Method
Light, Weather and When to Go
Reading a wall is a lighting problem before it is anything else. The difference between the right hour and the wrong one is the difference between seeing four fills and seeing none.
Raking light for texture
A filled opening, a patched chute, a set of tie plates and a stucco line are all differences of a few millimetres in surface.
They are invisible in flat light and obvious when the sun is low enough to rake across the wall, because the shadow does the work. That means the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset, on the elevation the sun is actually on.
Work out which way the front faces before you set out. An east front at six in the evening is a wall with no information on it.
Overcast for color
The opposite problem. A difference in brick color between original and fill washes out completely in direct sun and shows clearly under a white sky.
So the two conditions do different jobs:
| What you want to see | Best condition | Worst |
|---|---|---|
| Filled openings, patches, tie plates | Low raking sun on that elevation | Overhead sun, or the elevation in shade |
| Color differences in brick and mortar | Flat overcast | Direct sun |
| Scars on a party wall | Flat overcast, or a light drizzle | Direct sun, which bleaches them out |
| Roof profiles and missing monitors | Any, from far enough away | Anything below the skyline |
| Curb and paving alignments | Wet ground, drying | Dry, dusty, or after a resurfacing |
Wet is genuinely useful and almost nobody uses it. Rain darkens porous old brick faster than dense modern fill, so a wall that has just started drying shows its patches for about twenty minutes.
The seasons
Winter is the best season in this city for this subject, by a distance. No leaves, low sun all day, and long raking light from mid afternoon. Every front is visible and every party wall is uncovered.
Spring is second, until the trees close. Early April in an ordinary year.
Summer is the worst: high sun, full canopy, and a haze that flattens everything. It is also the only season with any evening warmth, so if you are going out after work, go in summer and accept that you will see less.
Autumn improves week by week and is the season for the empty lots, which fill with growth by August and clear again by November.
Rain
Go anyway. This is an outdoor subject with no admission and no hours, and a wet Tuesday has the streets to itself.
The only condition that genuinely stops the work is fresh snow against a wall, which fills every recess and hides every fill.
What to carry
Very little. This whole paper is done from public sidewalks.
- Something to write on, because you will want to note a block and come back.
- A phone with charge, mostly for the map rather than the camera.
- Nothing on a tripod. Every entry here is a street, and a tripod on a street draws a question you do not need.