HABS, as the Historic American Buildings Survey is informally called, is arguably the best documentation program in the world for historic buildings. Stephen Schafer has been practicing this archival photographic process to capture sites in California as diverse as an 1840s adobe and a Cold-War stealth ship.
HALS Photographer
HABS/HAER/HALS Documentations from 2017 and 2018
A selection of my favorite large format negatives from the last couple years of Historic American Buildings Survey photography (HABS). By Stephen Schafer, Ventura, California, (805)-652-1000
HABS Mitigation for CEQA (Part 1: Is Cheaper Also Better?)
Documentation of historic resources is one way to mitigate impacts to significant properties and photographic documentation is one facet of a comprehensive CEQA mitigation strategy, and donating it to the National Park Service through their informal donation policy is less expensive than distributing multiple archival copies locally. The data created for HABS/HAER/HALS requires a Life Expectancy of over 500 years… Can your local historical society do that?
Archival Photo Mount Cards and Negative Sleeves for HABS/HAER/HALS Documentation
This is a resource page for those doing Historic American Buildings Survey photography and having a hard time finding the archival negative envelopes and slotted print mount cards that are required by HABS, HAER and HALS for transmission to the Library of Congress. All the specifications for transmittal of archival negatives and prints for the…
New book about the Isabelle Greene designed Lovelace Garden for HALS
Announcing the publication of the softcover version of the Lovelace Garden Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) book. http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1228021?__r=229643 144 Pages with lots of photos and including Isabelle Greene's sketches plans for the garden, all the color field photos, the narrative, HABS drawings of the teahouse and garage, and of course PGADesign’s HALS drawings. The…
Getting a HABS/HAER/HALS Photography Quote
I field a lot of calls for HABS, HAER or HALS photography services so I wanted to put the fourteen most important questions for a HABS photography project out there. This will help you get the fastest and most complete estimate and if you’re getting competitive bids, every photographer will be quoting the same project, apples to…
Ventura, California Featured in Preservation Magazine (With my photos)
It’s always nice when my town gets kudos from the media and even better when they use my photos to illustrate the story. A view from the Ventura Botanical Gardens was the lead image, along with Watermark on Main and Paradise Pantry. Historic Ventura, California is featured in the new Summer issue of PRESERVATION…
Photography for HABS, HAER and HALS Documentations
HABS and HAER documentation of historic sites explained by photographer Stephen Schafer of HABSPHOTO.com
Self Publishing Your Photo Book Workshop in Los Angeles at LACP
A new workshop at the Los Angeles Center of Photography; an introduction to self-publishing your own photo book using digital on-demand-printing.
HABS-Like Photographic Documentation (out-takes)
So I thought I would share a few views that were “off the list” on some of the HABS and HAER and HALS jobs I’ve been doing lately…