renaat braem/sneak peek!

I thought I would share a bit from my shoot at Belgian Modernist architect, Renaat Braem's home today. Nothing better to start a weekend than a little sneak peek! Plus I just love these material samples from his office! I was the girl that loved 'back to school' because I could get new paper and pencils and notebooks. Yes, a total geek. I think this love of materials somehow stems from that.
These images were the last thing I shot on Wednesday. I was all packed up and ready to go and Jo Braeken, the curator of the house, and I started chatting about some of the pieces in the house. I always have a lot of questions and after awhile, I get my courage up and I hear "what's in that box?" come out of my mouth. Luckily Jo was just as enthralled as I was. My favorite is the box of wood samples. I mean how gorgeous is the box alone? So beautiful. The carpet samples had me lamenting what is available on the market today. Nothing this good...
Have a beautiful weekend my friends. Monday I head to Paris and by the end of next week I'll be back in California! Crazy.

antwerp/a walk in the park

My first day in Antwerp I arrived rather early at the house I was shooting. The curator was still eating breakfast and I felt so bad to interrupt! Luckily there was a break in the storm so I headed out for a coffee, but instead stumbled into this beautiful park that the house backs up to. The light was moving fast and furious that day making for breathtaking moments, fleeting, though they were. The light on this tree just took my breath away. Doesn't it look velvety? I know you all are just chomping at the bit to see interiors, but this walk in the park was so lovely I thought I would share it. The night before had been really windy (I can attest to this because I flew into the tiny Antwerp airport in a prop plane. What a ride!) so there were limbs down and leaves strewn everywhere.

antwerp/office equipment

I am not sure why but I am a little obsessed with this image I shot at Renaat Braem's house yesterday. In fact all the old office equipment looks so damn lovely. Computers are just so - oh I don't know - current. Give me an adding machine any day. The blue helps too.

london/random highlights

Just a few random shots from my time in London this past week. I was tooling around with friends enjoying the London Design Festival. A much needed week without any major photo shoots. These are all from my iPhone. The first is across the street from Established & Sons Studio Showroom.
The next two are from Jasper Morrison's tiny store in Shoreditch near his studio. My favorite exhibit was probably his crazy little show of different tape from around the world (you know how I love those collections). The last is from the beautiful Bruno Munari show at the Estorick Collection called "My Futurist Past". Of course I liked the utility of the fire extinguisher and alarm switches with his poster.

travel day/

Heading to Antwerp today after a lovely week in London hanging out with friends. Ready to get back to shooting!

louisiana museum/humlebæk, denmark

So I love the Louisiana Museum but I really just fell in love with it's outdoor space more that the indoors. The collection of sculptures is wonderful. You can walk around and stumble upon a Serra or Henry Moore. But my favorite were these structures, in the children's area, each by a different architect. They just surprise you out of the trees. The first is by Ralph Erskine.

Aldo Rossi

Dominique Perrault

louisiana museum/humlebæk, denmark

During my stay in Denmark I headed out the the Louisiana Museum with a friend. My goodness what a beautiful museum. Just a couple of random images from the day. I ended up being far more enamored with the architecture of the place that the main exhibit which was on New Nordic Architecture. Of course the Giacometti exhibit was a lovely surprise. You can never see too many Giacometti's. I even saw one in one of the houses I shot. But that is another story...

Giacometti and Anselm Kiefer are a nice combo.

alvar aalto/light

I got a little sidetracked today and forgot to post until just now! So this will be a quickie, because I am working on the next People Watching post and I am just having so much fun with this one! I'm excited for you all to see it!
But alas...I was running through the Aalto pics again and I had to chuckle a bit because I remember when I shot this first shot, I thought "ooh! it is Alvar Aalto's ghost watching me". This is of course in reference to the patch of light on the ceiling. It felt like it was hovering somehow. Then I looked behind me and saw it was just sunlight bouncing off the table. Sometimes I get a little kooky.

storvik/sweden

Just editing through some images I shot out in the Swedish countryside. This is a favorite. More on this place soon.
Today I leave Milan and head to London. Looking forward to a week off from shooting. I need a little break!

hans wegner/copenhagen

On my last day in Copenhagen, I paid a visit to the home of Hans Wegner. I had been hoping to shoot his house for my book but the family keeps it private and you have to respect that. So I wasn't able to shoot inside, but I at least wanted to share what I could. This is the exterior from the backyard. Downstairs is his studio and upstairs are the family living quarters. He only designed his own homes. Hans was too busy dreaming of furniture. I was lucky enough to help finish off the last of the raspberries from the Wegner's raspberry bushes. You all know how much I love my fresh fruit! They were delicious!!!
Today is day two of shooting Gae Aulenti's home in Milan. Then I am off to London for the London Design Festival. Should be fun!

gae aulenti/today!

I have been pouring over the scouting images I shot last April of Gae Aulenti's apartment trying to get a strategy for the shoot today and tomorrow. There are so many layers! So much detail! I am excited and wonder how the heck I am going to adequately shoot it all in just 2 days! Here is just one of the scouting shots. I'll tweet more as I shoot, internet willing.
@lwillphoto if you want to follow along.

achille castiglione/sneak peek

I just arrived in Milan late last night (really late...) and of course could not fall asleep. I was completely gripped by the idea that I don't have a good exterior shot of Achille Castiglione's Studio for his chapter. So after four hours of sleep I had to check. So that means you get a Castiglione sneak peek today!
Who knows if it is fatigue or what...I ended up feeling pretty good about what the chapter will be, but I am going to go and shoot some more exteriors if I can figure out a time to squish it in. My time in Milan is shooting everyday all day until I fly away on Monday. I'm sure I can find an extra hour, though...
Anyhow, I really love Castiglione's studio. It is jam packed to the ceiling with archives and collections. You can tell the people that worked here loved what they did. In the second image all those brown folders on the shelf actually hold glass negatives! Wish I could have looked through every single one!

happy birthday to my beloved father/

Just a quick personal note because today is my Dad's birthday, so Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!!!
The day is looking a little hectic with meetings and an evening flight to Milan, so I thought I would send the message this way. You see my Dad is my most avid blog follower. He is the best. I couldn't have gotten where I am and followed my passion for what I do without his encouragement and support. So Dad, I love you. Have the best Birthday ever and I'll call you as soon as I can. xxoo

alvar aalto/plants

I have never been one for house plants. I always think of them as a headache or a big mess. Maybe because I always overwater them and they leak everywhere, hence big mess. But Alvar Aalto has me warming up to the idea. There was something about the way they were interspersed throughout the house that was rather nice. I love the little trellis he has for them and the radiator top plant holder could be my solution for overwatering (if I had a radiator). So nice, no?
Last day in Copenhagen, then on to Milano!

ordrupgaard museum/

A couple of favorite shots from the end of my day on Friday. After I finished shooting Finn Juhl's home, I took a quick spin through the Ordrupgaard Museum, which is who runs the Juhl house now. It is so interesting to me that the Juhl house sat next door to this house, owned by Wilhelm and Henny Hansen. You cannot get two houses that are more different (and then add to this the fact that the museum has a Zaha Hadid extension). Anyhow, only two images today. I am taking it easy. But this week I'll post some previews from the book...Aalto and Juhl. Yeah, I thought you'd like that...

cords/

I can feel a new obsession starting. Cords. Usually cords are the bane of shooting an interior. They always look like a big mess and it becomes a "hide the cord" exercise throughout the day. But I have noticed that they are so important to composition in these shots. The first image is the telephone in Alvar Aalto's bedroom, and the last two are from Finn Juhl's house. The third shot was my last shot of the day on my iPhone and I am going to go back and perfect it tomorrow.
BTW, check out the little figure in the second image. The art in Finn Juhl's house is amazing. Probably some of my favorites. He had a really wonderful and deliberate eye. And don't get me started on color and Finn Juhl...
Tweeting more tomorrow from his house as I shoot. Come along. @lwillphoto

scandinavian skies/

As many of you know, yesterday was a travel day for me. Not a long journey - I flew from Helsinki to Copenhagen and happily the plane wasn't full and it was easy going. I know it is such a cliche to take pictures out the windows of planes, especially for photographers...you see it all the time. But it is because it is so very pretty! So the first two images today are just before landing. I woke up (I sleep on every flight now. Planes taking off is like a sedative to me.) and saw this out the window. I am a sucker for cloud shadows on earth. The second two are from takeoff in Helsinki. I was having a little dorky fun...no app required!
But now I am happily installed with a lovely host in a Copenhagen suburb about 15 minutes away from Finn Juhl's house. I am finally washing some clothes (hallelujah!) had a home cooked meal and am enjoying the quiet - a still kind of quiet that you only get in houses. There is a whole back story to this particular house that I will share the details of at some point, but this shoot has been in the works since 2007! I'll be tweeting during the shoot day again, internet willing, so find me on twitter @lwillphoto and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you during my day!

alvar aalto studio/helsinki

Two more from Alvar Aalto's studio today. I held them back because I started seeing a theme - ebony and ivory. And yes, I started humming the song Ebony and Ivory too. Ha! ; )
Tomorrow is a travel day. Heading to Copenhagen! Thursday and Friday I will be shooting Finn Juhl's home. I'll be tweeting again as I shoot (internet connection willing). @lwillphoto is my twitter handle. Isn't this fun!?!?!