Twilight

Small Home with Big Heart - Homewood AL Residential Photography / August 16, 2018 by Tommy Daspit

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, st… — 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 t… — 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… — 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

See more of my residential architectural and interiors photography portfolio.

Adams & Gerndt - Mountain Brook AL Architectural Photographer / July 20, 2018 by Tommy Daspit

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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Forest Remodel - Homewood Al Residential Interiors Photography / July 11, 2018 by Tommy Daspit

Twilight Exterior of Susan Gordon's Homewood Alabama home. It won best in Show in the Greater Birmingam Homebuilders Association Remodel competition.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this project for quite some time! I photographed this project (the remodeled home of the famous Susan Gordon of Susan Gordon Pottery) back in February. I had to hold off posting about it until the article about it was published this month in Birmingham Magazine. Although it won Best in Show for the 2018 Greater Birmingham Homebuilders Association remodeling competition and was published in their quarterly magazine, it’s customary to hold off posting about a project when there’s a pending article on it.

There was so much awesomeness in this project that it’s no surprise that it won awards and much acclaim. It was a joint project with Willow Homes, Willow Design Studio (Katherine Bailey Designer), Chickadee Interiors, and of course, the amazingly talented Susan Gordon herself. I especially loved the kitchen.The open space with the living and dining rooms with the kitchen provided some fun challenges but I think we captured the essence of the space well. I especially loved the combination of traditional cabinetry with the open shelves that showcased Susan’s craftwork. I employed nearly every technique in my arsenal to control and enhance the natural light in the space to capture the feeling of being there. I’m very proud of that my images helped Willow Homes and Willow Design capture the Best in Show award for the remodeling competition. Ultimately my job is to help my clients showcase their hard work with the highest possible quality images. That it was award winning and showcased by Alabama Homebuilder and Birmingham Magazine only validates all that went into creating those images.

I’m honored to have been a part of capturing this amazing remodel and proud of my clients, and my team for all of their hard work!

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Birmingham Magazine July 2018

Alabama Homebuilder Magazine Spring 2018

Alexander Modern Homes - Muscle Shoals AL Architectural Photography / January 23, 2018 by Tommy Daspit

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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Momentum - Commercial Architectural Photography Tuscaloosa AL / August 24, 2016 by Tommy Daspit

Twilight exterior of the credit union headquarters. Twilight shots can be compelling attention grabbers. They're one of my favorite shots by far.

The marketing director at Momentum, a commercial builder based in Seattle, contacted me a little over a year ago about photographing a credit union they had built in Tuscaloosa. They liked my work but ultimately went with another photographer. Then something unusual and unexpected happened. A couple of months ago they contacted me again. They’d just finished building a headquarters for that same credit union, also in Tuscaloosa. This time they wanted me to shoot the project. Not that the other photographer was bad per se, the images just weren’t what they had in mind. Of course I was very happy to help out and appreciated the new opportunity.

I scouted the location inside and out when I was in town to photograph another project. I always prefer to see the space in advance of photographing it. This allows me to think through compositions, light, time, staging, and equipment needs ahead of time. Although not always possible, it does help things go more smoothly. In this case it was very valuable. The client and I were able to communicate at length to make sure we were on the same page. Given the distance and time zone issues between Alabama and Seattle, having that advance walkthrough was huge.

This was also a more rare case when we would incorporate people into more of the images. Momentum wanted to convey how the space was actually utilized and give it more of a “human” feel. We enlisted some of the credit union staff to serve as models. For some images we had them move and captured them as a blur to convey movement and energy. For others we had them interact to give a feeling of how the space was used. I was definitely tapping into my portrait and wedding photographer roots on this project!

The end result was one that the client was thrilled with! Here’s what they had to say:

“Tommy was very accommodating to our client's schedule and was respectful of their work environment to make sure the he was not disturbing their work during the shoot. The finished images were fanatic!” - Jay-E Emmingham Marketing Director