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Below are suggested project views for
Large Format Photography ​​​​​​​​​​
Historic American Buildings Survey 
Historic American Engineering Record
Historic American Landscape Survey
HABS/HAER/HALS 
photographic documentation:        
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Architectural Structures:

  • General or environmental view(s) to illustrate setting, including landscaping, adjacent building(s), and roadways.
  • Front facade, with and without a scale stick. 
  • Perspective view, front and one side. 
  • Perspective view, rear and opposing side. 
  • Detail, front entrance and/or typical doorway.
  • Typical window.
  • Exterior details, such as chimney, clerestory, oriel, date stone, gingerbread ornamentation, or boot scrape, indicative of era of construction or of historic and architectural interest.
  • Interior views to capture spatial relationships, structural evidence, a typical room, and any decorative elements; these include hallways, stairways, attic and basement framing, fireplaces and mantels, moldings, interior shutters, kitchen (especially if original), and mechanicals.
  • If they exist, at least one view of any dependency structures, such as privies, milk or ice houses, carriage houses, sheds, detached garages, or barns. These structures need to be identified in the Index to Photographs
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Engineering and Industrial Structures:
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  • This encompasses a wide variety of structure types, such as manufacturing complexes, bridges, locks and dams, and mines. The buildings and structures housing the industrial process will be captured with the types of views outlined above and special attention will be paid to the equipment involved in the flow and transformation of material going through the building.
  • This can include:
    • Any extant machinery and equipment, also capturing the spatial arrangements. 
    • Machinery details, such as the governor on a turbine, valves of a steam engine, or the gearing in machines like fabric looms, or other details that reveal a machine’s function like the cone of a rock crusher or drum of a shredder. 
    • Power transmission systems, such as line shafting. 
    • General views and details of structural framing systems, including roof trusses and floor beam systems and pedestals that supported the building structure and the equipment and machinery.

Bridges:

  • General views of all sides. 
  • Detail views of portals, portal connections, upper chord connections, vertical members, traffic deck, bridge plates, manufacturer’s badge and any decorative features. 
  • If accessible, the traffic deck support system (such as floor beams and stringers viewed from underneath the bridge). 
  • Abutments and approach details.

Linear Resources:

  • For canals, railroads, or roads; the photographs will be organized in a logical progression with the captions including mile markers.
  • The following types of views will be captured along with views of the resource itself:
    • Significant or typical structures; depending on the resource, this might include culverts, retaining walls, bridges, or locks and dams.
    • Contextual shots that illustrate the resource’s path through the landscape.

Watercraft:

The captions for watercraft do not include cardinal directions; rather, the maritime terms of aft, forward, starboard, and port are used. In addition, on larger ships, the deck names or numbers will be identified. The following will be captured, depending on whether the watercraft uses mechanical or sail propulsion:

  • Elevations of port, starboard, bow, and hull. 
  • General deck views. 
  • Details of deck machinery, such as windlasses, as well as propulsion systems. 
  • Details of ship or vessel that relate directly to its specialized functions. These images will depictwhat the vessel actually does.
  • Sailing rig.​

Cultural Landscapes:
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Possible subject matter could include formal gardens, ranches, or city parks, with an emphasis on capturing the broader context of landscape design, use, and geography.
Aspects of a cultural landscape to capture including the following:
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  • Contextual views of the landscape under various seasonal conditions; aerial photographs can be especially helpful.
  • General landscape views. 
  • Structures and structural elements, such as fences and hardscaping. 
  • Views capturing the spatial relations of buildings, structures, and the landscape. 
  • Vegetation should be identified with both common and botanical names in the Index to Photographs.

Adhering to the stringent requirements for HABS HAER HALS Transmittal Guidelines  is my top priority for this type of exacting and rewarding work. I have a consistent work flow that allows me to produce properly exposed negatives using the Zone System which was developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. I also pride myself in working closely with architectural historians to be certain my documentation is an accurate representation of the resource.
Large format black and white film is currently the only media that is allowed for submission to the HDP program. The film must be archivally processed and entirely free of sodium or ammonium thiosulfate (fixer). This process involves proper washing of film using a combination of Perma-wash solution and selenium toner.  I have my own custom black and white printing and processing facility and adhere strictly to archival printing and processing of film and prints. Negatives have an archival capacity of 500 years when I submit them in the final form to the Library of Congress.

​The HABS/HAER/HALS Photography Guidelines (updated June, 2015) show equipment, views, scanning techniques and labeling techniques required for submission of final projects and are striclty followed for submission of all my work.