Through the Lens

The Stahl House is stunning, especially at night as the lights come up across Los Angeles. Chances are, neither Stahl nor architect Pierre Koenig knew the house would become a symbol of a particular time and place — or that it would inspire designers and artists decades later.

For a photographer, the interplay of structure and landscape is astonishing. The house sits at the end of a narrow road, at the edge of a cliff, hanging out over space. And it’s almost all glass. How do I light the space? How will I work with glare, reflection and shadows?

I found it interesting that the house feels wide open and yet sheltered. You can see across the Los Angeles basin all the way to the mountains and infinity. Birds hover at eye level. If you slide open the walls, you can smell the grasses and everything in the air. You are immersed in weather — sunlight or storm. And yet it’s calming. It’s a sanctuary away from the noise and hustle of the city.

Recently, I’ve done several photo shoots for companies that are essentially creating spaces that feel much more like a living room, a space where people feel as comfortable as they do at home. Likewise, Teknion is taking a softer approach to office furniture. And given everything we’ve experienced working from home, or alone in a studio, it makes perfect sense.

We were able to be creative in framing the furniture to show how beautifully the pieces work together and how the softer shapes, the colors and textures, warm up the space. We could create images that tell a story to which viewers can relate, that create a look to which one can aspire.

In essence, we took a fashion approach to photography. In one image, I shot from the side of the chair as the model looks around the edge. The shot could have been an ad in Harper’s Bazaar or Vogue in 1955 or 2022. The image has an aesthetic we experience as very modern. It illustrates a trend, but also ideas about basic needs like comfort and well-being. Those things mattered then and matter now.

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