editing/

I am in the middle of sequencing all the images into chapters for my new book and it is always so interesting the images that just kind of stick with me. This one keeps pulling me and there is a snowball's chance in hell it will make it in the book. It is from a storage room at Carl Aubock Werkstatte. But goodness it is pretty...

old operating theatre/london

On my visit to London in September, I visited the Old Operating Theatre Museum. Truth be told, this was one of my "I am not leaving without visiting" destinations. I love things like this! Maybe it is because I was weaned on Masterpiece Theatre, or that I have a fascination with surgery (I have photographed a few...) - I don't really know, but the room itself did not disappoint. It is surprisingly small and the details (like the little box of sawdust under the table to soak up the blood) added so much to my imagining this room in use. It is rather horrific to think what it would have been like to have had surgery without all the modern advances like anesthetic, X-rays, etc. - you know little things like that. There was a display of old surgical instruments that was rather harrowing/fascinating as well.
The theatre is located in the attic of an old church which added a layer of intrigue to the visit. We had to climb up a spiral staircase into the attic and then go through another part of the "museum" that was filled with old apothecary artifacts called the "Herb Garret". That part of the museum was a little hokey in my estimation, but hey...what ever floats your boat. I added a couple images of the Herb Garret at the end there. Funky, right? Wonder what the alligators were used for...

braun/old school

Old school Braun stereo from one of the houses for my new book. It still has the old microphone and recorder! Damn, I wish I could have recorded my voice on this thing...

evelyn ackerman/RIP

I got the sad news Wednesday evening that designer, Evelyn Ackerman had passed away. I had the pleasure of photographing Evelyn and Jerry Ackerman's home for my book Handcrafted Modern. To say it was a wonderful two day shoot is a bit of an understatement. At one point I was shooting in their hallway and peeked in their living room to see them sitting on the couch looking at the new Ikea catalog that had just arrived. They weren't shopping though, they were observing where design was going and discussing the products from a design standpoint. The looked at it for at least a 1/2 hour. It was great.
At the end of my two days, Evelyn and Jerry took me to their favorite noodle house on Sawtelle in LA. It was the perfect way to end the shoot.
Evelyn's tapestry designs are among my favorite from her catalog of work and probably what she is best known for. There is an optimism and lightheartedness to them that always makes me smile. I also love the wood "tiles" in these pics (a couple outtakes from my shoot at their home). The ones in their kitchen are signs of the zodiac. Wish I owned one for my sign (I'm a cancer).
Evelyn, you will be missed and lovingly remembered.

gae aulenti/milan

I edited all the images from Gae Aulenti's home and I am bit in love with this one. It isn't from her home, though. I shot this in her architecture office which is attached to her apartment. There is something gorgeous with that reflection...so pretty!

doors/torino

I've been editing from my trip in April and May in Italy. While I was shooting Casa Mollino in Torino, I took so many images of the beautiful doors there. so a few of those today...

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!