Cincinnati Daguerreotype Time Machine, 1848

Randall Stephens

What if we could see, in vivid detail, the world of a mid-19th century American city? We can. Sort of.

On a sunny Sunday in September 1848, two clever daguerreotypists, Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter,

placed their camera on a rooftop next to the Ohio River. From Newport, Kentucky, they captured a sweeping panoramic view of Cincinnati. The massive, detailed image that resulted reveals a bustling western city. The original ranks as one of the Cincinnati Public Library's greatest treasures.

The huge picture contains amazing detail. (See the zoom-in from the YouTube clip embedded here.) Visible in the picture are open windows, a distant clock tower, merchants, free blacks, a railroad station, steamboats, factories, shops, and more. Combine all that visual evidence with the 1850-51 Cincinnati Directory, detail from local papers, booster works of the day, statistical reports, and a full picture emerges.

Wired magazine features the 1848 waterfront daguerreotype in its August 2010 issue. "The panorama could be blown up to 170 by 20 feet without losing clarity," writes Julie Rehmeyer. To reach that level of precision a digital camera version would have to record a staggering 140,000 megapixels per shot. The total stitched-together panorama contains nearly 9-billion pixels. Rehmeyer describes the restoration and stabilization of the plates through the latest technology. Her explanation of the daguerreotype (the latest technology of that day) gives a good sense of how this all worked.

The Cincinnati Library intends to make a zoomable version available on-line next year. Until then, see The University of Rochester and George Eastman House, which has a 180mb version of one part of the Cincinnati Waterfront image on-line. (Warning: That's a massive file.)

I wonder if the zoomable version will be available by the next time I teach my course on American history from 1783-1865. I can see pairing this image up with primary and secondary source materials. Students might answer questions about how the panorama confirms or challenges the reading. What can we learn from the visual record that we can't learn from print? What does the look, design, layout of an America city tell us about this age?

As far as a selection from a primary source . . . any of these would work: James Handasyd Perkins, Annals of the West: Embracing a Concise Account of Principal Events . . . (1852), Charles Cist, The Cincinnati Miscellany (1846), or Eliza R. Steele, A Summer Journey in the West (1841). On the secondary source side: Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford, 2007), Leo Damrosch, Tocqueville's Discovery of America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), or David S. Reynolds, Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson (Harper Perennial, 2009).

Photographer Helen Norman

{Norman Farmhouse}

Photographer Helen Norman shot our home with her assitant, FJ Hughes, for the Better Homes & Gardens Magazine shoot back in February.  We had such a great time and I can't wait to work with them again!  Helen is not only crazy-talented but she's hysterical and so much fun to be around.  She's one of those people whom you feel instantly at ease around.  (clearly my toddler, Christian, agrees- below)  FJ is super-cool and very relaxed, and he & his wife also just had a new baby.

{me, Jessica Thomas, Joanna Linberg, Helen Norman- holding Christian- , FJ Hughes}

When Helen first arrived at our house, she checked it out and immediately told me how crazy it was because  our kitchens were so alike.  She has the same gray-green cabinets with wite open shelving instead of upper cabinets and a sort of clean-lined  modern farmhouse feeling in her kitchen.  She informed me that our styles were really similar and she even has many of the same types of flea-market./ thrift-store finds that I have.  Joanna told me what an amazing house Helen had so I bugged Helen for pictures- in particular of the kitchen.  Well, I got them and now I almost wish I hadn't seen them!!!  ;)  Her kitchen is basically my kitchen all grown up.  (i.e WAYYY BETTER!!)  It's everything I wanted for my own kitchen:  custom inset cabinets, soapstone sink, marble countertops... I could keep going but never in all my life have I seen a space that I just want to blatantly copy like this one. 

{I just want to be there}

Perfection!!!  Here's my dream sink:

I just get such a feeling when looking at Helen's photographs.  There's so much life and they feel personal and real.  Her kitchen feels so relaxed and functional and perfectly simple. 

 

Look at here amazing collection of cloches!! (below) Soooo amazing!!  And these cabinets?!! mm mm mm

How gorgeous are the shelves??  I seriously just want to copy everything in this kitchen.

Even her piled up dishes in the sink are beautiful!!

I love how the shelves frame the window:

Anyway, if you want to drool some more head over to her website here.  (Her portfolio is perfection!!)

Hope you had a great weekend!!

xoxo,

lauren

*photography by Helen Norman  ;)

If I could, I would... Gordon Beall

If I could have Gordon Beall photograph my work, I would in a heartbeat!! (I would flip out actually!!!!) And It's Friday and I finally decided to join the Hooked on Houses Blog Party because I'm hooked on Gordon Beall!!! All of the images below of from Gordon Beall Photography and I apologize for not listing all of the designers whose work is shown, but wanted to focus on the photography:


As some of you know, I've had a lot of projects this year (including the new house) that are wrapping up & I'm looking to get them photographed. If I could afford any photographer on this planet, it would be Gordon Beall.

He did all of the photography for Darryl Carter's The New Traditional and since then I've noticed his work for some of my other favorite designers, including Stephen Knollenberg and Sue Burgess.

Of course the rooms themselves are AMAZING, but Gordon Beall captures them in a way that's just perfect to me.

Out of my league, yes, I know, but a girl can dream, right??

Every picture evokes a mood, a feeling... It's never just about the room but more about how it would actually feel to be standing in that room, enjoying it, appreciating it.

OK, going through all of these images, I just decided to send a query in on the Gordon Beall website about pricing... I figured, it doesn't hurt to ask, right??

I had to explain that my work is in more "normal" homes than what he usually does. (I'll get there one day- ahhh!!! ;)

How beautiful are these photos & spaces?!!!!

I would love to have a room like this at home:

There's such a simpl, beautiful feeling about the spaces...

This one feels a bit nostaligic:

Again, perfect simplicity:

Love this shot:

I'm sure a lot of you recognize this one:

I love this photo below because of the little boy reading... What are your thoughts on having people in the finished rooms?

Oh wow:

LOVE seeing dogs in interior photography. When I used to photograph my work, I would stalk my puppy, Ashby, around the house and put her where I wanted her... :)

Remember this one?:

And who can forget these windows?

So, what are you hooked on this Friday? Have any thoughts/ tips/ words of wisdom for me on hiring a professional photographer?

xoxo,

lauren

Tips for Taking Interior Photographs (non-technical!!)

I received a bunch of emails after my last post asking about tips for taking "after" pics of rooms, so I thought I'd share some that I've discovered over the years. (I am by NO MEANS a professional as you can tell though!! ) Since so many of us are obsessed with getting our houses looking pretty & have blogs, I figured it couldn't hurt! A lot of these might sound like no-brainers, but I really had no clue about them when I started.

1) Don't use flash. Here are a some of 'before and after' pics of our old house, where we moved just after the apartment, the townhouse. I took them when we first moved in, but some of the 'afters' are from a year or 2 later. Here are a couple of "flash" photos:

Images with flash end up being dark & cold & cheap-looking. (above & below)

Now, check out the "after" (below). It's light & airy and much better:

2) Shoot during the day when the lighting is good. (Unless you're specifically after nighttime shots like a Christmas tree at night or candles or something special like a city view.) Here is our living room when we first moved in. (With all of my lovely decor from my old apartment... eeeeeek) I didn't use flash on it even though it was taken at night: (which is good)

But check out the difference in the same room during the day: (no flash of course)

3) This one really should have been a no-brainer for me (but it wasn't!)... You should "style" the space. (ok, #1 clear out clutter... I think in the pic below that I must've just been trying to get a shot of the pretty roses from my husband -- not trying to get a room shot--- but it does illustrate this point perfectly. How can you even notice the flowers when there's junk everywhere?!)

How much prettier do these (below) look? No clutter, no flash... HUGE difference:

Some reminders for styling: ditch items like wastebaskets, newspapers... Hide your electrical cords. Tape them to the underside & down the back legs of furniture so you can't see them. Nothing is worse than a tangle of cords.

Styling for the kitchen: Sometimes people actually go too sterile when photographing kitchens. But, remember you can ditch items like your toaster (if it's not cute & takes up too much space), sponges, pot scrubbers, pens & pencils, etc. Consider having a pretty soap dish or dispenser, nice towels, good-looking cooking utensil holder, a bowl of fruit and/ or vase of flowers.


The pictures above & below are from when we sold our house so actually a few things are missing because staging is different from decorating (like the pretty towels & a few things that might warm it up) but we did set up a couple of bottes of Aquafina on the bar, which I always think looks nice. (I love Aquafina bottles & totally refill them with fresh water & stick them back in the fridge!!)

Styling for the Bedroom: Again, some fresh flowers or something pretty on the nightstands. (Even set up some colorful jewelry or books--- anything that's pretty & adds a little something)... Add interest to bedding. Think of Pottery barn and all their layers. Even just a throw at the end of the bed can do the trick.

Show personal, but not-too-personal-items that make the space look lived in: NOT the box of tissues but maybe a cool glass of water in a vintage glass or a pair of glasses on a stack of pretty books..

For living rooms, a lot of the same things apply. Use pretty pillows and interesting accessories. Get rid of any clutter that isn't attractive. Always add fresh flowers or greenery if you have time. You'd be surprised what a huge difference adding flowers/ greenery into the room does. Again, the goal is to make the space look "lived-in" but not cluttered.

Pottery Barn is awesome at styling in my opinion. I might not always be in love with what they're selling but I'm always so impressed with their styling. (above) For dining rooms, make sure there's something beautiful on the table. It doesn't necessarily have to be a set table (which does look gorgeous) but it could be something simple like a pair of lanterns or dinnerware stacked up as if it's about to be set with a little vase of fresh flowers.

Take advantage of tabletops & shelves. Every surface is a change to create something beautiful. It's important to train your eye. Scour catalogs & design magazines & notice all the details that are present & missing. You'll be surprised by how much you can learn & by how good you'll get.

4) Use a tripod or hard surface to set the camera on. I'm really guilty of not following this rule and it shows. This is huge because if you're not using flash, it's really easy for the photo to blur and any movement at all messes the photo up. (Virtually none of the photos I take myself are clear enough, probably because if this!! ok, I know what I need to go buy!!)

5) Leave out any unattractive features in the room from the shot... Depending upon the look/ mood you're going for, this could be anything from the TV, to speakers, to the chair that you just haven't had the time/ money to reupholster yet.

6) Shoot from lots of different angles & take TONS of pics. I'm not a professional photographer so I don't know which angle a shot will look best from so I take them all. This way, I get tons of photos of one room & I have my pick of which shot works best. I'm often surprised that the one I thought would work the best, doesn't. Get low, get high, go straight on... try it all. (You'll eventually get the hang of what usually works best & won't have to always take so many shots but it's good to start out this way to find out what you like. )

7) Figure out the style of photography you like & try to emulate it. There is a HUGE difference between Architectural Digest & Domino. I made the (HUGE!!!) mistake of spending $$$$s on a photographer who did work for Architectural Digest to shoot for my portfolio. His work was amazing, but totally not my style. The photos ended up looking static & serious to me, which was not how I wanted my work coming across at all. The angles were all straight on & I couldn't feel any movement in the room. I was able to use a few shots that I loved, but overall for the amount of money I spent, I was really disappointed. (They're all on my website now & it drives me CRAZY!!! arg!!) But the point is, it was my fault. I didn't have enough knowledge of the style of photography I wanted. If you can figure out what you like, you can immitate it. (country living image below)

So, there you have some info on how to get better interior shots. I know I didn't address any technical issues & that would be because I'm still clueless in that arena!!! (I have yet to read my camera's manual so that might help a bit!) Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!
xoxo,

lauren