Caring about the detail makes all the difference. It doesn’t matter whether it is something so simple that we can do it with our eyes shut or whether the task is a complex and challenging one…attention to detail is everything. It shows that you have taken time, that you care and that you are serious….Paying attention to the detail illuminates a generosity of spirit…it is a way to be noticed and a way to show that you are a keen observer….
I am fond of a detail and I spend a great deal of time fussing with details. I have recently embarked on a new project with photographer Carla Coulson where together we create and style images for an online photo library. These shots are exclusive to this agency and are available for magazine editors, journalists, publishers and any other interested parties to purchase for commercial publication or personal use. The fun part is that we work together most months, we create photographs that we love from scratch and even better we set all the shoots up at home. There is something magical about the light in Provence and especially in our farmhouse which is set against a backdrop of olive groves just outside the small village of Saint Rémy de Provence in Southern France. This light manages to turn even the mundane into the exquisite…and that is the most important detail when taking photographs…the light…if the light’s not working then an image must perform overtime to evoke a reaction.
The shots were taken in our kitchen and the idea was to tell a story..For the eye to register that a Provencal kitchen is the heart of this home, that this kitchen is not only for cooking but for eating and socialising…this is a place to talk farming and to talk family. The small details…the polished wooden table top, the peak of terracotta tiles, the hand picked lime-blossom in the glass canisters, the painted ladder back chairs with traditional woven straw seats, the light switches, the cabinetry, the parchment light shades…all tell a Provencal tale…
The focus or ‘detail’ here is the garlic cloves…The exterior light from the adjacent window illuminates the composition and I think makes this humble vegetable look rather beautiful…
Provencal life is earthy and the bunches of garlic are practical table decorations… but the ‘detail’ has moved and now our focus is on the reflection of the garlic and the china….Again the light makes something so simple become quite luminescent….
A change of focus and the suggestion is about eating and cooking with the soft detail of La Cornue in the background…The woven place-mats almost blend with the china and the violet nose of the garlic seems to barely brush the taupe linen napkin…
