hello welcome to a new edition of design for the times i'm your host richard christopher's kaderi i'm very happy to have in studio today somebody who i really admire who's really more of an artist i think than of the tiger fur is a part of the thing maybe that's a part of through your career so want you to tell us a little bit how you got started and how evolved well i went to the school of visual arts and we started in film so everything that i shot i started in food photography and that  tabletop still life now when you photograph food i would imagine that sort of kind of a constant right to photograph food or maybe not because light in its parachute bowls perishable you it's a lot of waiting around for anything to look right and sure and it was that was fun and i had made a designer and he said well you can photograph my house because it's like a big still life sure so i thought i would try it and i really fell in love with it once i shot his h so let's talk about transitioning from actually photographing food to photographing a room i think maybe photographing food would be easier because you're focusing in on one thing you might be not dealing with as much angles or light because you're you're photographing a small but sometimes that's that's the challenge because it is so small sure and you want to make sure you don't have reflections that make the things look greasy because it's shine makes  so when you have a bigger location like an interior right that's a whole different challenge but the small things in the big things those are all the lighting and they already have they all have their challenges right so you shot your first home and  and so on and you've shot some of my my work and what i've noticed is you have a very good eye thank you and you could look at a room and you could see what works so let's start with the room in general most rooms are basically what rectangular box is right with sheet rock right so it's a photograph that i would imagine the camera sees that is somewhat interesting right yes but i always my philosophy has always been not here to i'm here to capture your creation sure in a very good light so it's good because you're when you design a room that's your creation right you're hiring me to document your creation but in a very nice light but your artful captures the beauty because the pew knight could be there but you need to sort of an can put up one of those first images ok now this is a lovely image kind of grand what's the background behind this and all this was a show house in allentown designed by carrie always meant ok and it was a front room with beautiful windows and and she but she put in the ceiling details and she picked the really interesting palette of the turquoise and orange which i thought was so dynamic i just think the use of color here makes this particular room and that's one of the things this is grounded by a lot of white molding so the use of a dark color works well here because there's a sense of balance which is very important i think it's got the next  ok this is wonderful tell me about this room this was a room in the holiday house it was a birthday celebration room and this was designed by a group of ladies that were part of an organization organization  used before but not recently because it's more grays and browns rich color what are we going to image number three ok this is a really interesting play on color and i will say we shoot their radio show at two o'clock and we were the i think the the influence of color because she had these beautiful prints that she wanted in this room and she wanted them to stand out so i would say as we're going through some of your images are quite beautiful but there are certain things that make the room beautiful so far in the first couple of images i saw a lot of beautiful colors coming together this one as well but what what what makes the a room beautiful would you say in general it's mostly angles like that the that the furniture and the accessories in the room are at interesting angles things are placed interestingly like something like this it was just a straight on shot but you have a round you have rectangles you have  balance is it easier to shoot a room that has softer surfaces that is to shoot a kitchen where it's kind of clean not really because the kitchen is the hard surfaces and you can make them very interesting you know  kitchen the backsplash is white on white and there and it plays off that nice weight aisle and you know that countertop on that island one of the things that i always say make rooms look beautiful is contrast and want to notice about this particular kitchen as you have the floor which look at the next image ok another white kitchen of course these days white kitchens are still very popular i think that's starting to change to a yes right so here's a nice white kitchen now one of the things that i think even on set with patterns is you have to be very careful when you photograph patterns and yes now was that harlequin pattern difficult to shoot so you got the angle where it wasn't too busy no actually it was probably the only color that was in the room which really i and most people now they they like their pools with a nice lounge area and that was the story so we pull the chair back up so i can see it again maybe we can tighten up that a little but i want to talk about the when you're creating beauty in an outdoor space now i don't know where this was but i look i look in the far back and i see a lot of greenery a lot of light coming through how is it when you photograph a room do you balance the light outside because even want to pick a paint color for outside it's a lot more complicated because light is always changing yes so how do you how do you make that well not to make it artificial i mean i tried to use the available light that's there and i do that even on the interiors i don't want to artificially light i don't want the room to look artificially let back of the care and we say ok to looks a little over a little take it back a little bit you want to make sure you're shadows have a little detail in them but that's really about it how long does it take you to set up a specific shot for to do a it's a pattern usually the first set up is about forty five minutes wow is it pens now you've brought up white a lot now there was a period of time maybe not so much now i mean even though there's a lot of neutrals were people love that an all white room now with all white room is probably the worst challenge to photograph right it is a chair ones but i've noticed designers will use textures and that's where it gets interesting ok so if you have a white on white room the textures you pick make the room not boring is it hard on film to delineate texture that if there's if you physically see it in the space needle but with the camera one sees is often different yeah but where you are using high definition cameras house additions that we put on this was the pool there we just sort of got it in very simple landscape and put in some blue stone and some bushes and you really got the shot right here i think captured the essence of their look at it really wasn't about the pool it's about her serene area to run lax and enjoy exactly sort of sets the pace for their look which was a little bit more traditional and some of the projects out there because charming very likely are what we have up next so this is another one of my projects here this was the beginning ok because we did this quite a while ago this is the beginning of that the changes from the some of the warmer colors to bring i started bringing blues and grays and and actually this woman hired me because she had a wallpaper dining room and she couldn't figure out why it wasn't working so i ripped out her new wallpaper and i said i'm going to put dark navy blue walls and she says no you're not i said yes i am when you see the what worked is when you see the and that's why i the shots when you see the contrast between all the white molding and trim and then just the pop of the rich maybe what i love about this photo is the the progression from the dining room the boy and right to the living room and you're they if you could open up that shot a little bit so we can see what you're talking about because it was the progression of one of the things that was nice that i had gotten compliments from people from social media was the depth of that house from the other side is that the progression of colors of having a neutral as a for your color a rich sort of accent in the dining room and then sort of something in between i'm going to side it showed the depth of color yes and that's what i like about that sometimes i'm a little bit sad about all the grays because i  ok that's another angle of that room those were prints that i had gotten i was in manhattan and it was a beautiful french art book which is all shells all marine life and i had some of those done that we have them framed in print and   allentown new jersey where i live in you know i don't live in new hope pennsylvania how could i have postal coastal could be anything anywhere anyway it's nature but you don't want to go overboard that's it and like in this case just touches  itself and the warmth of the wood plays nicely against the the navy what else we have ok that was now this is a quite a while ago now was this is a challenge for you what i remember what i had to do here because it was so neutral i brought in a po color if you want that room to appear lovely to people you have to pick up a color and i think put a couple of elements around right now when you're photograph in a room do you like to have large elements and not many of them were smaller elements looks better probably the larger and larger roger element where the fewer of them right and then you can because the small elements might get a little lost and start to look cluttered right so we're at street one i think it's nicer ok let's see what else marble and the lighting cases really help make it not boring you know it's funny that in this case the light which i love to do just a little bit of access and kitchen where you can put them behind glass the lit accents show the depths in the database and i don't know if it wasn't lit it would it would sort of carry the same weight the other thing that i see here and this is also keeping in mind anytime you decorating if you're doing well in all white sort of kitchen which is so popular right now it's the geometric window treatment that they're the roman shape yes just the geometry is sort of just enough even though it's also a neutral to work within that space and that is that shows depth very much so so if you can work with a neutral palette you can balance it by doing some geometry and that's a pretty good scale printout yes it is it is ok what else we have lovely now where is this jersey city while that's a place i'd want to hang out yeah there was yeah i was there by myself and i got to shoot a lot of angles of jen and they use their back out a lot and the water feature was just so nice to hear you know well the combination of sort of the fire in the water in balance let's look at that again now i see some asian influences there look at them hard back so that's the water f meditation and i see i don't know what time of the day you shocked this but i see some dappled light in the back yeah that was probably the thing was in the afternoon it was in the fall in the afternoon and it was when the case started coming through between the buildings in were buildings on the other side of this also some of the people the buildings on the other street so that's the challenge when you're shooting these kind of ten items what's the best weather statically to shoot a room and is it better if it's really sunny if it's really shady is it raining what makes what what blight or absorption of light looks best in the fall is a beautiful time of year because the lighting is so beautiful that you can very golden color to it but i've had to shoot in situations where it was raining outside because of some of the books you're going i'm going and unless it's an out there shoot i can't shoot the rain but at the shot where it snowed i shot where it's raining outside sunny you try to get it where it's not too hot of the light coming through i mean you want a little filtered like coming through you don't want it that that hot blaze although i've had to shoot in that situation and just use that as an element in the room you just use it as another element in the room but i would think probably what you say is very true that the most challenging light is that very bright light because often it is what is very bright like do it to stuart everything and it kind of probably washes it out and it washes it out and it's hard to bring it back i mean i can't light the room enough to compensate for that which is nice so it sort of gives it a double of this is that aren't you find that you're seeing a lot of free standing tubs now almost as an architectural feature of these men bathrooms not that over the tubs used to be sort of in case right in that big block  see were free and they're very expensive but i see more of the free standing standing when you're at new construction everyone puts the freestate right out you don't always have room to do you don't always have room and this was a very large room but i think one of the things that make it so striking actually is the top here yes because without a tub i would not know necessarily a way that's a centerpiece in the room yeah i just sort of kept it captures your your eye a little bit when you photograph this it might have been kind of sunny it was actually cloudy it was cloudy ok very little that's a little foggy after your balance of light was very good here because it's a bright picture or let's go to another image now i look at this image which is lovely and i see those windows and the architecture of the windows is what i'm drawn to but there's a lot going on in that room tell me about this room well it was a designer's home and she was very much in the architectural features sure is that she shooter has because i see a lot of ground to my where she this was a new build as a look at no and she took a lot of these you know the i'm just looking at some of the details on this particular case on the the mantel piece there has slowed down so there's some metal on that as well on the mantel is actually was all carved wood that was very shining and recessed and then she offset that with a very modern seating area right so it was the whole house is a juxtaposition of modern and old world it's very interesting home very interesting and i just love the windows i love the  the depth of this i love some of the architectural features even the color wise in this room there really isn't much you know it's white walls you know but again it's what you had said about the texture making it visually interesting and you had some people think when they decorate maybe some people are just naturally not drawn to color you have to create drama in the room right right well even if you have like this like these are white walls and white furniture it's the shapes it's the it's the architectural detail you know what we're talking about the images of your old so i think that's one of the reasons because it doesn't look closer because there's not it's lovely but the images are old to scale or it's a big image is right and that's why in something like this every piece that's in that room is so important exactly what us we to go like this to get to work so i guess most places are probably really difficult to get out of it right yeah and i also have the lens lenses that will help me get something like that yes do you have or i'm photograph that when i started i wrote a book as you know i'm going to book tour and barnes and noble sent me out a photographer and i had a picture taken and i've been in a couple of newspapers and magazines usa today on my book and every time my something right even if somebody purchases it right you get a credit yes i was not interested usually that sort of like the business practice pretty my was you always interested in them ok what else we have going on here so again another outside shot now where was this this oh northern burn county is that a golf course was as a child or a suit was the backyard pretty much is an individual home there's an individual home and there was a golf course it was right at the edge of the golf course now this was lit with lights i had i had it was a very dark area that was no lighting to kill itself make it to be and that's based orbital yeah and there was no lighting up in there so i had lights kind of out on the and it was just the details of the softness of what's going on on the tray and those hard modern edges on that bathtubs were just i just love that beth you know we're getting we're in the fifty's right now where things are very clean and very crisp and very transitional i think it's very important to at least have a couple of elements of softness yet if everything's hard it's just not going to look hard on the eyes i think that's what colors and texture and softness i think are critical right now space to be able to shut up about two and a half minutes that's how we got there ok so that's an interesting space going all white room i love the drum fixture is it difficult to film when you have mirrors because there was a chance that your reflection is going to be and yes there is i just i try to retouch myself out if i have to but sometimes that photograph the bathroom that was all mirrored and when you do something like that it's very difficult sure get yourself out but you have to middle and there's actually a fire feature in there and we did you marry a fire for you no i did not that was actually the gas fire feature which was really interesting in that room and that was part of a bigger like an open floor plan now i'm going with the ceilings here i look told a very high this is an old industrial building it was converted into apartment there were probably about who i would say at least fifteen feet high sure they were getting down to little bit admitted to have someone to have to leave the wrap up what would you say from your you know your wealth of experience what really looks good in a room is it colors and text what would you say if you could give a takeaway for people that are thinking about making their home be its best is a big piece is is it what's the thing that makes a room stunning i think it's something personal that they really love and building around that it could be a painting it could be and just you know or of the beautiful sofa and just playing with that building around it it could be an old sofa that you add a modern piece to keeping it eclectic i love the eclectic look when you're mixing errors it's really great and it's it's it's so it's more in style than it ever was yes absolutely how could if anybody wants to work with i'm not going to get in touch i have a website pelligrini dot com and i and they can go there get all my contact information sure i know you're in many magazines but you do a lot of work with design new jersey new jersey so they check that out to see how beautiful your work is and all you bring to the table if you could do something different with your life would you do this or something else i'd say but you say you would do this i would do this i love photography you have a you have a passion for it i did when somebody has a passion for something you see that and it's reflective in their work thank you i thank you for being my guest today thank you very much for having me it's a pleasure to have you here more shows coming up