On Location: Architectural Photography In Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ With Fstoppers.com

I was recently invited to shoot a series of five homes in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas of Arizona for a builder and architect who had previously seen my work. In the interim, I had been in talks with Fstoppers.com, a website I frequently write and contribute for, to come out and film me to  create a mini-documentary on my style and methods of architectural photography. We had the chance to shoot some incredible homes with gorgeous views. In particular, this Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in the Fountain Hills neighborhood, which turned out to be my favorite of the five. With views overlooking Firerock and Four Peaks, it was simply awesome to take it all in while shooting. Eating lunch with the homeowner, architects, and builders with the crew from Fstoppers was a ton of fun and the images are looking like they're going to come out amazingly well. I couldn't have asked for a better combination of sun and gorgeous clouds on this shot. Stay tuned for an update regarding the mini-doc, like I said, we got some incredible footage and I know some of my followers have been longing for a behind the scenes feature like the one that Fstoppers will be creating. 

Here's a quick behind the scenes peak at me at work and the home in particular that I was so enamored with:

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.

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.

Architectural Photography In Iceland: Michael Kelley Featured On Strobist.com

Strobist.com, which is one of the world's leading photographic resources, recently featured a piece on my 'Living: Island Style' project, in which I set out to photograph the architecure of Iceland during a three-week whirlwind trip around the country. The article discusses my motivation, how I pulled it all off, and how it might inspire other photographers to undertake a personal project of their own to further their career and kickstart their creative growth. I'm really happy with the way David Hobby, the author, wrote the piece, and I have received numerous emails thanking me for inspiring them with my trip. When I left Los Angeles, nobody really had any idea what I was talking about when I told them I was going to photograph architecture on a remote island in the North Atlantic. "You're going where? To do what? Why?" was the most common response. Check out the article, I'd love to know what you think, and I hope you are inspired to take on a project of your own after reading it. If you ended up here from Strobist, thanks so much for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the work on my site.

Keep an eye out for the finished 'Living: Island Style' project, which is slated to be finished by the end of the year.

To read the article on Strobist, click here.

Photographing An Architecturally Significant Home In Beverly Hills Designed By Paul R. Williams

I was recently hired to photograph this architectural treasure in Beverly Hills, CA. Designed by the great Paul R. Williams, this was his last residential project before his death in 1980. Williams practiced largely in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, and Charles Correll. In addition to countless residential projects (over 2,000), he also designed and worked on many well-known public buildings in Los Angeles such as the Theme Building at LAX, The Beverly Hills Hotel, and numerous state and federal buildings in the LA area. For more reading, check out his Wikipedia page here.

Remodeled Ranch: Luxury Real Estate in Montecito, CA

I recently shot this beautiful ranch home in Montecito, CA. Situated on 80 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the property boasted avacado and lemons groves with over 20,000 plants. The view from the top over the fields was breathtaking, as was the recently remodeled interior. I spent an entire day there and wish I could have stayed longer, as it was an incredibly inviting home and the isolation and quiet, only about an hour from LA, was really lovely.

Architectural Photography In Iceland: Living, Island Style

I recently took a trip to Iceland to work on a story about the interaction between the architecture and the environment in Iceland. Over the course of nearly three weeks I traveled around the entire country, shooting day and night, and sleeping when appropriate. After amassing nearly 200gb worth of material, I've begun to go through and edit the images that I'll be using in the story. You can check out a sneak peek of some of the images below. I'll be sure to post some updates periodically, but I expect that the entire piece will be finished towards the end of the year. I had a ton of fun and I'm really looking forward to publishing the photos and articles! I hope you enjoy what you see so far.

Shooting Architecture in Culver City: An Architectural Photographer's Playground

Culver City, CA, is a veritable goldmine of stunning architecture. Below are the offices of Media Temple, a web hosting and domain service. A very unique building that was a lot of fun to shoot! I channeled my inner Edward Hopper in an effort to create some interesting architecture images, and I'm especially fond of the image that includes the woman running with her dog. If you ever have an afternoon to kill in Los Angeles and you're interested in architecture, I'd definitely recommend parking your car over here (it's all free!) and taking a self-guided walking tour of the architecture in this area of Culver City, located near Jefferson Blvd near Baldwin Hills.