Watters Architecture - Pass Christian Ms - Architectural Photography /  by Tommy Daspit

It had been raining all the way from Birmingham to Pass Christian and we wanted to get the twilight done that evening so we could drive straight back the next day. Things were looking bleak until about 20 minutes before we go there. Then the rain st…

It had been raining all the way from Birmingham to Pass Christian and we wanted to get the twilight done that evening so we could drive straight back the next day. Things were looking bleak until about 20 minutes before we go there. Then the rain stopped and we got some great light! 

This comes as a bit of a surprise to many, but I actually do a lot of travel. I’m perfectly happy to go wherever I’m needed. I can go by plane, train, or even automobile (I actually put about 30,000 miles on my car a year). I often do shoots in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and throughout Alabama. So when I was contacted by Leah Watters of Watters Architecture in Pass Christian Mississippi about photographing one of her amazing projects, I was all too happy to help out!

I grew up in New Orleans but my grandparents had a home in nearby Waveland Mississippi. So I spent many a summer day on beaches very much like the ones right in front of this house. The instant I opened the car door it was almost like I’d been transported 30 years into the past. Much had changed over that time but much was still the same. Katrina and commerce had done much to change the landscape but the smells and feel of the ocean air were just as they’d always been. I knew this was going to be a special shoot.

The home was originally built by architect James Lamantia in 1940 and was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Leah was hired by the new owners to renovate and add on to the home in 2016. I was honored to photograph her work, which did so much to enhance and modernize the original design, while staying true to its spirit. It had actually been photographed once before by another photographer. Leah felt that the images she had really didn’t represent the project well. She wanted higher quality images that reflected the quality of her work. I was happy to accept the challenge of course!

We shot over the course of two days but I could have easily shot for two more. Every room held potential for great images. Narrowing it down was quite a challenge. In the end I took more images than I normally would. This caused a bit of a larger than normal workload in post but I was happy to put in the extra time for such a great project. I think the results speak for themselves!

 

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Alexander Modern Homes - Muscle Shoals AL Architectural Photography /  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)!

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!

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).

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!

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 /  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.

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Office Environments - Birmingham AL Commercial Interiors Photography /  by Tommy Daspit

Click on image to view larger - Conference room at Office Environments in Birmingham. This shot was particularly difficult due to the large windows and all the reflections in them. I utilized several techniques to control them. The final image is a combination of multiple ambient and strobe exposures.

I recently photographed the newly remodeled showroom of Office Environments in downtown Birmingham. This is a shoot that I’ve been looking forward to working on and showing off for some time. When I first saw the remodel late last year I knew it was a project I wanted to capture. My residential portfolio is quite extensive but my commercial work is more limited. This is especially true for interiors. Fortunately for me one of Office Environment’s reps is in my BNI (Business Networking International), and we were able to work out a deal!

I really loved every aspect of this space. It’s in a historic downtown building and showcases some of the very best in modern office furniture design. As a Herman Miller dealer everything is top notch quality and style. It was my job to capture the feeling of this showroom and business in photographic form. These images would be used by Office Environments on their website, social media, marketing materials and advertisements. These images will represent them to potential clients and partners. I needed to make sure they captured the quality of not only the furniture, but Office Environments, and the great people that work there as well.

This was to be a little different as well because we did the shoot at night after they closed. This gave me a great opportunity to have some images with a very different look from the rest of my portfolio. Most images I create are done with a mixture of sun and ambient light. Night images take out the sun variable but add a new layer of complexity. There’s much more heavy lifting to be done by the strobes and I had to be careful not to make the images look too “flashy”. The resulting images are a blend of multiple shots blended together. Some are as few as three all the way up to the office overview which is about twenty. 

In the end with a lot of help from my assistant Crys and Blake Stringer from Office Environments we were able to pull it off!

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See more of my commercial interiors portfolio.

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!