Thomas R. Schiff: Prospect

From vernacular movie theaters of the 1930s and spectacular hotel resorts to libraries, private residences, universities, museums and the fantastical buildings of Las Vegas, Thomas Schiff’s Prospect documents quintessential American architecture at its grandest. Schiff uses panoramic views to draw out vertiginous effects of scale and drama from the sweeping interiors he portrays: “In the past, I've always looked for a photograph and tried to isolate a tiny area that would make a good print,” Schiff says. “With panoramic photography, you approach it a different way. Instead of trying to isolate a photograph, you look for an entire area where there is a good view in all directions.” Among the more than 200 photographs in Prospect are buildings by some of the titans of contemporary architecture, such as Norman Foster, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, Zaha Hadid and Renzo Piano.

Thomas R. Schiff egan experimenting with panoramic photography in the mid-i98os, a period in which he also helped found Images Center, Cincinnati's premier gallery for exhibiting photography. In 1994, Schiff began using the Hulcherama 360 Panoramic camera which he continues to use in his prolific practice. A native of Cincinnati, Schiff is the founder of FotoFocus Cincinnati, a citywide celebration of photographic and lens-based art. He is currently at work on a book about the architectural legacy of J. Irwin Miller and the city of Columbus, Indiana.