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In 2012, the last available space at the National Mall was claimed, and construction broke ground to begin building the first national museum devoted solely to the documentation of African-American life history and culture. The project was completed in 2016 and made its much-anticipated debut this past September.
The structure, designed by David Adjaye, draws inspiration from ancestral roots of African-Americans living in the United States. From the three-tiered crowns used in the Yoruban art of West Africa to the bronze metal lattice that wraps around the building referencing the south’s African-American artisan’s intricate ironwork, the museum is an architectural feat to behold.
Initially, the Smithsonian Institute reached out to the “who’s who” of photographers and Wonderful Machine photographer, Brad Feinknopf, with his strong reputation, was on the short-list. However, after a couple of months of reviewing portfolio submissions, he was informed that they had made their decision to select a local photographer for the job, which is understandable.
He continued with his work, knowing that they had made their selection and the opportunity to shoot The National Museum of African American History & Culture had passed…or so he thought. Opening day was quickly approaching, and that’s when he was contacted by construction groups, Clark/Smoot/H.J. Russell, who jointly built the museum. His luck had changed — they wanted him to photograph their work on the building! Realizing he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to document this historic building, Brad graciously accepted.
The client sent over the floor-plan, shot list and renderings before Brad’s arrival to help him get a grasp on the layout and to develop a plan. However, the client wanted photos of the building when it was open to the public. Typically this isn’t an enormous workaround for industry pros such as Brad, but considering it was opening day with swarms of people navigating through the museum, shooting became a bit of a challenge.
Since the building had just opened, the line was out the door and the museum was constantly filled with people. Normally this isn’t a problem if we are able to get enough light, but the mood the museum is going for in combination with the movement of the crowds can make capturing a still image tricky. Since bringing in additional lighting wasn’t an option, I worked around this by capturing a bracket for the overall shot and then focusing on taking a single image of the people to add in post production.
When Brad was initially approached to shoot the project, three parties were interested in the images, but by the time the entire design team saw the final images, four additional parties were on board including the design architect. So we’d say the reaction to the pictures so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
When Brad was initially approached to shoot the project, three parties were interested in the images, but by the time the entire design team saw the final images, four additional parties were on board including the design architect. So we’d say the reaction to the pictures so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
When some of the top architects in the world see the images and want them, I consider that a success.
Although Brad doesn’t have any current plans to shoot the museum again, he is hopeful that the museum will inspire other structures in the surrounding area to break architectural molds and potentially offer some new buildings to photograph in the future.
See more of Brad at feinknopf.com