Photographer Janie Airey has been working with Hopkins for over 10 years. 

Here she talks about her unusual start, and how her work has evolved since her first commission.

How did you first start working with Hopkins?

I’d never shot any architecture before but then I was commissioned by the ODA to shoot all the new Olympic buildings before they opened. They were looking for a different approach. I turned up with all the wrong kit and had some fun! It was an incredible opportunity and I didn’t take it too seriously – I do remember laying in the floor of the Velodrome taking photos - but I liked what came out and put together a newspaper to send out to practices. Hopkins came back and asked me to shoot the new wing of St Thomas’s Hospital. And then I got imposter syndrome! But what is lovely about working with Hopkins is that they are happy for you to show them something different.

Does your approach differ to other architectural photographers?

A lot of architectural photographers still use a tripod and take a conventional set of shots - a wide one, a close one, a twilight one. I like being fluid and moving around a building; finding details or seeing the way the light comes in and transforms a particular space at a particular moment. It’s more instinctive. Surprisingly, Hopkins haven’t minded that. If you are not too restricted about the way you work, it can be more spontaneous. There are no egos involved. I think we’ve ended up creating a style together.

How has your work evolved over the last 10 years?

It’s hard to be unique in today’s world, but you have to be able to offer something different.

I am doing more moving images. People are less interested now in static images and hardly anything goes into print. I am so visually led; I will always see the gorgeous details, but you do also need to think about how the work will be used and who it is for and tick those other boxes.  I went to one of Hopkins’ in-house presentations and could see instantly how they used my shots to tell the story of the actual journey around the building. That hadn’t occurred to me before and now I shoot not just the beautiful moments, but the whole story, because that’s what they need.

I still like using a long lens. It gives you the ability to create more graphic, illustrative shots, with a lovely low depth of field which allows you to pick out one finish or texture. People don’t want to see just wide, busy shots. You need to give your eye a break. I come from a graphic design background so I think about how the shots will be used editorially – putting a person off to one side for example, which is pleasing, but also leaves space in the image for text.

What kinds of challenges do you face in your work?

There are not many female architecture photographers and it can be hard to get into the big practices. You often find that female photographers do interiors and tend not to get the big projects to shoot. I follow some of the other architectural photographers on social media and can sometimes feel a little envious of their access to big projects. Shooting The Peninsula during construction has been a fabulous project; wearing hard hats and capturing the excavations on a huge construction site - I love Hopkins for that!

Have you any favourites amongst the Hopkins buildings you've shot?

I have loved going in and out of The Peninsula – usually I only get to go in at the end and it’s the icing on the cake after 5 or 10 years of work. But this has been about shooting the process and I’ve loved that.

Shooting 100 Liverpool Street was great. It’s immense. I loved that inside/outside feel in the middle of the city and those lovely planted terraces. This summer we shot at Eton. I love a swimming pool and a big space to shoot! You can’t always plan for it but sometimes you can get lucky with the light. The building comes alive and you can get spectacular results.

It’s always fascinating when you get the opportunity to have the lead architect on a shoot. The first time I went to Harvard, Andy Barnett was there. He explained about the different levels in the atrium, designed like drawers, and how they were an homage to Sert’s 1960s building. Seeing that, and knowing that was key to the design, helped me get some frames that really showed that thinking

Do you have any personal projects on the go?

A few years back I stopped In Hong Kong to shoot Zaha Hadid’s Jockey Club. There was nobody else in the building and nobody stopped me – I just walked in. I did the same in Tate Britain and shot the new wing. I got commissions as a result of those shoots – possibly because they thought I had worked directly for the likes of Zaha and the Tate! But personal projects are fun to do and something always comes out of them. I took myself off to Singapore for 10 days to do a buildings shoot – I had a ball! You do have to have a passion. You have to have that love of buildings and spaces.

and finally, do you have a favourite Hopkins shot?

I love this photo of Alder Hey Children's Hospital: Institute in the Park. The wonderful signature wood finish says ‘Hopkins' to me. It was taken on a cold, crisp morning and I love the slight desaturation of colour. It’s very graphic, still and atmospheric.