! That show was called Going, Going, Gone? Mid century modern Architecture in South Florida. One could call this the power of visualization...a bit like when Tiger Woods envisions his golf shot before he takes the actual swing...In my experience I have found this to be a useful technique, but it is as much based on hard work and perseverance than anything mystical. Still the mystic inside me likes to play and indeed takes the driver's seat more often than I can fully comprehend.

Photography by Robin Hill (c)

cover photos by miami photographer

2009-01-28T10:30:00.007-05:00

Home Miami took a chance on my 'Dancing Carillon' photo, which captured a wind blown masonry net dancing across the international style lines of the Carillon Hotel designed by Norman Giller in 1957. Now its the Canyon Ranch Miami Beach redesigned by Arquitectonica. Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Philip Johnson's Glass House photographed in October 2006 with articles written by Hilary Lewis and Paul Goldberger.
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

Art Basel cover from 2002 showing my 'MiMo' photo of Francis Hoffman's 1958 Union Planters bank, together with Morris lapidus inspired 'cheeseholes' ...this photo was apparently chosen for the cover by Sam Keller, the then head of Art Basel.

The photo was shot as a horizontal, but flipped vertical to fit the cover.
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

photographer in Miami focusses on Preservation of modernism

2009-01-27T16:47:00.005-05:00

'Pfeiffer Chapel' Florida Southern College. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright

1938-41
Photography by Robin Hill (c)

We are the custodians of our cultural history and preserving the recent past is just as significant as preserving the ancient past. Knowing where we came from allows us to see the importance of cultural heritage and gives us inspiration for a better future.

The Pfeiffer Chapel shown here has just been awarded a save america's treasure grant to the tune of $350,000, which is a good start in saving one of Wright's finest but least famous works of Architecture. The entire campus at Florida Southern College is now placed on the World Monument's Fund watch list, as the masonry is crumbling and much work needs to be done to save the world's largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings in one place. He called it 'Child of the sun'...a poetic name to illustrate his philosophy of organic Architecture. 'Out of the ground, and into the light.... a child of the Sun'. Click here to see more photos of this blazingly brilliant work of Architetcure.
http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=110446&AT=3

I've also been involved with the preservation of MIami MOdern Architecture also known as MiMo...click here to see more examples of this Architecture.

http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=135829&AT=3

Many of these photos appear in the book MiMo:Miami Modern revealed published by Chronicle Books in 2004. You can purchase a copy of that book here

http://www.amazon.com/MiMo-Revealed-Eric-P-Nash/dp/0811842045/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233093803&sr=8-5

Impetus from this book and the various exhibitions that were undertaken at places like the Municipal Art Society and the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale resulted in historic districts being formed in the City of Miami and Miami Beach to try and preserve these cultural touchstones of Architecture for future generations to enjoy.

Here's the Vagabond Motel designed in 1953 by Robert Swartburg, who also designed the famed Delano Hotel. Note the neon signage and the delta winged pylon holding it up....inspired from the first delta winged jet aircraft the Convair XF-92A developed by the US Air Force from an original design by Germany's Dr. Alexander Lippisch during the 1930s. Note also the two repeating crucifix forms one caused by the shadow of road signage and the other by the signage itself...a somewhat ironic motif given the fact that the Vagabond Motel was a very aptly named place when this photo was taken in 2000...especially at 5.30 in the morning.

Photography by Robin Hill (c)
Registered at the Library of Congress

Eternity...its a serious issue, even when you think the sun won't rise.

2009-01-26T16:43:00.006-05:00

Original Artwork by Rashid Johnson at The Rubell Collection.
Photography by Robin Hill

What Gemini doesn't dream of a life lived in two places at the same time? Indeed, a life lived as two different personalities within the same soul could be very liberating, especially as one has eternity in which to be with oneself...so I like to ask both of my selves the question...what is eternity? How can anything so nebulous be so serious and yet so lacking in any true perspective, where can one stand in respect to eternity or sit down as the case may be? Art poses further questions...and answers only in whispers...that can be heard only if one is reflectively listening...
clutching to soaring ladders, one's creative side can take hold of eternity, shake it around a bit, knock it on its head, perceive through its achilles heel and hear the cold wind calling...and it has my name on its breath....Lo, I have reached the point of no return...vulnerability surfaces...the doors close sharp and armor burns bright. Still, I wonder how the sun rises and the phases of the moon occur...and I gently lean on my wisdom and shake my head and know that there are more things in heaven and earth horatio than are known in our philosophy!

Arquitectonica, Philippe Starck and Kelly Wearstler work their magic at Icon Brickell in Miami developed by The Related Group

2009-01-21T20:53:00.007-05:00

http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=201034&AT=3

Click the link above f0r a swirling dervish of an Architectural trip through the imaginations of Philippe Starck and Kelly Wearstler framed beautifully by Arquitectonica's pared down Corbusian slab of modernism evoking both the United Nations Building and parts of Oscar Neimeyer's Brazilia....and all overlooking the Miami River and Biscayne Bay. The project is an ostentatious mix of over the top Philippe Starck ideas and minimalist Architecture. You either love it or hate it...there's no in between...I fall firmly on the side of love....but I'm biased by the beatific opportunities to paint this canvas with my Canon camera. Easter Island Statues...98 of them, seemingly hold up Arquitectonica's ode to Corbu/Mies...then walk inside the lobby and one is greeted by more of the same, but interjected with dynamically placed underlit benches, faux fireplaces (In Miami!) and over the top exaggerated, nay hyperbolic furniture...one needs to be sober in such an environment...any excursion into an altered reality would certainly lead to either aesthetic paranoia or radical rapture. Whatever your taste...its something to behold...club 50...perched at the top of one of the towers marks Miami's emergence as the Manhattan of the South and should certainly be mentioned as Miami's Rainbow room....designed by Kelly Wearstler...its an amalgam of various colors and differing modalities of design, and it works effortlessly....as does her restaurant design in the Viceroy Hotel part of the project, where wild interacting colours of green and pink somehow combine to create an aesthetic wonderland. I had heard a lot about Ms. Wearstler's design before photographng them, but never realized that there's serious steak behind the sizzle. Add to that Philippe Starck's wild creativity and one has a photographer's playground that is just surreal.

whirlpool in zapata's pond

2009-01-18T11:00:00.002-05:00

Carlos Zapata is an intrigiung architect originally from Ecuador, now based in New York...He was hired to create an entrance monument to Lincoln Road in Miami Beach amidst the lavish mid century follies of Morris Lapidus. There is a reflecting pond that reaches deep into Lincoln Road from the monument, and city workers were cleaning out the pond early one morning when I was passing by. I had my Canon EOS camera fitted with a 100-400 zoom lens and used it at its maximum telephoto length to record the water swirling down a hole creating this whirlpool effect. The interplay of light and shadow is caused by the early morning sun reflecting off a nearby building.

This photo is one of my 'waterworks' series and more can be seen at www.robinhillfineart.com

miami photographer or prisoner to the sun

2009-01-15T21:25:00.004-05:00

Miami: City of reinvention...a place to become well, whoever you choose really. I first came to Miami in 1988 to board the Sovereign of the Seas, which at the time was the world's largest cruise ship...I was a cruise ship photographer and I would advise any sane person to give this profession the widest possible body swerve. We christened our ship the sovereign of the sleaze...a floating decadent palace of inebriated souls lurching toward the next port of call with no aplomb whatsoever. It was a full time love hate relationship with a life that was both excruciatingly monotonous and frighteningly intense. We were a crew of nine photographers (photogs) or to ourselves we were known as 'smudgers' for reasons I dare not get into. We were all from the United Kingdom and had all escaped that isle of eccentricity for reasons ranging from a longing for adventure to wanting to get away from the family to fleeing the class system...only to find ourselves in the midst of the world's most hierarchical social system, where thankfully we as staff members were located around the middle of the pecking order. One would enter this 'profession' as a number nine and try to work one's way through various cut throat techniques to become the number one or chief photographer. It was social darwinism on steroids. It was also by turn incredible fun and almost utterly redundant. Comradeship was intense...especially between the photogs... we were literally all in the same boat and got to know each other very well...one learned important lessons in trying to keep one's boundaries and would then let that slip after several long island ice teas ensured that everyone was actually in each other's pocket and there were actually no boundaries to speak of...except of course where you stood in the pecking order. In those days we all got paid in cash...much of which went on cameras/lenses and the bar bill. I went to St.Thomas 152 times on a wednesday, Puerto Rico 152 times on a Tuesday and Labadee 152 times on a Monday! I fell in love with Old San Juan, found spiritual discourse with my best friend, 'Rosco' and awoke to the realm of all possibilities in a secret garden near the university off of Calle San Francisco. Photography has been my career now for 21 years...and almost five of those years were spent at sea, collecting important life lessons, becoming the best I could be at the lowest end of the photography ladder...well it was actually a step up from my first job as a portrait photographer in London for an old outfit called Parasol studios, which shopped me off to various temporary studios in locations all across the city of London...trying to make babies smile in the midst of shopping season was a crime against creativity, but I got paid for taking photographs...and I wanted more than anything to be a professional photographer walking in the footsteps of my idol...George Rodger who was one of a handful of photographers to start the Magnum photo agency and was the first photographer to enter bergen-belsen and document the travesty of the holocaust...I also loved Don Mcullin's brooding work and saw Robert Mapplethorpe as a genius. I dreamed of being a travel photographer and shooting for National Geographic but was short on talent and confidence was an issue...both qualities that are needed to succeed in this business. But I had persistence and raw enthusiasm, little or no money, but a burning desire to live and experience life to the fullest. I was later to find out that these qualities would serve me well and that I could educate myself with technical aspects of the work....and talent came along when I started to really open up to the mystery of life and my imagination found new ways to express itself through poetry and the 'photographing' of that poetry to produce photos that somehow reflected my life's journey...especially my interior life which had become a rich playground of fervent creativity and sometimes miraculous synchronicity. Whenever I teach photography I tell my students that the most important thing is to love your subject matter. Its very hard to find the necessary enthusiasm to sustain a career in photography if you are not enthused by your chosen field. I'm fortunate that I found Architecture, which I have a deep appreciation for and feel strongly that it is a significant human endeavour which can have an enormous impact on the lives of people. I have found the field of Architects and Designers to be peopled with intriguing, hard working souls full of passion for their profession. I recognize how hard their profession is and count myself as very fortunate to be in the position to photograph their Architecture and Designs. I love the symbiotic relationship between Architecture and Photography and enjoy the interplay of light and shadow that the best architects integrate into their designs, which as a photographer is a blessing to play with. Architecture at its best has the power to uplift the soul, to bring about positive changes of perception and to integrate people harmoniously in space. Frank Lloyd Wright was a master at this aspect of Arcitecture, but so was Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe...all three understood the implications of space and the dynamic that occurs when people enter a space....When I visited Villa La Savoye a couple of years ago....the poetics of its structure just fell about me in waves of euphoria...I knew I was standing within the space of pure genius...there was a mathematical solidarity expressed between myself and the Architecture...something that I now understand is a sacred relationship that is codified in the very nature of the universe's all encompassing geometry. Couple this with a mastery of light and shadow and one has a temple for living as opposed to a machine for living. I was a prisoner of Corbu's world, but free to know that his genius had impacted me on an eternal plane that had set me free.

cover photo for Miami Modern Luxury Magazine

2009-01-14T09:44:00.002-05:00

This month's cover photo for Miami Modern Luxury was shot from The Related Group's newest development: Icon Brickell. Designed by Arquitectonica, with public spaces by Philippe Starck and Kelly Wearstler, the project is mammoth and fabulous offering gorgeous views over Miami and Biscayne Bay. Reflected in the tower on the right side is I.M Pei's Bank of America tower designed in 1987 and one of the world's finest works of corporate Architecture. Toward the bottom middle of the photo is the Miami river and just below that you can see Philippe Starck's folded screens and fireplace. My assistant and I had set up a whole array of Tungsten lights to light up the lower half of the photo and as I was about to shoot the lights crashed the electrical system, which remined me to always check the amperage of any location I'm shooting in. This oversight could have been a problem, but plan B quickly swung into operation and a double exposure rendered enough light to rescue the photo. Shot with a Canon DSLR and a 17-35 mm 2.8 L canon lens.

statue of liberty new york

2009-01-12T12:23:00.003-05:00

Bartholdi's statue is something to behold. Despite dozens of visits to New York I had never been to the statue of liberty...but she is so much more graceful in person than in photographs....her lines are beautifully drawn and momentous in their lucid geometries, wrapping around the lady like soft crinoline. My daughter, Grace was blown away and my wife Cindy...a native New Yorker...simply enchanted...she had never been before and the trip echoed her grandparents saga of coming through Ellis Island a hundred years ago...as a photographer its always a little daunting to photograph something that's iconic...coming up with 'something different' appears to be the order of the day...I chose to go with drama and black and white and a square format...the air was brilliantly clear and bitterly cold, but puffy white clouds passed urgently overhead and I waited for the right amount of cloud cover before releasing the shutter.

waterworks fine art photography

2009-01-06T21:47:00.005-05:00

'Waterworks #9' 40 x 60 lightjet photo mounted in plexiglass edition of nine. Photography by Robin Hill (c)

I've been working on a series of 'waterworks' photos for the last fifteen years. It started in 1994 in Hilton Head, South Carolina, when I rented a bright red Ford Ranger pick up truck for an assignment I was doing for a magazine. I had just picked up the truck when it started to rain and as i looked in the rear view mirror I saw these gorgeous drops of rain glued to the rear window. The drops picked up the bright red color of the truck and I remember shooting it clearly with my Nikon F3 and 35-70 2.8 zoom lens. One of the sharpest lenses I have ever owned. Still, I thought this looked more like a painting, so I shot it at a slowish shutter speed of 1/4 second hoping to introduce a little camera shake to shove it out of focus and render a more painterly effect. When this is blown up to eight feet wide from a 35mm velvia slide the effect is rather flattering. I've been fortunate enough to sell this piece 5 times. There are four left in the edition of nine. The eight feet wide version hangs in the Headquarters of Zelnick Media in Manhattan. This sale courtesy of Jane Krupp Design. There are more waterworks fine art photos on my fine art website at http://www.robinhillfineart.com/

'Waterworks #17' 60 x 106 polytych lightjet photos mounted in plexiglass edition of six. Photography by Robin Hill (c
The above polytych now hangs on the cruise liner "norwegian Sun' and is over ten feet wide. The orignal photo was shot of a reflection of the bow of a small fishing boat in Miami Beach.

'Where the heaven is love' 80 x 80. Four panels together in plexiglass. Photography by Robin Hill (c)

I've had a long standing interest in the sacred feminine and all her abundant gifts. This is one of them.

Most of my waterworks photos are made here in Miami or Miami Beach. The quality of the light lends itself well to refraction and reflection in the water, plus there is literally an ocean of the stuff here.

MiMo Mini

2009-01-03T14:29:00.002-05:00

I'm the proud owner of a new hot chocolate Mini Clubman S. My first car was a 1972 Mini Clubman that did 0-60 in 34 laborious seconds...but I loved it and it saw me through many adventures. The new one hits 0-60 in 6.7 seconds leaving me somewhat disorientated...talk about back to the future...anyhow..I love my new mini...the extended space is welcome and its gorgeous too and slips in well with my beloved MiMo Architecture...here nicely posed underneath the Bacardi Building's cube across the road from where my Mini came from...Braman Motors...so I've been looking for a name...and my daughter Grace likes Charlie...Charlie and the hot chocolate factory...starring mini mimo...now if we could just get hold of Minnie Driver...:) She could be wearing a mini skirt...so therefore she would be Minnie in a mini in a mini...mini to the power of 3. I can see Charlie getting heated up by such things.

A few years ago I used to to shoot photos for famed Pop artist Romero Britto (who gave me my first one man show...Thanks, Romero). Anyhow, the owner of Braman Motors is a certain Norman Braman...the well known Art Collector (who counts Jasper John's double flag and other modern masterpieces in his collection) and he commissioned Romero to paint one of the first production mini's in 2003...its still there in the showroom along with a poster for which i took the photo. I figured because of this surprising sychronicity that I was in the right place to buy my mini.

Architectural Photography in Miami

2009-01-02T15:04:00.005-05:00

Miami is a playground for the Architectural photographer, with new vistas from new developments opening up almost weekly. I was hired by the Related Group to shoot Icon Brickell, which sits at the intersection of the Miami River and Brickell Avenue in Downtown Miami. The Architecture is designed by Arquitectonica and the public spaces are designed by Philippe Starck. Its a fabulous place to shoot.

Here you can see the two story Spa area, with Starck's original designs complete with fireplace and chandelier.

There are 98 faux Easter Island statues within the complex...they are haunting, brutally contradictory to the Architecture and therefore quite enchanting and certainly memorable. Starck's Alice in Wonderland imagination has found an enormous canvas on which to paint his ideas at Icon Brickell...its like the Delano Hotel but on serious steroids

Prince Edward Island

2009-01-02T14:17:00.002-05:00

Prince Edward Island. The tidal coastline exhibits the most profound changes between low and high tide, leaving behind anomalous pieces of driftwood and as in this case, whole tree trunks. I used to shhot with a Hasselblad and spent many years perfecting the square format, yet when i went over to digital, I began to lose that auspicious geometry, so I started to play around again with the square format by cropping the sides of my photos in photoshop and I'm enjoying the process. This photo was made late in the evening of June 2008. The sun had set, but these ravishing clouds funneled out deep into the ocean beyond almost touching the surface of the sea. The light was really magical and mystical and memorable. Click here for a slide show of further photos from this delightful place.http://photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=133758&AT=3

Robin Hill Photography

Miami Modern Luxury Cover January 2012 by Robin Hill Photography

LUXE Magazine cover photo by Robin Hill

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The Bacardi Building Featured

Robin Hill Photography wins 'Architectural Photographer of the Year' award

Child of the Sun: Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College. Words and photos by Robin Hill

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern College: Child of the Sun Featured

Robin Hill

Words and photos on Arquitectonica's South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center by ArquitectonicaFeatured

On meeting Julius Shulman

Robin Hill Photography: Robin Hill's show Floyd on Lloyd featured in Miami artzine wriiten by Irene Sperber

Robin Hill's show Floyd on Lloyd featured in Miami artzine wriiten by Irene Sperber

Head for the Hill’s

Frank Lloyd Wright in Central Florida Highlands

The Evolution of Miami Architecture Photos by Robin Hill

Ocean Drive Miami Beach

Robin Hill's photo 'Glass House Dawn' is featured on Rizzoli's new book The Glass house

Robin Hill Photography: Robert Chambers produces public art masterpiece at Arquitectonica's brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

Robert Chambers produces public art masterpiece at Arquitectonica's brand new South Miami Dade Cultural Art Center

Robin Hill at Pecha Kucha Miami

MiMo and Beyond

Pecha Kucha Miami

Robin Hill Photography shoots cover for Landscape Architecture Magazine

MiMo at MOCA

art basel conversations

The Bilbao Experience 2

The Bilbao Experience

University of Miami School of Architecture show: Frank lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College

Frank Lloyd Wright and Florida Southern College Exhibition at University of Miami

Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim

When Morris went Mies

Tracy and Alonso Mourning Senior High School by Arquitectonica

Cover photo for Home Miami

Next Stop Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Frank Lloyd Wright, Organic Architecture and a seven year photographic odyssey

when Architectural Photography and fine art collide

Child of the Sun Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College Photography by Robin Hill

Cheeseholes

'Child of the Sun' Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College Photography by Robin Hill

coppertone girl miami

On the beach

canon 5D and other camera stories

Stuart Geller of The Geller Design Group: master of interior design

miami photography

where does the poet end and the architect begin

Absurdity and joy in Architectural photography

Earth Art: Collision of Architecture, Design, Sacred geometry and Photography on a Miami Beach

Downtown Miami and Icon Brickell

are we shadows of each other?

cover photos by miami photographer

photographer in Miami focusses on Preservation of modernism

Eternity...its a serious issue, even when you think the sun won't rise.

Arquitectonica, Philippe Starck and Kelly Wearstler work their magic at Icon Brickell in Miami developed by The Related Group

whirlpool in zapata's pond

miami photographer or prisoner to the sun

cover photo for Miami Modern Luxury Magazine

statue of liberty new york

waterworks fine art photography

MiMo Mini

Architectural Photography in Miami

Prince Edward Island

The Bacardi Building ^Featured

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern College: Child of the Sun ^Featured

South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center by Arquitectonica^Featured