A recent trip to Mies Van Rohe's 'Farnesworth House' whilst on a trip to Chicago got me thinking about people and buildings.

It was winter and the white house stood pristinely in a snowy landscape - as I slowly approached I was leapfrogged by the hoard of visitors (yes, all architects) who all wanted to get a shot of the building which was not tarnished by human prescense.

Perhaps it was in an effort to transport back in time, or to reflect the clean crisp lines of the building with perfect composition, or even because of distaste for my larey snowboarding jacket - it doesnt really matter, I started taking photos of them instead.

I've never understood the desire to capture peopleless architecture. People bring spaces to life, they make them messy. Mess is nice. Architecture exists as backdrop to our lives, and surely to photo it alone is akin to photographing an empty stage set.

In Summer 2009, I visited the Ferry Terminal in Yokohama. The building played a fantstic part in the annual Japanese/Hawain convention - I could never have imagined how suitable the undulated surfaces were for practising hula, or how the grand exhibition hall could be converted into a hawaian market...

..so think twice next time you're waiting for people to get out of your picture