Creative Spotlight: Kings Landscaping

With the first snow fall of the year, I thought I would reflect on warmer days.  We had the opportunity to work with Mark & Noel King, this past summer.  We love shooting for them.  Their team is amazing to work with and we always have a blast.

What you can expect on a Kings Project, is almost likened to landscape art.  The projects are always of the highest quality, the fit and finish are near perfect and every time I'm on sight I think, 'how could it be any better than this?'

 

The designs are practical, functional and beautiful.  Below are just a couple of highlights from one of our favorite shoots this year.  

Creative Spotlight: Expressive Interiors - out door living!

Creating beautiful interior living spaces is what Expressive Interiors is known for.  However, Marietta Calas doesn’t stop her design work there.  She completes it by making your outdoor experience something to really look forward to.  Comfortable, elegant, luxurious! 

Not just Expressive Interiors, it's Expressive Exteriors too.  Just a few highlights below from a late summer photo shoot. 

Random 010: Expressive Interiors

When is a powder room, not just a powder room?  When it’s been designed by Marietta Calas of Expressive Interiors.  

Creative Spotlight: Michael Hershenson Architects –

We had the opportunity to revisit some work that we had done a few years back.  This particular project, was created by Michael Hershenson.  This work has been featured in our marketing materials and website for years and is a consistent favorite in our portfolio. 

Michael and his team are wonderful to work with.  Google them and take a look at their vast body of work.  They can handle anything, from creating your new estate to renovating your existing space whatever it may be.  

 

Below are just a few highlights from the shoot.  

Creative Spotlight: Key Interiors - Virginia Tile

We met up with Debby Hill, Director of Design from Key Interiors, Inc., for a commercial photo-shoot a couple of weeks ago.  The photography tells the story.  Commercial/Retail spaces that have heavy foot traffic can often present quite a challenge for the design team. The Designer has to make sure that the floor layout, product visibility, selection workspaces, all work and flow together for unmatched customer experience.  Those staffing the space need easy access to product samples, implementation, and client consultation areas.  

The fit and finish of materials, cabinets, workspaces were all superb and especially robust.  

 

Notice too, the commercial will-call area for the construction professional.   Here, the commercial client isn’t left to feel as though their business is an afterthought.  Impressive will-call counter and meeting spaces for product reps and craftsman along with demonstration areas for product and installation tools complete the project.  

 

Overall, the end result is what one comes to expect when working with an excellent design and build team.  If you have a commercial or retail space that needs freshening or evening a complete remodel, give Debby a call.  Key Interiors is Chicagolands premier commercial design/build firm.  Below are a few highlights.

Shot on Film: A Bygone Era - Mexico November 1976

When I have spare time, I enjoy film scanning.  We have several high-quality scanners here in the studio, but my favorite is our Minolta DiMage 5400.  There was a time when we would shoot hundreds of rolls of color reversal film per year and scanning was a part of our regular workflow.  Particularly Fuji Astia 100, as it was my hands down favorite.  Often, we would load these film slides into projector trays and have client image viewings using a projector and screen.  That being said, we were always on the lookout for additional projector trays and would often find them for sale at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets etc.  We could never have too many.

 

Nearly everyone kept the original boxes that the trays came in for storage which kept the tray in pristine condition.  Many came loaded with family photos, business photos, snap shots, vacations etc.  Whenever we noticed that the trays had slides in them, we would try to return the film to its proper owner.  In some cases, however, it was impossible to tell when and where the tray of slide film came from and surprisingly many if not all didn’t want the film back.  Just throw it away was commonly heard.  Well, that’s something that a photographer never does.

 

I started to randomly pull a slide or two from some old trays that we hadn’t emptied and scan them.  I am going to post them here under our new feature ‘A Bygone Era’.  I will also try to identify the time period in which the film was shot, the type of film and if possible, the location.

 

I think this is going to be fun, because for me anyway I can look at a slide and just try and reminisce to what life was like during this time.  Since most of the film I have was shot during my lifetime, this won’t exactly be difficult to do.

 

Our first slide is obviously taken from a hotel room while someone was on vacation in Mexico.  This slide is stamped November 1976, a simpler time indeed.  The film here is Kodak Kodachrome.  Notice the complete absence of grain and the robust colors.  Like most film, it scans and displays like it was shot yesterday.  I hope you will enjoy our series of images as we look back at A Bygone Era, and if anyone recognizes the slide as their own, please email me so that we can return it to you.

 

Norman

Random 009: JMD Builders

Here is another shot from a Chicago condo photoshoot that we did for JMD Builders late last year.  The architecture, interior design, and craftsmanship are superb throughout.  JMD is headed up by Jerry Dardick and if you’re looking for an exceptional builder, to handle your project from concept to conception, give Mr. Dardick a call.

This image was captured using a Sony A-850 camera and a Minolta 20mm prime lens.  As with all of our work, this image was completely hand processed and crafted to the highest standards.