Ready to slip into la la land together and drool at some truly remarkable photography shot in some fantastic spaces and places? I am… There is nothing I like more sometimes than to simply peer into the life of someone else and examine all the little details of a shot to see what went where, why, and also to consider how the colors relate, why they were chosen, etc. Jennifer Davick, who specializes in photographing food, is based in Birmingham, Alabama and she’s able to take you by the hand and lead you into some very special places (and moods) because she captures so much emotion through lighting, subject, depth… that it’s hard to not feel inspired by her work. See for yourself…
What I love about the images I’ve selected to share from her portfolio above: the colors! Soft yet vibrant, that peach and green looks so fresh and I love the orchids on the porch along with the sweet”heart” swing. They look like this typical laid back country look that I admire a lot and though living in a city, I still work to achieve a laid back feel in my home because it has an impact on my life — when I’m at ease everything naturally unfolds for me. I also like laid back living at home because it so closely matches my own personality.
So now I have a more personal question for you… do you think your home is laid back with a little pile here and there? Or would you define your home as being very organized and buttoned up – everything perfectly in place and looking like a magazine home? Or is your home a big chaotic mess that you feel ashamed about? Have you ever tried photographing your own home to see what it really looks like? I know, sounds strange. But I suggest doing it. Clean your rooms, make the bed and such, and then pretend you are a photographer and go through each room with your camera, shooting in natural daylight (no flash). Upload the photos and take a critical look at each nook, each room, and see what can be moved, improved, stored, fixed, etc. This is a fun exercise and worth taking the time to do.
You can even pull together a binder with your photos – store your notes and even your during and after photos there as you complete your rooms. When you photograph something you notice the details. That is why the photos you see of rooms in magazines look so perfect. The photographer takes the photo and they look at the picture on their computer (especially if they are shooting tethered) to see what’s what. They mostly are looking at the technical stuff, while the stylist and others involved in the project are looking at the actual shot from a creative perspective – what could be altered, moved, etc. to make the photo look even better.
Maybe those vases on that mantle instead, and that tea towel can be moved over to that table and off of the kitchen counter, etc. Once all of this combing and processing has been accomplished, the end result is the magazine photo that you drool over. And even then, sometimes color editing and other image editing is done to perfect the actual shot – perhaps the color correction is needed. That is called, “magazine perfect” and what we think is just another “normal” home that we don’t have. Well, it’s not. And then we swing open our door at night to our shaggy apartment thinking What The Heck Is My Problem, feeling insecure about our homes because they don’t look like a magazine image.
So remember… one way to help you to achieve a more pulled together home, or perhaps a neater “laid back” home, is to photograph your space as I’ve mentioned and go in with a critical eye to examine what needs help. Style a fireplace mantle and photograph it. Don’t like it? Style it again. And again, and again…. Then once you you really like it – well, it’s done and you can move on to another area of your home. Take inspiration from other rooms that you love — arrange things in a way that you liked from the home of another person — it’s not copying — your objects and colors will no doubt be very different. But it can be helpful to train your eye in the beginning as you start to take more interest in the details of styling and how it’s done. Gosh, I could go on and on about this, I’m passionate about the whole art of making something look beautiful. :) Wow! Looking at the work of Jennifer Davick gave me a lot to talk about, didn’t it? :)
(images: jennifer davick photography)
Tags: photographer
October 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
this is such a great idea! thank you for sharing. I love editing my own spaces, rearranging things, pairing down, adding new elements. I’m moving to a new apartment this weekend and can’t wait to start the redecorating process with old items in a new space. I’ll have to try photographing both my old space and my new space to see what I like best and what works.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:58 am
Thank you for the great tips!
.-= Sophia Mar´s last blog ..Tea time! =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:06 am
Oh lovely, lovely! these photos are so cheery and calm. I love them.
Thanks for sharing,
{ Lindsey }
http://greatfullday.blogspot.com
.-= lindsey´s last blog ..Whimsy & Spice and Everything Nice =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am
I’ve just started doing this and it really helps! I also put them up on flickr and my blog for more input. I haven’t gotten them how I want them yet, but it definitely help see where the problems are.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
I love the idea of photographing rooms in your home. I may have to try that out this week after I get things picked up. ;)
October 21st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Love the gorgeous, washed out light in her photography! a great find. And I love the idea of photographing your own space to get a fresh perspective on it. (Now if only I could find a solution to the wires and computer cables that seem to follow my husband from room to room!)
.-= Anne @ The City Sage´s last blog ..Chairs of the World: Swan Chair =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Holly!
That one is a very good question! I tried once taking pictures of my home for my family, and I was amazed how differently I see my home in pictures and in real life. I cleared the space, took a picture, cleared again, took a new picture, turn on the lights, turn them off, open the window, draw the shades, until I got a result I deemed satisfactory.
My husband and friends are amateur photographers, and I can’t help but noticing how much the camera becomes the eye and how much you can get to know your friends better by their pictures… their tastes, sensitivity, even how they relate with people. For example, I’ve noticed that people who work in highly abstract subject (mathematicians are what I have at hand) tend to take pictures of THINGS way more than of PEOPLE. I’ve noticed that when I’m not in good terms with someone in a party, this person doesn’t appear in my pictures of that party. And that happens to other people too.
Anyway, the pictures of my home are here: http://fefoyjulia.blogspot.com/2009/02/domestico-en-construccion-fotos.html
They are painfully unglamorous, I know. Besides my technical limitations, everything looks so crowded! My! And these are my favorite pictures, the others were even worse. The pictures were published with a long post (almost a small essay) for my family, which as it turns out, is the most viewed post of my Spanish blog. There’s a translation into English here: http://crossingsofmymind.blogspot.com/2009/08/building-domesticity.html where you can find descriptions of some of the objects in the pictures.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
What a great suggestion, Holly! I’m planning to organize a binder for inspirations for my home and I think taking pictures and keeping them in there would be very helpful. I’ve started the process of purging/donating items I just don’t feel attached to and I’m realizing more and more that I like simplicity. My home will always feel very “lived in” because we have 2 dogs and a cat to constantly pick up after, so I don’t see it being a super organized magazine home, but hopefully a cozy laid back place that everyone feels comfortable in.
.-= City Chic – Jamie´s last blog ..Bake it Pretty – Owl Friends =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
What a great idea! I actually am a photo stylist but somehow it hasn’t occurred to me to do it to my own house-which is a chaotic (but interesting) mess. Maybe it’s something like the busman’s holiday.
.-= Barbara Finwall´s last blog ..Trim 9 yards purple mini ball fringe =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Oh my oh my! Where’s ETSY TUESDAY? I miss it’s handcrafted loveliness!
October 21st, 2009 at 1:31 pm
The couch with the single antler immediately caught my eye…
.-= Erin @ SYL: Slipcover Your Life´s last blog ..It’s wedding and bridal shower season: A&G Merch =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
These are truly lovely images Holly, gorgeous. I agree, they are beautiful because they are so fresh and natural, honest, relaxed, straight forward… alive. Thanks! xo
.-= Nuit´s last blog ..Gorgeousness in Neutrals… =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
the lighting is GORGEOUS in the bottom left photo of the first photo board!!! love it!
October 21st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
as long as your house doesn’t look like a house that should be on the show “hoarders”, you should be fine! seriously though, the houses on that show are a mess!!!
October 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
My home is laid back with piles here and there – of interesting things, of course!
I love bare surfaces with one pretty thing prettying it up… because even a bit of clutter on those surfaces makes me feel closed in and I can’t think straight.
I do take photos of my home and it’s in those photos that I see how bare my walls are and how cozy the place looks from the floors up to shoulder height. And I have vaulted ceilings too! Gotta work on spiffying up those walls!!
.-= sunny´s last blog ..french cafe-turned-apartment =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Looking at your place through a photo and editing from there is so clever. When we look at a photo, we are forced to see how one would enter, view, and assimilate to the space.
The shot can tell us if we have a couch that doesn’t look inviting for conversation because it is stuffed in a corner away from everything or an area that is too dark and needs more light.
Seeing the room in a series of pictures helps to fit the parts of the room into a cohesive, stylish space..
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last blog ..HouseCraft: Illuminate Your World from the Inside Out =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
lovely images… so fresh and bright!
.-= laura trevey´s last blog ..Celebrate the Holidays, Original Watercolor, 8 by 10, Merry and Bright =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 6:30 pm
That picture of the canning jars.. the ones with peaches and grapes and the cute little bendy straw.. I’m quickly becoming obsessed with finding out what is inside the jar! It looks like an uber-yummy drink, no?? These images are just lovely!
.-= Jessie´s last blog ..Coco + Masha =-.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Lovely images :) I like to try to keep things in their place, but things get a little messy at times. I’ve never tried photographing my place – good idea to get some perspective.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:08 am
such inspiring photos and what a great idea to photograph your own interiors to gain perspective. thanks so much for a great post!
Stacey @ A Sort Of Fairy Tale
.-= Stacey´s last blog ..What I Want Wednesday =-.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:02 am
Photographing my apartment was such an eye opener. It really made me see how much I need to edit down and de-clutter! I have a few of my apt pix here, on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22928743@N07/
…Back in the days of Domino I joined the Domino flickr group and added some pix of my space. . . Oh how i miss Domino! :(
.-= Brooke H´s last blog ..I’m an Etsy Guest Blogger! =-.
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 am
What a great idea. I’ll have to try it out over the weekend.
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Morning Tea Preparation =-.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:52 am
Beautiful photographs, I love the soft colors too….I would definitely say my house is “laid back with little piles here and there”…I love the photography idea. Thanks for sharing all of this hun!
xo
Melis
.-= Melissa de la Fuente´s last blog ..The little things: leaves + tape = beautiful =-.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Def laid back with a pile or two! lol I have too many little things around. I see photos of people’s homes with little figurines and decorations it looks amazing, mine not so much. I don’t know how they do it…I study and study. Then i realize that I’m seeing a picture of ONE TINY SPOT. A dresser top, a night stand, I’m not seeing a shot of their entire room. What could they be hiding in the corners that I can’t see? Behind the closet door lurks a Monica style junk closet? Then I feel better and leave my lovely little wooden owls that I thrifted on my desk and move on to the next thing to worry about.
.-= Pixie´s last blog ..Haunted in Hoboken: A Halloween Blog Party! =-.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Awesome post and some excellent ideas! I’ve been meaning to work on my clutter issues and what better way than with a series of before and after pictures! Then I can work on my style and decorating at the same time.
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Five posts commented =-.