A few days ago Molly Visser at John L. Scott Real Estate contacted me to photograph a 5,000 square foot home on about 5 acres north of Bellingham on Patton Road. This is a beautiful home for a family that wants lots of space and privacy. January weather is always a gamble, but even though we didn’t luck out with a sunny day it was still nice enough to shoot from the air with my drone as well as from the ground. Continue reading Big House in the Country
Last week I returned to Bellingham’s Lettered Streets neighborhood to photograph a home at 2309 A Street, just a couple of blocks from where I used to live. It’s a cute little 2-bedroom home I looked at nearly every day for more than 20 years. The owners have taken good care of it, and unlike a lot of older homes its charm hasn’t been remodeled away.
I took it as a good omen when the low winter sun shown through the beveled glass front door, casting rainbows of light on the wood floor in the living room. I caught the fleeting pattern on my iPhone while realtor Jeff Braimes and I were talking with the owner prior to photographing the interior. Catch the rainbow photo on Instagram.
The bathroom has a classic claw-foot tub, but with the addition of a shower.
The kitchen has been updated with new countertops and felt bright, comfortable, and very functional. There’s even a nice breakfast nook, behind us in this photo.
Perhaps best of all was the comment I received from my client, “I am getting so many nice compliments on the images of A Street! Let’s do it again on Wednesday on South Hill.”
I purchased a flying camera, more commonly known as a drone, late last month and I’ve been out practicing with it. These are a couple of photos I made of the Hotel Bellwether around sunset on August 10.
New FAA rules for the commercial use of drones were approved earlier this summer, taking effect on August 29. I’ll be taking the certification test soon after it’s available and am looking forward to being able to offer this “camera in the sky” view for my real estate and commercial customers starting this fall.
I look at this flying camera as providing a tripod in the sky. Figuring out where to place it for stills is intuitive, but getting my eye-hand coordination working right for smooth video moves is going to take some more practice. It makes me think I should have wasted more time playing video games.
Last Friday, April 15, I photographed this nice home on Parkridge Road in Bellingham’s Edgemoor neighborhood for Windermere agent Kristi Thorndike-Kent. The listing went live on Monday, April 18, and this morning I received a text from Kristi:
“Thank you for the great photos of Parkridge…tons of showings, multiple offers and SOLD!!!:)”
Here are a couple of the interior photos. I photographed this home after the sellers had moved out and cleaned.
The interiors were photographed with my 16-35mm lens. The exterior at the top of the post was photographed with my pole-mounted camera for a better view of the yard than was possible from street level.
I received a query this morning from a realtor who said she thought she would need an aerial viewpoint for an upcoming listing because the home is on the uphill side of the street on Bellingham’s South Hill. I suggested that a front view of the house with a pole-mounted camera would probably show the house very nicely.
This afternoon I paid a quick visit to the neighborhood and made a couple of test images, one from street level and the other with my camera at the top of my 15-foot pole.
I think the results show that a drone isn’t always necessary. A pole camera photo is faster and cheaper than a drone.
A house is just a building. It becomes a home when you fill it with your memories and your stuff.
At Whatcom House Photos I photograph both houses and homes of all sizes.
When a home is empty — between families — you’ll see the bare walls and floors and imagine how your furniture might look in the space, how your artwork (and family portraits) will look on the walls, and how it might feel to live there.
When I photograph a home that is occupied I aim to make it look like one you’d see on the pages of a magazine. You’ll get ideas about ways the current owner has made the space work for them that may also apply to your family.
Either way, I want you to get a sense of space and light when you view the photos of the property so you can imagine the house becoming your home.