I didn't fully appreciate interior photography until I started working along side professionals. Assisting on set has been the best training I could have asked for. Over the past year or so, I've actually started to see things differently! I thoroughly enjoy the process of staging as well. Setting the scene to get everything in the shot as close to perfect as humanly possible is an art.
Kitchens might be my favorite room to shoot and stage. Sometimes it's about creating a floral bouquet, or playing with linens or flatware. It's most successful when you can create connections with the colors or textures — like how the glassware in the above image repeats the amber color of the ceiling light, blurred in the background. These detail shots are my favorite because they don't tell the whole story. They pull you in and show you a sneak peek into the room, which makes you want to see more.
My other favorite staging item is fruit! Green apples are fabulous for adding warmth to a kitchen. There's something about seeing a dozen of the same thing in a bowl that lights up a photo. I also love reflective surfaces for creating repetition with lights.
Then there is my love of unusual perspectives. Seeing things from a different vantage point can shake things up and make ordinary items seem fresh. This chandelier has a lot of personality, so I wanted to show just a snippet of it up close from a higher point of view.
Another attempt at showing reflected lights — I love how this light fixture isn't even in the photo except for reflected in the framed photo on the wall. Those little planters are also unique. The client's selection, they add a lot of personality to this image. If you look really closely you can see a tiny plastic figure sitting on the top stair.