Earlier this week I had the opportunity to photograph Ellen Bruss, the head of a Denver-based marketing and design firm, in her home that she shares with her husband, Mark Falcone.  Their 6,000 square-foot townhome is one of Denver’s unique gems, only 20 feet wide and set back on a lot butting up to the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building was designed by British architect David Adjaye, a project completed in tandem with the neighboring museum, also of his design.  The materials and aesthetic of the two buildings have a lot of crossover, though the home is particularly striking in the long, horizontal sweep of its interior.  Narrow hallways with untrimmed doorways set back into the wall create strong, unbroken lines from the front of the house all the way to the back.

Architecture is something that has always interested me, something that speaks to the priorities of any particular society.  Form often gives way to function, especially in American culture where the development industry turns on a 20-year construction cycle, tearing down older buildings to make way for modern filler.  I’ve always felt that if the building is not intended to be permanent, design suffers.  

So it was especially pleasant to photograph in the Adjaye house, a building that represents the best of both form and function, a piece of art in its own right and a nice little landmark in my favorite city.

MORE PHOTOS

Luceo Images is celebrating our one year anniversary by teaming up our friends at AdoramaPix and Photoshelter to make collector’s prints available for a limited time.  All prints are made to the approval of the Luceo photographers on archival quality matte paper.  We believe that photography is something to be shared and that fine art should be in the domain of everyone.  Please join us in celebrating our anniversary with the purchase of a print.  Click Here - http://store.luceoimages.com

Luceo Images accumulated the most points over the weekend during the Southern Short Course contest. Although my name is counted among the list of winners, it was more than exciting to see my friend and colleague, Kevin German, reel in the big tuna: Southern Photographer of the Year.  I’ve been keeping up with Kevin’s work over the last year as he’s made the transition from the American newspaper market into being a full-time shooter in Vietnam.  I feel especially fortunate to have been able to watch his projects develop along the way through probably a dozen or so edits that he’s shared with the Luceo folks –including a pretty intense edit round that took place each night during out annual meet this year.  Kevin brought with him literally hundreds of tiny proof-prints that he’d spread all over the floor of the apartment, trying one order, taking feedback, flipping the order, pulling a print or two, before changing it up again.  And again.  He’s a consummate photographer and his attention to detail is bar none.  Really, a well-deserved win.

 Also among the winners were two more of my favorite shooters, folks who I have been following quietly for several years now: Lisa Krantz and Melissa Lyttle.  Krantz’s website is nothing short of prolific in terms of her photographic breadth and and storytelling ability.  Lyttle’s been racking up a pretty wonderful year, including honors from UNICEF for her “Girl  in the Window” piece, a story following a child who had been left almost completely uncared for for the first seven years of her life.  Melissa’s aphotoaday.org has also been quiet a service, creating a community for photographers to share work and ideas as well as a forum for daily news and inspiration. (And I’ve got one of her prints on my wall, not that I’m partial) 

Definitely a good group of winners this year and a real honor to be included on the list.

Just spent all afternoon trying to figure out where the clawing noise was coming from.  You know, the sound that a cat’s paw makes when it’s sharpening its claws on the furniture.  Searched the whole house and found nothing but one of my sleeping felines, the second cat mysteriously missing in some kind of kitty Bermuda Triangle.  Several hours later I pop open the cabinet in the bathroom to get a towel and out waddles her highness, not particularly enthused to see me.  That’ll teach her to sleep on laundry. 

On a different note, click the image above to see Tim Lytvinenko’s stop-motion video of a day in the life of Luceo.  He shot this during our annual meeting in New York this January.  He’s a creative beast, that Lytvinenko.