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I had to keep quiet about this one for a whole year, but it was worth the wait! I took these photos for Cottages and Bungalows magazine back in December 2019 at Tracy VanVolkinburg’s (@plaids.and.poppies) very merry, Christmassy home in Dorr, Michigan—feels like it was just yesterday!
Here’s another hotel shoot I did with Suburban Inns—this one of the Holiday Inn Express (Grand Rapids Southwest) in Grandville!
I really enjoyed taking a road trip down a portion of Historic Route 66 to photograph the Bank of Pontiac branch in Dwight, Illinois, for the design-build firm behind the project, La Macchia Group! The bank grew out of its historic 1910 building just down the road but carried on the old location’s legacy by incorporating a reproduction of a large painting that still hangs there. The scene was painted by Vienna-born artist, Oskar Gross, and features a local farmer working his team of horses. Always love an excuse to visit small town USA!
A recently completed McGraw Construction project that I photographed—the cool new offices of Waséyabek Development Company in downtown Gramd Rapids!
This was a fun shoot I did for a Grand Rapids Magazine article. Fashion designer, Archie Sudue, grew up in Liberia in West Africa and, through a series of events, now lives here in Grand Rapids where he has just opened menswear store, Mel Styles! I never really do fashion-type shoots, so it was a really fun change of pace.
Some highlights from my photo shoot for Suburban Inns of the Hampton Inn in Holland, Michigan! I find hotels to be hands-down the most challenging type of space to shoot. You have to work around the day-to-day operations of a busy hotel, and there is often very little natural light to work with. For a shot of a hotel room, for example, the standard main shot requires shooting straight into the one natural light source of the room—the window! (Not to mention, space is tight, so camera position and focal length options are very limited.) While I typically prefer all lights turned off in my photos to avoid overexposed light fixtures and undesirable color casts, hotels are a bit of an exception, in that it seems customary for lights to be turned on in this genre of photography. The way I combat the lack of natural light and blown-out light fixtures is by bouncing a few flashes into the ceiling, one side at a time, and then of course, masking them out later in Photoshop so it looks like they were never there.
I photographed the slick new Fox Mazda dealership in Grand Rapids for construction firm, Triangle Associates! I make a cameo in shot #2 :) When scouting this location beforehand, I decided maybe now is the time to finally go in on the Canon 17mm tilt shift, as I knew there were plenty of compositions in here where it would come in handy. It was near the bottom of my camera gear priority list for so long because, stylistically, I always try to shy away from the super wide perspectives. I would either squeeze what I could out of my 24mm tilt shift, or just deal with the barrel distortion of my 17-40mm when needing to go wider. But sometimes cranking that focal length wide open (and not having to worry about bulging distortion or potential loss of image via keystone correction) really just comes in handy in certain situations and is more practical to have on hand in the huge variety of situations I encounter, so I’m glad I’ve added it to my arsenal!
Here’s a fun and vibrant photo shoot I did for APEX Design Build of their work on Pediatric Dentistry of Brighton!
Farah Merhi’s book that I photographed was shown on the Today Show with Hoda & Jenna! Farah is the founder of Inspire Me Home Decor (@inspire_me_home_decor), the most-followed home design ideas page, with 6 million followers. She shared decorating and entertaining tips for fall in a live segment earlier this week.
Christine and Gabe Bridger of Company + Cottage (www.companyandcottage.com) breathed new life and purpose into this 1907 barn on the shores of Lake Michigan, transforming it into a comfy, rustic getaway that preserved old materials while creating a modern, liveable space! The photos I took of her finished project are in the current issue of American Farmhouse Style magazine!
