The horizontal lines of the Wynn Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the zigzag-colored perspective of the Brickell Condos in Florida, and the sawtooth-shaped façade detail of David Adjaye-designed NMAAHC in Washington, DC. form the language of Dallas-based photographer Nikola Olic's new photography collection.

Olic's collection, called Poetry and Portraiture, showcases modern, sculptural works of daily life with unstaged details that add poetry to architecture.

Brickell Condos in Miami, Florida

By blending the intricate details of architecture with bold colors and environmental elements, the photographs create a new interpretation and visual composition that merges the familiar with the unfamiliar lines.

For a reader, every photograph tells a new story. Olic's details and portraits sculpting architecture can be found on his website Structure Photography. The collection includes many cities from Georgia to Illinois, Texas to Colorado, Nevada to California, and New York to Washington D.C.

The Washington Monument in the back, and National Museum of African American History and Culture on the left, Washington DC, designed by David Adjaye Associates

"My collection of unstaged photographs seek poetry and portraiture in architecture, seen as sculptural studies of the modern everyday, intimate portraits of contemporary monuments and facades as pictures at an exhibition," said photographer Nikola Olic. 

"With poetry and portraiture within our photographs, we can domesticate these immutable structures, reimagine their certainty and permanence with a delightful ambiguity, and meditate on the thin line between the familiar and unfamiliar," he added.

Marriott Marquis hotel in the front, Hilton Atlanta in the back in Atlanta, Georgia

The photographer further expands the subject of architectural photography, playing with scale and perspective and re-imaging them with shadows. The state of "ambiguity" is quite evident in Olic's photographs, and this uncertainty reveals a new understanding of aesthetics.

Combining unusual details with different composition elements, the photographer re-examines the concepts of form, pattern, color, contrast, and harmony.

Two buildings of the Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois

"Expanding on what the subject of an architectural photograph can be, we can rethink and replace key details that offer clues regarding scale and perspective and transform recognizable buildings into something new," Olic explained. 

"Just as a jazz musician improvises melodies over existing chord progressions, we can create new visual compositions using the forms and patterns of the urban world around us," concluded Olic.

University of Chicago, across from the science and engineering labs in Chicago, Illinois

On the right, an outdoor advertising poster on the Sheraton Hotel, on the left the Dallas sky in Dallas, Texas

Thanksgiving Square in the middle, Dallas Tower on the right, 211 N Ervay St on the left in Dallas, Texas

Fair Park Band Shell in Dallas, Texas

Brown building is the 2100 Ross Avenue, with a white garage next to it in Dallas, Texas

The Trammell Crow Center in Dallas, Texas

Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado

Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado

Aria Resort And Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Red elements are from the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the building behind is 6100 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, California

IAC Building (by Frank Gehry) on the right, 100 11th Ave on the left in New York City, New York

Building to the left of the pole is Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce in New York City, New York

432 Park Avenue in the back, Roosevelt Island Cablecar in the front in New York City, New York

Chrysler Building on the left, United Nations building on the right in New York City, New York

One Manhattan Square building in the background, with the cables from the Brooklyn Bridge in the front in New York City, New York

Brookfield Place in New York City, New York

Mercedes House in New York City, New York

211 North Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Hyatt Regency San Francisco in San Francisco, California

MIRA by Studio Gang in San Francisco

Serbian-American photographer Nikola Olic is a Professional Member of the World Architecture Community. His established his office, Nikola Olic Photography, in Dallas, Texas. 

This article was published as part of Archimoments series. 

We invite you to join our interview series to discuss the future of architectural photography together. Selection for the interview at WAC's discretion. Contact us to take part in the series: [email protected].

Top image in the article: Wynn Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

All photographs © Nikola Olic Photography.

> via Structure Photography

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