Staging a photograph is one of Jane Beiles’s special skills.
Your best friend has just remodeled her house. She’d love some pictures of it — but not the amateur kind. You know a newlywed couple who just moved into their first apartment. They’d love a good photograph to use on their holiday cards. Perhaps a family is moving away, and would love to have a photo(s) to remind them of a beloved home. Or, you simply want a picture of your own home worth enlarging and framing. Jane Beiles (pronounced Bay-liss) is the architectural/interior design photographer to contact.
Jane’s special niche of architectural photography (exteriors and interiors) gives images of houses — doorways, kitchens, family rooms — a special touch. She admits that it’s an idealized version of reality but that’s what makes her photographs so continuously interesting. A Jane Beiles Photography Gift Certificate makes a memorable, loving legacy.
Jane’s special skill is the “staging” of a photograph, which means producing an ideal image — every detail is intentional. The photograph’s impact is the result of great care, perfect lighting and what she calls “artistic effects” — digital editing that produces a natural, yet painterly quality.
“When people walk into a beautiful home, they’ll often say, ‘It looks just like a magazine!’ That’s a compliment to the homeowner’s taste. And that’s what I like to produce,” Jane says. She credits this skill to training with Bruce Katz, who took photos for Architectural Digest for 25 years, as well as an all-consuming interest in architecture and art history.
Before she became a full-time photographer, she was in the fashion industry (eight years with Esprit de Corps.) “Color, texture and composition were important, and that experience relates well to photography,” she says. “My background in business and marketing means that in addition to photography, I can help architects and interior designers market their work.” This marketing sense resulted in initiating the idea of the Jane Beiles Gift Certificate, which is explained on her Web site.
“It started when a friend of mine, who had just remodeled her home wanted photographs of it, as it looked when it was just completed. When she received the photographs, she said that she thought lots of other people would want the same sort of thing,” Jane says. “I created the gift certificate because professional photographs, like artwork, are original gifts as well as good investments.”
Jane often uses “tethered shooting.” Her camera, on a tripod, is tethered to a computer screen so the client can watch as the photo is set up and shot. If there are any changes, they can be done immediately.
“I love working with light,” she says. “I enjoy photographing modern homes, where there’s lots of light, but I also like doing historic, older houses. I just bring lots of extension cords and adapters. When I have light to play with, it becomes part of the composition. When it’s a challenge, I bring in light.”
Photoshop makes it possible to achieve perfection. Electrical outlets can be brushed away, dirty windows can be cleaned, shabbiness can be elevated to nostalgia. “I photographed an historic house recently, concentrating on the beautiful details. I made it look painterly. The woman who bought it had it framed for her husband’s birthday gift,” says Jane.
Are there any hints for people who plan to have their homes photographed? Jane smiles and says, “Dogs and cats love light, so before we shoot, we have to make sure they’re not sniffing around the camera.”
She comments that homes look different in every season, so it might be a good idea to have it photographed when spring trees are blooming (just in case you’d ever want to sell your house). “Sometimes, I’ll combine two different photographs, so I can show a view outside a window. Or it might be the opposite, when it’s better not to see what’s outside. The whole point is to create a picture of your dream home come true …”
Jane has three children, in second, third and fourth grades. “That’s typical of me, I guess,” she says. “I like to get things done right. So when I was having babies, I had them one after the other so they’d all be in school together, and I could get back to work!”
In addition to homes and interiors, Jane’s photographs of food and nature are quite remarkable. Mounted on bamboo, they are stunning gifts. You can see a wall of photographs at Caroline’s Crèperie, a new French restaurant in New Canaan.
For more information: janebeiles.com or 203-858-6841.
