I figured I would sneak in one more blog post before 2010 is over and done. It’s been an interesting year, with many highs and a few big lows. I’ve written about some of those in previous posts, so I won’t dwell on them here. But one of the pluses for 2010 is that I played more gigs this year than I have in a long, long time. From about August until now, I was playing nearly every weekend with at least one of the four bands I’m involved in. It has reminded me how much I really enjoy playing music. And I’ve met some really great players, that were under my radar until recently.

On the photo side of things, it has been a fairly quiet fall. I shot the Joe Nichols shows in September and November, a couple of corporate headshot sessions, and the Hines Farm benefit, but that’s been about it.  A few weeks back, a realtor friend of mine asked me to photograph a couple of unique listings of his. He realized that the typical realtor-shot images of the interiors wouldn’t do these homes justice, and felt my skills with the camera could help generate more interest in these properties.

The two homes were quite different from each other.

One was a large, early 20th century home in Toledo’s Old West End area and featured custom wood trim and built-ins. Because of its historic nature, it still retained the original wallpaper in the dining room as well as a few original Tiffany lamps. The dark wood and limited lighting in this stately home posed a challenge in my attempt to get proper, consistent exposures in many of the rooms.

The other listing was more typical of the newer, larger suburban homes found in many areas around the country. It was originally a builder’s home and the numerous custom features found throughout, were indicative of this. Numerous customized tray ceilings, a built-in desk in the study, lighted art niches, and the dramatic two-story entry all proved this was no cookie-cutter subdivision clone. While the lighter decor and more elaborate lighting in this home helped my images, I was constantly struggling to capture the drama of the custom ceilings in many rooms. Using an extremely wide-angle lens helped get more area in the frame, but it also started to distort the vertical and horizontal lines of the highly detailed ceiling designs.

Initial interest in these listings has been very high, according to my realtor friend. I hope these properties do well for him – it’s been a tough couple of years in the real estate industry.