I am often drawn to clean, minimal designs. The elegance and thoughtfulness that comes with a perfectly composed page or room is calming and soothes my designer-soul.
But sometimes I want more.
Sometimes I want to create a cozy, lived-in image and while it is possible to do that with monochromatic tones and white, airy spaces, it can be a lot of fun to play with color and texture!
In this photograph, the black and white pillow is the subject. I started off knowing that I was going to compose the shot in front of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase—a big departure from a white wall! Since the background is pretty chaotic and the pillow itself isn't exactly whispering "look at me", I just went for it. This is a case of More is More. I often find myself on shoots saying, "If we're going to do it, let's DO it." When you're styling with a More is More attitude, don't skimp! The image can come across as flat and uninspired.
In that vein, I threw in a crazy red ikat pillow, introduced a chunky clay pot, kept the textured hanging pendant in the crop and I kept myself from styling the bookcases. Sometimes it's fun to see what comes without too much fussing.
We want to see your attempts at More is More. Have you already shot something you're proud of? Are you thinking of trying something like this on your next shoot? Sound off in the comments! We want to hear from you.
Oh, and about this photo? The styling is only half of what makes it a success. Come back next week: Nissa will be sharing her side of the story - on manipulating depth of focus through your camera settings for a perfectly-focused image.
Kristy
DESIGN//STYLE
