BEYOND THE LENS: A BIBLIOMETRIC JOURNEY THROUGH ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH

This study presents a bibliometric analysis to map academic trends, collaborations, and thematic developments in architectural photography using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software. Based on 470 publications retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database, the analysis explores the intellectual structure of architectural photography research through keyword co-occurrence, citation networks, and bibliometric coupling. The findings reveal a significant increase in academic interest over the past two decades, highlighting the growing interdisciplinary connections of the field with cultural heritage, digital visualization, and artificial intelligence applications. Cluster analysis identified eleven major thematic groups, including cultural heritage documentation, digital photogrammetry, AI-assisted visualization, and media representation. Country-level bibliometric coupling analysis shows that the United States is a dominant research hub with strong links to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. At the same time, China and European countries demonstrate intensive regional collaborations. The study concludes that architectural photography is no longer limited to traditional documentation practices but is increasingly evolving into a research domain shaped by emerging technologies such as 3D modeling, LiDAR, and augmented reality. These findings offer valuable insights into emerging research directions such as computational photography, immersive visual storytelling, and interdisciplinary approaches to architectural documentation.