max lamb talk tonight at 6pm/ workshop residency, sf

Spent a lovely morning coffeeing and catching up with my friend, designer Max Lamb who is visiting from London for a short stint. He is talking tonight at Worshop Residency in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco.
833 22nd St. x Tennessee. Starts at 6pm. See you there!

notes from the writing cabin/a thought

Sometimes the images I like the most have nothing to do with where I am shooting. They don't talk about the place at all but are just a nice moment.

just pretty/aubock

Just pretty light, don't you think?

irving harper/finally a book!

I got a really lovely surprise in the mail before Christmas. A few of the new Irving Harper/Works in Paper book that is coming out soon. you can pre-order it here. I am so proud to have some my images from my shoots at Irving's included in the book. It is exciting that more people will get a chance to see Irving's amazing paper sculptures in more detail. So inspiring!! Michael Maharam and his crew have done such a wonderful job.
Looking at the new book today got me to thinking about all the images I have never shared and for some reason this one jumped out at me. Just a storage room in Irvings attic/studio, but man were there some gems in there! Lots of files of his furniture designs, and of course, a few paper sculptures/pieces, as you can see. I really love the wall with the crack marks. They reminded me of snail trails.

carina seth andersson/ nyt.people watching outtakes

A few more outtakes from Carina Seth Andersson's studio in Sweden. I really love the pared back aesthetic. Black, white and a couple shots of bright yellow. In the last shot are her glass baby rattles. Apparently she has a bit if a sense of humour as well.
Happy Christmas.

the last NYT People Watching/Carina Seth Andersson outtakes

I've been meaning to post some outtakes of Carina Seth Andersson from my People Watching post for the NYTimes so finally today here are a few. This will be my last People Watching post I am sad to say. There are big changes afoot at T Style online and that includes moving away from columns. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to my editors, Julia Felsenthal and Jane Herman Bishop who helped to make the column into something I will always be proud of. And of course a special thanks to all of you for following and sending kind and encouraging emails, comments, etc. People Watching sprang out of what I was doing already - namely finding people whose work I admire and basically inviting myself over to meet them - and I will continue to do just that. I find so much joy in it and even more in sharing these people with all of you. So maybe they will be posted here on my blog, or maybe they will be elsewhere. I have toyed with the idea of doing a one off magazine of all the wonderful people I have shot that have never been seen...there are so many possibilities! So we'll see...

For now, I am happily writing my new book and prepping a Kickstarter campaign that will post in the first weeks of 2013 to help me to finish that book. Lots of amazing things are on the horizon. So a deep and grateful thank you. I hope your holidays are filled with love, beauty and time with those that are dearest to you. 

Kisses from California! 

L-

finn juhl/

Just a quiet image for this Friday. Shot in Finn Juhl's home office. Have a lovely weekend friends.

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!

saturday night pic/just because

from Věra Janoušková atelier in Prague.

atelier brancusi/pt. 3

Last day of Atelier Brancusi images from my time in Paris.  Of course I had to lead off with the image of Brancusi's view camera. Brancusi's photographs have always affected me. He was rather diligent in documenting his space, work and himself. His self portraits are some of my favorites. See a nice self portrait of Brancusi as well as a great post on the space itself here. And thanks to my friends at the 189 who did a nice post on my images of Brancusi as well as my new book. That post is here. They say some really lovely things and I am always grateful for their support.
I am actually a little surprised by all the attention these Atelier Brancusi posts have gotten. AFAR magazine put it on their "what we're reading" last week and Remodelista did the same thing in their Roundup. So thanks to all of you for the love!
I am just getting back to work this week and starting to edit all the images and make it into my upcoming book. There is so much that I have not even shared from my two month adventure so expect a lot more interesting stuff. Coming soon a nice juicy post or two on the Bruno Mathsson HQ.

atelier brancusi/paris

When I was in Paris last week, I made sure to go to Atelier Brancusi. I love Brancusi for too many reasons to list here. Brancusi left his studio and all its contents with the express instructions for it to be recreated in it's entirety for people to visit. It took the French Government awhile to get it worked out, where it would go and how to present it faithfully. So I have been so curious to see how they achieved this. Would it be faithful to his wishes? Would it feel authentic to all the amazing photographs Brancusi took of his own space? They had a lot to live up to. Unsurprisingly, my feeling about it are conflicted. But it is hard not to just lose oneself in Brancusi's life's work and most famous pieces that he kept in his own collection. These images today are just the first main studio. There will be more.

one day in paris/

After this two month adventure of shooting amazing houses (and many other things), I ended up with just one day in Paris to myself. My last day of the trip. I haven't spent time in Paris, without jetlag, for about 15 years. I originally had planned to stay a bit longer but I quickly realized that Paris would be lost on me. I was just too tired. But still, I had a really lovely day through the rain and drizzle. Here are some random shots from my phone. I shot a bit more on my proper camera but haven't even looked at them yet. Expect a post on Atelier Brancusi soon. I went crazy there...
There are a couple from the Palais Royale, one of Atelier Brancusi, a shot of the interior of Maison Margiela and the beautiful Arts at Metiers Metro stop.
It is nice to be back in California, but I am moving at half speed it would seem. The adrenaline of travel has worn off. So I'm taking a little breather and then I jump into the next phase of making this book. Editing.

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.

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!

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.

věra janoušková atelier/prague

Chalk it up to good old fashioned fatigue, but between shooting in Prague and Brno and simultaneoulsy editing (and editing, and editing...) my NYT People Watching post (heads up, it will post on Monday!), I just don't have a lot to say today. I am knackered!
So I am going to keep it simple with just a few shots from my visit to the artist, Věra Janoušková's atelier in Prague. A really amazing space.

maxim velcovsky/studio visit

My favorite shot from yesterday's impromptu shoot at Maxim Velcovsky's studio in Prague. I have become a bit obsessed with these shots of reflections lately. I did an embarrassing amount at Bruno Mathsson's house last week as well, but that house is ALL windows on two sides, so I guess it might make sense there. Here is was a reflection in a wonderful glass fronted case that was used to sell thermometers.

nyt.people watching/preview

OK...I cannot say much about this picture except that I am totally in love with it! I have been editing and writing my next NYT People Watching post and frankly it is frustrating. Can I do it in two parts? There are SO MANY images! I know...a good problem to have, but still. This is one of my favorites and there is no way it is going to make the cut. But isn't it a beauty? I used to play with one of those zylophone things when I was little...I can still hear the sound it makes in my head. A new People Watching so so soon!