Alan Karchmer’s life in photography began while studying architecture, earning a Masters in Architecture in 1978.  Based in Washington DC since 1990, Karchmer is a self-taught photographer. His work draws on the foundation of his education in architecture to understand how to read buildings and tell their stories through photographs that speak with an authoritative sense of form, space, texture, and light.

Karchmer’s photographs have been widely published in journals and books in the architectural press worldwide, and were the subject of a recent retrospective exhibition, Alan Karchmer: The Architects’ Photographer at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. His book Château La Coste: Art and Architecture in Provence, was published by Merrell Publishers.  He has worked with the ALPA system exclusively since the release of the ALPA 12 XY in 2006.

Karchmer’s clients include winners of the Pritzker Prize, The American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and Firm of the Year, and the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The archive of his body of work is a promised gift to the National Building Museum in Washington DC.

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