kickstarter/last hours!

Just a few more hours to pledge your support for my project of photographing the homes of mid twentieth century architects and designers in Europe on Kickstarter! I have to say, I cannot wait for the clock to run out and I can breath a little sigh of relief. The support for my project has been so wonderful and now I just want to get down to work! I already have emails out to Germany, Sweden and I just found out about a couple more houses in Italy. The odds of these homes making it in the book are rather slim since my deadline is basically right now, but I have to shoot them! And you have all made that possible!
But today I keep working. I am editing the Aalto chapter. I confess I have been avoiding it. There are so many fantastic things I want to share and there is no way with the number of pages for each chapter. I can't seem to edit it down enough. Absolute torture...sweet blissful torture!

This Friday, March 1/Slideshow & Lecture/Eichler Speaker Event in Lucas Valley!

Have I mentioned I am doing a couple of lecture/slideshows? I probably haven't because things have been a bit busy with the Kickstarter and writing my new book. But it finally dawned on me the other day. The first talk is Friday in San Rafael!!! And all of a sudden I got so excited! I love sharing my work and talking about all these wonderful people and homes with all of you. So please come! I will be sharing a small sneak preview of my new book in support of the Kickstarter and Regina Connell, founder of Handful of Salt, with be asking me some questions. And apparently there are tacos! Here is all the info. I look forward to seeing you all.

Kickstarter launched/prebuy my new book!

One of my favorite images of the Aalto house in Helsinki today to mark the launch of my Kickstarter campaign! As many of you know, I have been working away on my new book of architects and designers homes in Europe for the past year. Well, I've gotten as far as I can and I need a bit of help to finish.  So yesterday I officially launched a Kickstarter. If you have been following along and would like to learn more or would like to pre buy your book, please go here and help me get this book to publication. I would be very grateful for your help.
The nice guys over at The OEN also did a nice write up on the project and Kickstarter and I gave them a bit of sneak preview of the Aalto house, so check that out while you are at it.
Have a lovely weekend friends and please help me spread the word of this Kickstarter. I need all your help!  ; )

writing/aalto

I am steeped in all things Alvar Aalto today since I am writing his chapter right now. I actually posted this image on Instagram  (my handle is @lesliewilliamson) so I thought I would share it properly here. As I am writing about Aalto my admiration grows. Plus it is a pleasure to be able to relive and review the discoveries as I shot. His paintings, in this image, were one such discovery. How good is that white on white painting? Love, love, love...

aalto/euro book preview

Hello friends! Hope you had a lovely day with friends and family yesterday. Today, as promised, I am sharing a couple of images from my new book that I have been working on - both from Alvar Aalto's home in Helsinki, Finland. I am going to keep my comments to a minimum (I have to save some things for the book!). What I will say is that this house was one of the most surprising for me for so many reasons. Two of my favorite days out of the whole entire magical trip!

alvar aalto studio/helsinki

I spent all day Sunday editing the images from Alvar Aalto's home in Helsinki and I ran across a few more from his studio that I had not shared yet. So here they are today! I don't have a lot of info on what you are looking at though. Sorry about that. Hopefully some of you will fill in the info? Thx!

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.

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!

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

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!?!?!

alvar aalto studio/helsinki

Believe it or not this was my lunch break yesterday. I am in Helsinki shooting the Alvar Aalto house for my book and at lunch I ran over to check out Aalto's studio a couple blocks away. Needless to say an amazing space. The house is equally so. I tweeted as I shot yesterday and plan to do the same today if you want to follow along you can follow me @lwillphoto.

note from helsinki/one month in...

Just arrived in Helsinki for what will be a whirlwind Alvar Aalto extravaganza.What does that mean? It means I fly in, shoot Aalto's house for two days and immediately fly out. C'est la vie. I get two amazing days that most people don't ever get...the fact that I will have to make a return trip to experience the design history of Finland is OK by me.
But today I realized I have been traveling for a month. I am a little under half way through my trip, but I still feel like I have so much to do! And amazing opportunities just keep coming out of the woodwork. A lead on an interesting house in Sweden, a possibility that Josef Hoffman's house (that he built for himself) in Austria might be available to shoot...with a little persistence. To steal a line from Charlie Brown "Aaaugh!" I want to shoot them all!
It has gotten to a point where I just try and concentrate on the opportunities that move me. Of course, I have also noticed the more tired I am, the less I am moved! : ) I guess that is typical.
Another shot from Skägga today. Perfect, no?