What Every Back Yard Needs
Here are several more personal architectural images from my pool shoot last week. They're from a small house in East Hampton. The owner bought the property for a quick fix and flip. It is a small, one story 80s vintage bungalow with a great, sloping back yard. Her architect designed a huge wooden wall in front of the house which is what you see to the left in my first image. My pool guy, Mikie, designed an incredible negative edge pool which took advantage of the back yard's steep grade. His mason used the same stone for the veneer of the pool's wall, the patio, and the house foundation's veneer. I like how Mikie picked up the wood theme from the house's front wall, and incorporated it in the back yard's retaining walls. This little Hampton's weekend getaway can be yours for a mere $1.75M.
Walk Way Across the Dunes
Today, I was photographing swimming pools for my pool company. For fourteen years, we've had a barter system whereby I photograph their newly constructed pools and, in return, they service and maintain my pool. After nearly a decade and-a-half, I can say without fear of contradiction that I am an expert at swimming pool photography. So this afternoon, I was at a brand new, 15000 square foot, "mac-man" lodged in the dunes overlooking the ocean. The pool was all right: I guess what made it somewhat photogenic was its location and its proximity to the ocean. But for about ten minutes, I became really preoccupied with photographing the walkway through the dunes and down onto the beach. The raw file capture below was rgb color, of course, but with a small digital back rub, I ended up with this image.
And what's cool is after fourteen years of doing this, the pool guy, Mikie, knows to leave me alone when I wander off, and I start to photograph random things. In fact, by now, he's always really interested to see what has attracted my attention.
Not My Big Phat Swimming Pool
It's August, so it must be pool shooting season...no,no,no...not in some smokey bar room hustling 8 ball. For me, shooting pool is an outdoor event (although this year I shot some indoors, one even in a Manhattan private residence). What I'm talking about is shooting swimming pools, and I've been photographing them for Pools by Jack Anthony for fourteen years. I work directly with Mikie. He's one of four brothers, all involved in the family business. Besides marketing and selling the company's pools, Mikie designs the pools. In the past five or six years, he's gotten really, really good at it. Aided by computer technology, he's able to construct one of a kind, free form vinyl pools; something in the swimming pool parlance that was unimaginable ten years ago. In addition, he designs and constructs high end, gunite pools. My part in all of this is to photograph completed projects, not only for Mike's portfolio, but for his swimming pools' submission in an international awards program as well as a local awards program.
Over fourteen years I've photographed a lot of swimming pools. Up until last year I always used a 4x5 Sinar view camera, usually with a Schneider 58mm XL and a center filter. I'd then scan the transparencies on a Creo scanner, and output digital files and prints. The past two years I have gone over to digital. Now, instead of going out the door with a large camera case, tripod and film bag with dozens of film holders and Polaroid, I hop into Mikie's truck with a small camera bag and a Macbook Pro. My, my how times have changed. I still miss large format film.
This is a gunite, negative edge pool and spa on Shinnecock Bay. The white masonry is imported Italian glass 4 foot by 4 foot tile: the day I photographed this pool, it was nearly a hundred degrees, and the white tiles were cool to the touch. Nice job Mikie.
