December 21 2008 / 5 Comments

Take Cover

This September we spent a day in Indiana shooting a great little cottage with Brad Lynch of Brininstool + Lynch.  The weather was fairly miserable, but we made the best of it with some soft light exteriors, a couple dusk shots and the interiors …well …cloudy days actually make for really nice interior lighting.  We made 7 shots, bouncing inside and out, daylight to dusk, scarfing down some cheap but tasty Mexican food in between.  It turned out to be a great day and as we piled our dozen cases back into the truck we felt really happy with our work.

It wasn’t long after when Brad told me that the Toronto based magazine Azure had expressed interest in the project and that they might be contacting me.  About a week after that I was discussing the project with Melissa, the art director from Azure when we decided to go back out to the house for some additional shots, bringing the homeowners into the scene.  I was, of course, most pleased to see that we got the cover of the annual houses issue.  Now that’s how I like to end the year!

The return also allowed me a rare opportunity to improve upon previous work.  I was quite pleased with the first dusk shot I had done from the drive, looking up at the house.  I knew it could be better, though, and I think this revision is leaps and bounds above my previous effort.

Next up, Brininstool + Lynch have asked me to cover their rebuild of Chicago’s Tiny Lounge, where the firm has traditionally held their most excellent holiday parties.  Last Friday, my wife and I had an opportunity to “scout” the project and found the design, as well as the margaritas, to be exceptional as usual.

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December 12 2008 / No Comments

wHY?

In the Fall of ’07 I photographed The Grand Rapids Art Museum for Architect Magazine.  I had an opportunity to chat with Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture about their design as I was making the images, and though the majority of the building was covered in masonite and scaffolding as the contractors were attacking the punch-list, we had opportunity to make some photographs that I was really pleased with.

Over at Arch Daily they’ve just posted about the Casa Wasaka in the ‘burbs of Osaka (repeat 5 times quickly).  The home clearly carries the vision of wHY which is somehow simultaneously uncompromisingly modern and yet very playful.  Check it out…

Image from Arch Daily

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December 11 2008 / No Comments

Site in the works…

Naz and I had lunch yesterday to discuss design of the new website and some other graphics things he’s working on for me.  I can’t wait to get the full version up and running… It’s going to showcase both personal and commercial work.  Naz has a great eye, a subtle sense of humor that brings just enough whimsy to the project and understands exactly what I’m going for.  He co-founded Gaper’s Block along with Andrew Huff, which is where Alex and I met him.  Alex also recently did a tour of Naz and Jen’s place for Apartment Therapy which Evan shot (of course).

Random eye candy.

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December 2 2008 / 6 Comments

An Inky By Any Other Name

Clients have become so used to the crew throwing our jargon around that it’s not uncommon at all to hear an architect ask, “Do you think those flowers need an inky?” Then sometimes they’ll stop and ask with a smirk, “what IS an inky?!” The term ‘inky’ comes from our cousins in cinematography where it generally refers to the smallest light in your arsenal. These days it typically connotes a 150 watt spotting fresnel tungsten head…..but who has the energy at three in the morning to say, “Hey man, put a 150 watt spotting fresnel tungsten head on those damn flowers, would ya?”

So, we say ‘inky.’ Others say ‘dinky’ and…….. God help them, they’re are a few out there who actually say ‘inky-dink’ in front of their clients.

The inky has been my primary lighting instrument for about 15 years and I have bought, used, rebuilt, rewired and occasionally enflamed a few different kinds.  Now that I’ve been purchasing inkies of my own, I’ve had good cause to re-investigate the whole inky dichotomy.

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