rewind/dr. freud/london

Well today it starts my friends. I am going back to the beginning of all this travel I have been doing and filling in what I have glossed over. There is so much I have not yet shared. Like this image of Sigmund Freud's office. Some of you may know I am a bit obsessed with Dr. Sigmund Freud and this office. He actually didn't really see a lot of patients here because he was rather ill by the time he was in London. But when he fled Vienna, his office was meticulously packed up and shipped over to London and reconstructed in his home in Hampstead. Can you imagine the thoughts he had sitting in that chair?

Gae Aulenti/RIP

Yesterday I received that sad news that Gae Aulenti had passed away. I photographed her amazing apartment in Milan for my upcoming book this past September. I thought I would share one more shot for today in remembrance. One of the heartbreaking aspects of my work photographing these spaces is the knowledge that some will soon be gone. Houses invariably change after someone leaves this earth. Favorite momentos go to new homes and things are slowly gotten rid of because there is no longer any need for them. It is a natural, yet melancholy process.
Have a beautiful weekend friends.

decaying greenhouse/denmark

There is something about a building that is being allowed to break down that I am consistently drawn to. This greenhouse was on the grounds of the Odrupgaard Museum in Denmark, a stonesthrow from Finn Juhl's House and a Zaha Hadid structure. And here it sits, with memories of it's former glory still evident, at least to me. It makes me wistful. Goodness, I hope they restore it.

happy halloween/

michael anastassiades: time and again/ MAK geymüllerschlössel, vienna

I cannot believe I haven't posted these images until now. When I was first in Vienna last May, Michael Anastassiades' intervention at the MAK Geymüllerschlössel had just opened and everyone was raving about how beautiful it was. Of course I had a short amount of time in Vienna (packed with photo shoots) and so I missed it. But to my good fortune the show was still up when I returned in August! So on my last rainy Saturday, I ventured up to this amazing house filled with Biedermeier that is now the MAK Geymüllerschlössel.
I am drawn to Anastassiades' work for his extreme pared away simplicity. His restraint harks back to Brancusi in my mind. But this intervention is more than Anastassiades' beautiful objects in amazing Biedermeier interiors. In some rooms there is sound. It is quiet, so you hardly notice, but it is oddly affecting. In one particular room, the sound of clocks, heartbeats and whispers made me feel like I was entering into a room that was existing in two separate times (second to last image). I felt like there was a seance happening in another time that I could hear, or feel somehow. I guess that sounds kooky, but I don't know how else to explain it. The more I shot, the more I saw, the more I felt. The effect of this show is subtle and I think it can be easy to miss if you are just walking through. The key is to spend some time. The longer you stay in a room, the more it permeates you.
The show is open until November 25. If you couldn't already tell, I highly recommend a visit.
Thanks to the MAK and curator Thomas Geisler for allowing me to shoot.
All images MAK Geymüllerschlössel, 2012. ©Leslie Williamson

washed out colors/harsh sun

Venturing out to get coffee yesterday I had to make a U-turn to shoot these colors in the harsh sun. As everyone is bundling up and pulling out sweaters, I have to admit I am seasonally confused. I know it is from all the jumping from northern Europe to southern Europe repeatedly and the fact that I was working all summer long. I find myself scratching my head thinking "where did summer go?" Maybe that is why the colors here are so appealing and the way the harsh sun makes them almost disappear. They are suggestions of color. Now if I could just sit in this sun and let my mind wander untethered for about an hour...

saturday night pic/just because

from Věra Janoušková atelier in Prague.