Based in Brooklyn and Toronto. Ben Rahn has been an architectural photographer for about 25 years. When he started his architectural photography studio in 2003, he found himself in search of a good name for his fledgling business.
On a drive from Brooklyn to Toronto, I went through all the options I could think of and after 9 hours in the car I settled on A-frame Studio. I didn’t have any personal connection or even much experience with A-frame houses, but I liked their charm and the play on the word ‘frame’, as in the edge of a photograph.
Despite featuring A-frames prominently on studio promotions like Christmas cards, and being central to the name and brand of his studio, Ben didn’t have much to do with the distinctively-peaked structures for quite some time.
That all changed in March of 2016 when Ben received an email from Katie Killebrew of publishing house Gibbs Smith inquiring about images of A-frames for a book on pitched-roof houses. Ben replied, saying while they likely had a few that would fit the description, he would really like to work with them to photograph a full book on A-frames. Gibbs Smith was interested, and a few calls and emails later they had conceptualized and agreed to produce a book called The Modern A-Frame.
The search began for suitable, interesting A-frame houses. Ben worked with colleague Erika Jacobs to scour the internet for a general sense of what existed and the stories that went along with various properties. The two collected recent cabin architecture books and added them to the library of available resources that included books A-Frame Studio had contributed to over the years. This gave them a wide range of sources from which to find inspiration.
It was always lot of fun when the book packages arrived with new titles. We’d discuss what we liked and didn’t like about the various books and how it related to the book we were dreaming up.
Ben and Erika started plotting a strategy to accomplish the project. They put pins in a map and grouped locations into regions, keeping climate and seasons in mind when scheduling houses for the shoot. The deadline for the book was July 2017, which meant that Ben would have to start shooting in the fall of 2016 at the latest to represent all four seasons in his images. This was especially important because many of the homes were built to take advantage of the surrounding locations and changing seasons.
I knew I wanted to photograph certain ones at a specific time. For example, there is a cabin in Whistler, BC that we wanted to capture in the snow, and a home on Fire Island with incredible gardens that could only be done justice in the spring.
Ben spent time re-reading Chad Randl’s book A-frame, which is an authoritative history of the distinctive home design. He was surprised to find this very same book on many coffee tables as he pursued the project. Gibbs Smith approached Mr. Randl to write an introduction to this new book, and to Ben’s surprise, he kindly agreed.
Ben typically relies on an elaborate camera setup for architecture shoots and utilizes an assistant to help out. Sets are usually collaborative, busy places populated with the designer or architect as well as client representatives and art directors. For this project, Ben realized that the typical setup wouldn’t be convenient, and ditched it for a small kit and went to each location alone. He spent most shoot days from dawn to dusk in the houses, photographing everything as the light slowly shifted and changed.
This process was one of discovery for Ben. Though the houses all had obvious similarities in form, each had its own personality. Initially worried that he’d miss something crucial that he’d want later, Ben erred on the side of caution by over-shooting, leaving no angle or opportunity unexplored. Approximately 12 views of each house made it into the book.
Ben quickly learned that as much as each A-frame has a distinctive personality, so do the unique people that choose to live within them.
Something that I would experience over and over again as I travelled around photographing is that no one boring lives in an A-frame. Hearing their stories was as exciting a part of the process as taking the photographs.
As each shoot wrapped, the files were sent back to the studio team in Toronto, who managed them and oversaw all post-production. The studio provided the final deliverables to the printer in September 2017.
Ben and A-Frame Studios have received very positive feedback on the project so far. The book officially launched at Palm Springs Modernism Week in February, and since then has garnered press from The New York Times, House & Home, Curbed, and both Sunset Magazine and Interior Design will be including photographs in upcoming issues.
Ben is currently in talks about the possibility of an exhibition to complement the book, as well as entertaining a few speaking opportunities. Having thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience, he now feels quite connected to this style of architecture.
Ultimately I feel that being in an A-frame stirs something in people. There’s a religiosity or spirituality that comes from the high-vaulted ceilings that is shared with churches and Cathedrals. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many non-residential A-frames are churches. There really isn’t any other type of building that gives you the soaring roof and open space and yet can be built by a small group of people in a short amount of time.
Additional Credits:
Client: Gibbs Smith
Managing Editor: Katie Killebrew
Project Manager: Erika Jacobs
Post-production: Nichole Silva, James Morley
See more of The Modern A-frame here and more of Ben on his website.