Julius Shulman photographing Case Study house #22 by Pierre Koenig

One of the pioneers in the field of architectural photography, Julius Shulman has died at 98. There are many things that make his work significant–enough for a lengthy essay–but for me, it was the idea of architectural photography as a staged event. The end result being a near seamless transformation of reality in which the building or interior is held in perfect equipoise.

Photograph by Julius Shulman

I only own a few photographs–alas, I wish I could afford more–and one of those is the famous night time view of Case Study house #22 by Shulman in which two women in diaphanous gowns lounge in the glass living room floating out above the carpet of lights of Los Angeles.