Commercial new construction of the Jacksonville State University Fitness Center in Jacksonville Alabama, photographed for Turner Construction and Moody Nolan Architecture by Birmingham Alabama based architectural and interiors photographer, Tommy Daspit.
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Small Home with Big Heart - Homewood AL Residential Photography /
Twilight Exterior of the front- I actually came back a week later to get the exterior from the interior. One of our frequent late after noon thunderstorms struck and kept on striking for the several days that followed. Finally last Friday it looked like we would catch a break and I rushed out there. The light was absolutely perfect and I was able to get this just before ANOTHER thunderstorm hit that evening. Weather plays a big part in what I do and sometimes you just have to be ready to move quickly or be flexible.
My daughter did a little behind the scenes video of me loading all of my gear in the back of the car for this shoot. People are always amazed at how much is involved in putting a project together.
My oldest daughter, Aanae, is a great photographer in her own right. She wanted to assist me on this shoot. Little did she know, cleaning is a big part of residential interiors photography! I carry a cleaning kit with specialty cleaners for wood, stainless steel, acrylic, glass, stone, and flooring. It's much better to fix it in real life than to "fix it in Photoshop".
A lot more goes into the creation of an image than pointing a camera and pressing a button. When it comes to architectural and interiors photography color accuracy is especially critical. Architects, designers, and builders use my images to market their services but also as design consultation tools with clients. It's vitally important that the images accurately reflect the paint and material colors. I use a color reference chart with each scene to use in post production. I have a calibrated monitor, use colored gels on my lights to match ambient light color temperature, and have a calibration profile for each lens and camera combination I own. All of this combined helps me create images with the most accurate color possible.
The final image is a composite of multiple shots. I use Gobos (the large blackout cloth on the background stand) to control reflections in glass. That way you can actually see the amazing tile in the shower instead a big white square from the window light.
A house doesn’t have to be big to be a great home. This recent project I photographed for Willow Homes, Willow Design Studios, and Triton Stone Group in Homewood, epitomizes that idea.
Like other projects from Willow, this three bed, two and a half bath house, fits in perfectly with its historic Homewood neighborhood. It blends a timeless style with modern functionality and quality. I especially love the look of the white painted brick with the rough exposed beams on the front porch. On the inside, the kitchen is just phenomenal. The exposed brick wall looks like it was taken from a hundred year old downtown loft. All the materials, combined with open shelves, and well designed layout, make for a kitchen that will always look great!
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Builder - Willow Homes
Interior Design - Willow Design Studios
Tile, Counters, and Plumbing Fixtures - Triton Stone Group
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Adams & Gerndt - Mountain Brook AL Architectural Photographer /
Twilight exterior of the rear and pool. This is one of the most extensive remodel projects I've ever seen. Hard to comprehend the before with the after!
So much amazingness in this project!
This was a remodel in Mountain Brook of a truly epic nature. My client, Adams & Gerndt Architecture in Homewood, did a truly phenomenal job transforming this home. The before images are truly mind blowing. It’s hard to believe that it is the same house.
Of course I was totally excited when I walked through the door to see this modern creation inside. I don’t see very many like this in the Birmingham area. In the living room, a huge wall of windows flooded the space with amazing natural light. The kitchen featured an amazing kitchen with clean lines, bright cabinets, and one of the coolest looking islands I’ve ever seen. I knew this would be a special project for sure!
It turns out that Birmingham Magazine thought so too. They featured my image of the living room on the cover of the 2018 Home and Garden Issue with a six page article!
Birmingham Magazine Home and Garden Issue 2018
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Architect: Adams & Gerndt Builder: Twin Construction Interior Design: Defining Home
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Alexander Modern Homes - Muscle Shoals AL Architectural Photography /
Twilight exterior of the front. From the huge windows, amazing exterior lighting, to the landscaping, everything about this home made for a tremendous twilight opportunity (I especially loved the translucent garage doors)!
A couple of years ago I was looking to expand the diversity of my portfolio. I wanted to have some more modern luxury homes in my book. Surprisingly there aren’t a large number of those in Birmingham! So I searched far and wide and came upon Rusty Alexander and Alexander Modern Homes in Muscle Shoals. I reached out to him about photographing some of his projects and thankfully he decided to give me a shot! Now two years later I’ve photographed all of his projects and we continue to work together. Each one of his builds takes a considerable amount of time to complete but the finished product is nothing short of phenomenal. Everything about them is of the very highest quality and style. They work with architect Phil Kean and have their own interior design firm, Riverworks Design Studio, run by Rusty’s wife, Lisa.
This month the Alabama Home Builders Association did a profile of Alexander Modern Home’s unique business model for their quarterly magazine. They featured many of the images I’ve created of Rusty’s projects. This home got the most attention and it even got the cover! I will say that it was a good choice. This home is one of my all time favorites. There was so many incredible image possibilities. We spent two full days there and I could have shot for a week. It was hard narrowing down the shots we were going to do. Every room was unique and full of possibilities. With the help of Lisa, Kayleigh, Rusty, my assistant Crys, and the rest of the Riverworks team, we narrowed down the shot list. We then worked to style, compose, and prop each shot. On some images we spent as much as an hour working out the styling, lighting, and composition.
I think the end results of all that time and attention to detail speak for themselves!
The Home Builders Association of Alabama did a story on Rusty and the Alexander Modern Homes team. They used a lot of images from this shoot including the cover! I'm very proud to showcase their amazing work!
Lisa said that they actually designed the rest of the house around the stone sink in the powder room. The antiqued mirror made for quite a challenge for this shot (notice that you don't see the camera).
There's really no one else in the state building them like Rusty!
Behind the scenes of the panoramic view of the living room and main kitchen. I used a Canon 24mm TS-E (Tilt Shift) lens.This allowed me to take a series of images from left to right and "stitch" them as a panorama. Tilt shift lenses are a must for architectural photography. They allow control of horizontal and vertical lines.
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Willow Homes Craftsman - Birmingham AL Architectural Photographer /
As with most of my images, this one is a blend of strobe and ambient light. I really liked the quality of light and shadow being created by those fantastic plantation shutters. My assistant Crys is actually outside with a large strobe on a light stand shooting light into the window. This allowed me to embellish the natural light and give it more contrast.
Another great house by Willow Homes and Willow Design but this one was a little bit of a departure for them. Until this home in Crestwood area of Birmingham, I’d never photographed a home of theirs outside of Homewood. It’s great to see them expanding beyond their niche market and into Birmingham, Mountain Brook, and beyond! Wherever it is, I’m always thrilled to work with Jason, Katherine, Allison, Lizzy, and the entire Willow team. Every project has great portfolio opportunities for me and I love seeing them grow as a company! This Craftsman inspired home was no exception. I loved every aspect of this project but I must say that the master bathroom and kitchen were some of my all time favorites. I am super jealous of the matte finished appliances. They just look amazing and are much easier to maintain than stainless steel. Then there’s the contrast of black and white for the master bath. I’ve never seen a tub like that and how it all came together with simplicity and class is so impressive!
Silde back and forth to see the straight out of camera image and final edited image
Each final image is a composite of multiple images. I blend ambient images with ones lit by my strobes. In this case I have a strobe outside the left window to add contrast to the natural light. There's another one behind the camera filling in the foreground. In Photoshop I remove anything that distracts from the finished design and balance the colors with a calibrated reference target.
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View more of my residential interiors and exterior architectural portfolio.