Residential

Willow Homes Craftsman - Birmingham AL Architectural Photographer by Tommy Daspit

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.

click thumbnail to view larger images

Gabby Home Veranda Magazine AD Shoot by Tommy Daspit

The finished product in the February 2017 Issue of Veranda Magazine. 

The finished product in the February 2017 Issue of Veranda Magazine. 

I’ve been pretty behind on my blogging. Last year was one of my best years as a photographer and this year has gotten off to a pretty good start. As a result, I haven’t had very much in the way of free time. Between shooing, meetings, and editing there hasn’t been a lot of room for other things. However, I have made this blog a priority. In the coming weeks I’ll actually be expanding it’s role from just one of showcasing recent projects, to being a resource of trends, personalities, and insight for the area’s residential and commercial scene. So, if that’s something of interest to you, and I hope it is, be sure to hit the subscribe button, to get automatic updates!

As for this post, it’s really long over due!

Last year I got a call from Gabby Home (the indoor premium furniture line from Summer Classics). They were putting a full page ad together for Veranda Magazine and needed it shot on short notice. Of course I was happy to help out! The location was the hunting cabin for Summer Classic’s CEO, Bew White. Chris Hutchens, the amazingly talented creative director at Gabby, ran the shoot. It was the second time I did a location shoot with him so I already knew this was going to be a good one. The results certainly didn’t disappoint! We spent nearly the entire day taking out the existing furnishings and brining in new furniture, accents, a mounted elk head, and even multiple dogs. Every aspect of the shot from staging, to lighting, and composition were scrutinized and thought through. This was for a full page ad in Veranda Magazine, one of the premier home design publications in the country. It was an expensive ad and it had to be attention grabbing to make a return on that investment. I appreciated the trust placed by Chris and the entire Gabby team in me to execute their vision. The finished product came out in the February 2017 issue. Take a look and let me know, did we accomplish our goals?

I had a little fun with Chris as he was orchestrating the shot!

I had a little fun with Chris as he was orchestrating the shot!

Final image. Space was left at the top and bottom to accommodate the logo and copy. This final image is a composite of 8 individual images 14 total layers in Photoshop for a 1.2GB file!

Final image. Space was left at the top and bottom to accommodate the logo and copy. This final image is a composite of 8 individual images 14 total layers in Photoshop for a 1.2GB file!