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PHOTOGRAPHERS OF DESIGN

>>> Ed Taube, Phoenix, Arizona

For years Ed Taube crisscrossed Arizona, photographing landscapes, sunrises and sunsets, ancient ruins and more. "I shot images just for fun," says Taube. "I'm a self-taught photographer, but I always like to take a camera with me when I'm hiking or traveling. I think I've shot all of Arizona's iconic areas."

More recently, as he's launched his architectural photography business, Taube began noticing that many of his amateur images of natural and ancient Arizona had cosmic parallels in projects he was shooting for architects, builders, interior designers and product suppliers. "I shot an image of a slot canyon in northern Arizona," Taube explains, "and I later shot a passageway in a house designed by Jones Studio of Phoenix that looked just like that canyon." In another instance, an image he took of the Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling in central Arizona was echoed in the rustic block work of a modern Phoenix house he also shot.

Residence by Jones Studio, Phoenix.

That Taube would be so in tune with Arizona's natural and built landscape is no surprise. He's a rare, third-generation Arizona native (his great-grandfather came to the far west side of Phoenix to farm and ranch in the late 1800s), and, with his family, he has watched the city morph from natural and agrarian to decidedly urban. "My grandfather's house is now the site of St. Joseph Hospital's parking garage," he notes.

Taube spent most of his early career in commercial flooring sales, most recently with Nora Rubber Flooring, and confined his photography ambitions to evenings and weekends. "My flooring clients were contractors, but I worked with architects, interior designers and other professionals, and there were always discussions about design, color and so forth," he says.

Glendale Community College's student union, Glendale, Arizona.

Several years ago, he became interested in architectural photography. He approached a Phoenix architect about letting him shoot a recently built church project. "He'd already had the project shot," Taube explains, "but I reshot it and asked him for some brutally honest feedback." The architect loved Taube's shots, and Taube's career as an architectural photographer was launched.

His client list is growing steadily, and he's also been shooting projects being entered into the Arizona Masonry Guild's Excellence in Masonry Architectural Awards, a design competition favored by area architects.

Interior, residence by Jones Studio.

Taube shoots on his own, without an assistant, but he prefers the client to come along — at least for a while. "Some clients will say, 'Here's the project, go shoot it,'" he says. "But I think the best photographs happen when the client is there. I want them to tell me what they want to see, what they want highlighted, what detail they really like. I believe collaboration is critical."

And, when he's out working, Taube still draws on the lessons learned from shooting Arizona landscapes. "Exterior building shots are just like shooting a landscape. You have to pick the time of day when the light is right. The Grand Canyon at noon looks flat. But come back at dusk, and the light is just right. It's the same for architecture."

Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona.

Taube Photography, Phoenix, AZ; (602) 525-8320 or www.taubephotography.com.