Architectural photography in Sydney: Arquero’s office fit-out for The Ivory Group

Name: La Lente Photographer
Address: Epping, NSW, 2121, AU
Telephone: 0414 442 440
Price range: $

Arquero's website had renders and plans, but no real photos. Here's how I photographed their office fit-out for The Ivory Group while it was open for business.

By Paul D’Ambra · November 2018

Home - Business - Architectural photography in Sydney: Arquero’s office fit-out for The Ivory Group

Curtained round lounge with blue armchairs, and the kitchen and dining area further down the hall

Open-plan office with two grey sofas, a coffee table, plants and staff at desks by the windows

Corner meeting room with a round timber table, two curved chairs, sheer curtains and a pendant light

Figure in motion blur walking past high tables, a timber slat screen and a green plant wall in an office kitchen area

Boardroom behind black-framed glass doors, next to open-plan desks with staff working

Close-up of timber slats with a blurred dining table and plants behind

A taste of the shoot. More photos are in the full gallery further down the page.

Arquero is a Sydney architecture practice. They designed an office for The Ivory Group and wanted real photos of the finished space. Their website only had renders and plans. Those show a design, but not how it feels to stand in the room once it's built and in use.

This is how I approached the architectural photography for that office, and what I'd suggest to any architect or interior designer planning a shoot of their own work.

The brief: show the space, and show it being used

Arquero wanted the photos for their own social media, emails to clients and case studies of their work. The brief covered:

People using the spaces.
Design details.
Each type of room.
Spaces that are used for more than one thing.
The bright, open feel and the natural light.

So I made a mix of photos. Some capture the whole scene, so you can read the layout and the light. Others show how people move through the spaces, so the office feels real and relatable.

Commercial office photography while the office is open

The office was open for business on the day. The Ivory Group's staff couldn't be featured, so I worked around people at their desks without interrupting them. Where people do appear, they are in the background or out of focus. You can see the office is lived in, but no one is the subject.

In several photos a woman walks through the office with a laptop. She is seen from behind or in motion, so the photos show the space being used and give a sense of scale.

Woman with long hair holding an open laptop, walking between desks and plants

Woman holding a laptop near a round meeting table with a man working at a desk on the right

The kitchen tables worked the same way. Two people having lunch and a man walking past sit behind the furniture, softly out of focus, so the tables and the light stay the main subject.

Plant bowl on a round concrete table with two people having lunch at the kitchen tables behind

High round tables with timber stools and plant bowls, and a man walking through the office behind

What I photographed

The curtained round lounge with its blue armchairs.
The open-plan desks and the sofa lounge by the windows.
The boardroom behind black-framed glass doors.
A private office, a corner meeting room and a small phone booth.
The kitchen and dining area, with its timber slat screen and plant wall.
The lift lobby.
Close details: timber slats, chairs, joinery and light fittings.

Private office with a timber desk, two tan chairs, built-in timber cabinets and a city window

Small curtained phone booth with a timber desk, a lamp and a tan chair, beside a meeting room

Wide shots show how one space leads to the next. Details show the materials and the finish. A case study needs both.

“Paul was very personable, quick, and we love the way his photos turned out. We would certainly use him again for our commercial needs.”
Moira Tripp, Arquero (Google review)

Photography for architects: a shot list for your next project

If you're an architect or interior designer with a finished commercial interior, this is the list I'd start with:

A wide shot of each main space, showing the layout and the light.
Views that connect spaces, like a hallway leading to the kitchen, so people can follow the floor plan.
Every room type: open-plan desks, meeting rooms, private offices, breakout areas, the kitchen and the lift lobby.
Spaces that do more than one job, with some sign of how they're used.
Close details of materials, joinery and lighting.
People in the background or in motion, if the occupant is happy for that, to show the space working.

If the office will be open on the day, talk to the occupant first. Agree who can appear in photos and which areas are off limits. Plan the rooms with big windows around the light, too.

Architectural and commercial interior photography in Sydney

Business photography starts at $495 for up to an hour, with up to 10 edited photos and a commercial licence included. See business photography in Sydney for what's included.

Shoot details

Client
Arquero

Industry
Architecture practice

Where
An office Arquero designed for The Ivory Group, Sydney

Photographed
Each room type, design details and the office in use, while it was open for business

Used for
Arquero's social media, emails to clients and case studies

Business photography in Sydney →

The full gallery

Four blue armchairs around a small timber table inside a ring of sheer curtains

Blue armchairs in a curtained lounge with two people at lunch tables in the background

Blue armchairs with metal legs around a round timber coffee table

Two curved timber swivel chairs at a round table in a curtained corner, seen past a plant

Round table and stools on a blue rug beside a curtained lounge and the lift lobby

Lift lobby with steel lift doors beside a round table and stools

Office kitchen with white cupboards and splashback behind a timber slat screen

Dark timber ceiling battens and a gold ring pendant light above an office kitchen

Woman walking past the sofa lounge, with a curtained round room and desks behind

Grey tufted sofa with cushions and staff working at their desks behind

Orange upholstered booth in the foreground with staff working at open-plan desks behind

Grey mesh office chair at a desk with a laptop and bottle between orange booth panels

Boardroom chairs and a dark table beside a glass wall lined with tall indoor plants

Timber cabinets and shelves of framed photos behind boardroom chairs

Tan chair and timber desk in a private office, seen through a glass door

Close-up of a tan office chair at a timber desk by a window

Laptop, notebook and drink bottle on a round timber table in front of sheer curtains

Two curved timber swivel chairs at a round table on a blue and yellow rug, seen past a plant

Grey jacket hanging on a white wall hook in a hallway

More photos from the Arquero office shoot. Click any photo to see it large.

Need photos of a space you designed?

I can photograph your finished project in Sydney, wide shots, details and the space in use, ready for your case studies and social media. Business photography starts at $495.

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