Shevlin Reserve Residence
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Oregon Home | Architectural Photographer Oregon
I am super excited to announce the new Oregon Home Magazine is now on store shelves! The cover image was photographed by yours truly, featuring Thomas Lauderdale from the famed Pink Martini in the comforts of his Portland residence. Oregon Home Magazine has undergone some incredible changes in the last few months, revamping the look and feel of its publication to a beautiful, new source of architecture and living in Oregon.
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New website for Paula Watts Photography!
Hello all! I’m so excited to announce the launch of my new website! Check it out!
I’ve taken some time (behind-the-scenes), between photoshoots, client meetings, emails, taxes (whaaaat, what’s that?!) blogging, bookkeeping, being a mommy to an adorable 2-year old, moving houses, being a wife, killing it at Crossfit (haha.. that last part is laughable), keeping up on social media (what’s this stories thing I need to do?)… okay, clearly a lot… to find and curate images that speak to my style, breadth of work, expertise, and experience. I’ve narrowed the galleries down extensively, but hope it gives my viewer (you) a quick and beautiful walk through my work. My passion.
Enjoy!
Classic Wood Accents | Bend, Oregon
I recently photographed high end interior and exterior doors for Classic Wood Accents here in Bend, Oregon. They are a top manufacturer for doors, stair casing, molding and hardware for custom homes. Here are a couple examples of some of their recent fine craftsmanship.
Belluschi Residence | Portland Oregon Architectural Photographer
My last post discussed the importance of lighting for all types of photography. I used a before/after example from my photo shoot at the Belluschi Residence in Portland, Oregon for Oregon Home Magazine. For this post, I wanted to show some of the interiors, including the kitchen, living room, and interior of their beautiful yoga studio.
What is especially unique about this property is that it was originally designed by the famous architect, Pietro Belluschi. Once purchased by Mike McCulloch and Maryellen Horkheimer, they wanted to keep the original feel and space as initially intended, but with some modern updates. Mike being an architect himself, kept the transition seamless. Maryellen is a master gardner and landscaper, and together the home is now not only a comfortable living space, but also a scenic garden retreat.
The marriage of architecture and its surroundings made it feel like there was no distinction between inside and out. The rolling landscape was either in your window’s view or you were enjoying the tremendous space the family built for outside living. I wanted and needed to capture that as the photographer, lighting the rooms, making sure the windows show the exterior view as well as maintaining the warmth of the interiors.
Gesme Exterior | Architectural Photographer | Bend, Oregon
Well, it only took a few months to wait for Central Oregon’s weather to get a great evening shot of the Gesme’s Residence in Pronghorn…. but so worth the wait. I shot the interior of this home a while back for architectural designer Kirsti Wolfe, and architect Scott Gilbride, both fantastic in their field (see previous post Pronghorn Residence) and was excited to get some great exterior images for them. I met with the builder of the home Greg Vendrame in Pronghorn to do this evening shoot and had a great time exposing for their attention to detail and remarkable quality. Altogether, this team of professionals is great at what they do and the proof is in the pudding as they say! Take a look!
Architectural Lighting | Architectural Photographer, Bend OR
Have you ever wondered what makes an image really stand out from the rest? Or, perhaps, how to get your home or space to photograph well for an advertising campaign? Well, I won’t give away all my trade secrets as an architectural photographer here, but I will show you a quick comparison that will help train your eye to see light differently, as well as how to become a discerning client when needing to hire a professional photographer that will make your building/residence/commercial space really shine.
The two images below are the exact same residence, the exact same angle, the exact same day. Sure, you can probably see that. Will it surprise you then to learn that the two images were photographed only 22 minutes apart? A bit more intrigued now?
I photographed these two images to showcase the dramatic difference that lighting can make in a photograph. The first image was taken at the end of the day with no additional lighting equipment used. The sun was still the main lighting source. Because of the nature of the home’s architecture, beautifully designed by Scott Gilbride Architecture, the sun didn’t do a very good job reaching to the inside corners of the patio. In order to compensate for that, the exposure either gets longer, or the depth of field gets shorter (not ideal for architecture) and the sky, then, gets whiter. Indeed, you can see for yourself the overall dull appearance the home had.
In comparison, for the second image, I waited only 20 more minutes for the sun to go below the horizon, (becoming the ambient (or fill) light for the photo shoot). The main light source became my photography lights that I added with strategic placement to add light where needed as well as add a more dramatic feel overall to the photo. The home then became lit from the inside and outside, giving it a warm glow in appearance and a well deserved contrast from the rich blue sky from the dusk evening.
When searching to hire a professional architectural photographer, or even a professional photographer for other subject matters, please remember that lighting ALWAYS matters. It is important to find a photographer that is going to make your product, home, or business really shine, and that lighting is one of the very best ways we are going to do that for you!