Interview: Architectural Photographer Ed Reeve

– by Anthony Leyton

His glamour-studded catalogue of clients – Condé Nast Traveller, Jimmy Choo, Stella McCartney, Sunday Times Style Magazine and many, many more – could send many other photographers into paroxysms of envy, but somehow Ed still manages to be one of the nicest and down-to-earth people we’ve ever met. Don’t believe us? See below…

I think it started when I was just four years old on a family holiday in Spain. My parents bought me one of those toy cameras that have a smiley face on a spring inside the lens, which pops out when you press the shutter. I treated it like a real camera and there’s a wonderful snap of me in a park standing in front of an old Spanish gentleman who’s sat on a bench. I remember directing him into a pose and taking his picture, all played out very seriously. I remember him looking at me with great intrigue. I wish it had been a real camera. The picture I have in my mind from our session was warm and wonderful. Then at nine, I won a painting competition. The prize was a camera and I was a very enthusiastic snapper. Though even without a camera I could often be found closing one eye and framing a view through a window or other available frame. It’s something I did naturally very early on. 

I didn’t consider it as a career until my late teens. I also loved the sea, spending much of my childhood sailing, canoeing and generally messing about by or on the river dart in Devon so I wanted a career in the navy. I chose photography for my degree because I thought I’d enjoy it but I came to London, loved the life and realised I wanted to pursue it as a profession. 

There are so many factors that contribute to making a great photograph. It’s when all these factors combine, even if only for a split second, that makes for a great image. Whether it’s perfect is subjective. Henri Cartier-Bresson explained it well in my favourite of his many quotes:  “To take photographs means to recognise –simultaneously and within a fraction of a second – both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis."

The ‘Golden Hour’ before sunset often provides preferable conditions but I know some great photographers who prefer the flat light of cloudy days. There is no set of circumstances that create a perfect photo; it’s the photographer’s response to those circumstances that give it meaning.  

Top Image: Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City. Below 1: The Arts Club in Mayfair. 2: Cliffhanger House in Antiparos taken from a helicopter. 3: At Queens Gate Gardens in London designed by Monica Mauti. 4: The Jalakara Hotel in the Andaman Islands. 5: Travelling through Atoche Station in Madrid on assignment for Condé Nast Traveller.