Photographing Fig House: Los Angeles' Coolest New Event Space

It's true: I get to see some seriously cool locations. One of my favorites has to be the recently completed Fig House in Los Angeles. Located in Highland Park, Fig House touts itself as a bespoke events venue, catering to a wide range of clients; they do everything from weddings to corporate parties to photoshoots and everything in between. Fig House is exciting and fresh, and a definite change of pace from what I usually shoot. With an eclectic mix of styles (everything from 1920s Hollywood to art deco with modern LA touches) it was a nice challenge to capture it all. I absolutely loved all of the color and variation throughout the space. 

I opted to shoot this in a more natural light style - this place just came alive with color owing to the huge sliding glass door windows emblazoned with stained glass by Judson Studios. Since the design was full of color and a mix of styles, adding a ton of light wasn't going to do any favors: it would only make the scene busier. I'm all about lighting to the space - and what that space calls for in terms of photography in order to make it look the best that it can.  No need to reinvent the wheel if you don't have to, right?

Next door to Fig House is Roomforty, a catering and restaurant service with a charm all it's own. While this was merely an accesory to the Fig House shoot, I absolutely loved the decoration and design of the tasting room, where potential clients can get a taste of the food made right on site or friends can gather to have a private meal of their own during a function at Fig House. 

And of course, what blog post would be complete without mentioning the perks of being an architectural photograhper? Roomforty's food, as expected, was absolutely jaw-droppingly delicious.

Interiors Photography: Using Artificial Light To Create Mood And Remove Color Casts

Here is an example of what artificial light can do for an interior photo. While there are many instances where natural light may be all you need, this is a relatively common scenario that I see interior shooters struggling with on a regular basis. 

If you look at the natural light photo, it may look okay at first glance. It's a beautifully appointed, well-staged room, and the composition is as good as it can get owing to obstacles out of the frame blocking any other compositions.

 

But then take a look at the image (below) where I used a healthy dose of artificial light. The true colors of the room immediately come out - the paint no longer has a sickly green cast from the grass outside, the furnishings are their intended colors, and the contrast of the room has improved ten fold. Not to mention the feel that artificial light is able to create - there would be no way to create this Sunday-morning feel using only natural light. HDR would yield a muddy mess, especially in such a high contrast situation, and attempting to use only a single exposure would be a disaster, as illustrated above.

 

So not only does artificial light create a room with correct colors and contrast, but it also lets us entirely change the mood of the photo - something that natural light alone would never allow us to do. And isn't that our job as photographers? To make a space look as good as possible? To want the viewer to say - 'I want that - to be there, soaking up that sun with my coffee and paper!' One of the best things an interior photographer can do for his or herself would be to master not only available light photography, but also to learn how to create emotion via the use of artificial light.

Photographing An Architecturally Significant Home: Pasadena Greene & Greene Built in 1911

I was recently awarded an incredible opportunity: photographing a Greene & Greene home in Pasadena that had been immaculately restored and maintained. I was contacted by designer Christine Kilian (who, notably, was a major force behind the architecture and design of the renowned Getty Museum), who wanted to document the home which contained her work. In addition, the owners were interested in having photos taken as keepsakes to remember their hard work and tireless devotion to restoration.

Built in 1911 by the famed brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene for three sisters from Illinois (Cordelia, Kate and Margaret Culbertson), it had cost $100,000 at the time: the equivalent of more than $2.5 million today. The home is a stunning piece of work, yet markedly different than most of the Greene & Green homes that are scattered throughout Pasadena. Instead of large, bulky, shingle-clad and relatively symmetrical designs, The Culbertson house is covered in a light tan gunite. It has a low facade, somehow resembling a Chinese temple, and a roof of glistening green tile, dashed with red flecks that reflect a varied spectrum depending on the time of day. The home is quirky in its layout; a large, yet asymmetrical U when viewed from above that gently slopes down towards private gardens with views of the mountain ranges behind Pasadena.

This was certainly unlike most homes that I've photographed, as I have spent most of my time photographing new constructions and remodels. Homes dating to 1911 in the area are exceedingly rare (this is where I also mention how jealous I am of all you shooters on the east coast, where a 300 year old home is nothing out of the ordinary), and in many cases owners update them to reflect current trends and tastes.

In order to maintain the feel and mood of the home, I used a lighting approach that maintained a natural look, yet also allowed for the richness and depth of the colors and textures to show in the photographs. In a home such as this, I felt it was absolutely necessary to preserve the mood and ambience of the interior. Careful attention was paid to composition and staging, and in many cases we spent over an hour perfecting furniture layouts and lighting schemes.

Some of the lighting situations from a photography persepctive were somewhat nightmarish. A number of one-point perspective compositions meant some creative light placement was necessary. Cavernous areas covered in dark paints required careful attention when aiming and positioning lights not only to avoid color casts but also to avoid reflections and maintain the natural feel. It's very easy to overlight a big space where such a wide dynamic range is present.

Despite these challenges and the all-day shoot (nearly 12 hours for 12 staged and lit images), everyone involved was thrilled with the outcome. I hope the extra time we put into staging and preparing the space shows, and I know that these images will be used for years to come by everyone involved. Creating timeless images takes time, but I hope you'll agree that the results are worth it!

Traditional Mediterranean Orange County Home

Just wrapped up this shoot on an impeccably staged Orange County home - if only every shoot of mine was staged so well! We did a lot of lighting here to brighten up the interiors and really show off the design inside. Most shots had a 640ws light out the window shot through an umbrella, grid, or reflector to add some splotchy Sunday-morning light to give a bright and airy feel. Most of these shots are simply all done in-camera with slight camera ACR raw tweaks to contrast and saturation. Sometimes instead of crazy composites, everything can be done in camera with some carefully thought-out lighting and patience. While there are ups and downs to both approaches, there's definitely something special about getting everything perfect in the camera. On the other hand, though...sometimes seeing the finished product after a full day's effort in Photoshop is awesome, too!

Stone Canyon, Bel Air Home Overlooking Wilshire Blvd

It's been a really busy few months, and I am just now finding some time to catch back up on the blog. I've been shooting all over the LA area, from Thousand Oaks to Simi Valley, Bel Air and San Pedro. The diversity of architecture across this part of the country never ceases to amaze me - you could lose yourself photographing all of the great homes in the area. 

Check out this Bel Air classic located at the top of Stone Canyon. Situated on five acres with a private golf hole/driving range, indoor/outdoor pool with an infiniti edge, and views over Wilshire Blvd. Simply incredible that I get to wake up and spend time in homes like this.

Photographing A Pasadena Remodel: A Modern Update In A Classic Town

One of my long time clients, Future Home Builders, recently finished this gorgeous remodel of a 1950s home in Pasadena. I absolutely adored the kitchen: the perfect size and just modern enough without being over the top. Clean lines and nice mood lighting made for a great environment. The lighting setup here was relatively simple, just two speedlites out of frame, and a few additional frames of painted light which were then composited together to get the wood grain and lines to pop a bit.

Mpkelley.com Fine Art and Architectural Photography Featured on PurePhoto.com

I recently had the pleasure of being invited to share my work at PurePhoto.com, a website that specializes in providing interior designers, architecture professionals, and hospitality professionals with high-end fine art photography for use in their projects. I'm very excited about this develoment - it will be fantastic to have my fine art work used by architects and designers. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be shooting a place with my artwork on the wall! You can check it out by clicking here. While PurePhoto specializes in selling to the aformentioned clients, it's also easy to purchase any print on the website on a one-off basis, if you feel so compelled (wink!). In addition to some of my architecture work in Iceland, there are a number of my ambient and aviation-based images available to view.

Practicing Architectural Photography At Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West

I recently took a break from the insanity that is Los Angeles and headed to Scottsdale, Arizona, to visit some friends and family. One of the big attractions in Scottsdale is Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, which was Frank's winter home and one of his sandboxes, so to say. Not only did Frank teach many of his students here, but he used it as a playground to build and experiment with new ideas without having the pressure of a client hanging over his head. 

I made it a point to take one of the three-hour tours (insert Gilligan's Island reference here) so that I could understand a little bit more of what Wright was after and what made him tick. My goal here was to learn a little bit more about one of the most influential figures in modern architecture so that I could apply those learnings to my own architectural photography. Hopefully, my learnings here can be applied to my own thoughts on architecture so that I can better serve my clients, as I'll have more insight into their thought process and vision. That's the goal, at least!

Of course, since I'm never caught without a camera, I took it upon myself to take some time to wander around the grounds and do some photography of my own. It's really amazing how much attention Frank paid to integrating the architecture with the landscape. I tried to convey some of this in my photographs, but it's really an altogether different experience if you can see it in real life. Of course, Michael Kelley being Michael Kelley, I wasn't satisfied with just Xeroxing a few frames of the place - I had a go with some new processing techniques that I'm working on as well. Experimenting in Frank's own lab, if you will.

If you're ever in the Phoenix area and have any interest in architecture or architectural photography, I highly recommend taking one of the tours. I was also able to pick the brain of some of the staff, who are well versed with Frank Lloyd Wright's photographers: many of which lived with him for many years. They have some interesting stories about their theories, practices, and approaches to architectural photography.