This is a space I call many things: the barn studio, garden shed, workshop, winter storage for my dahlias. It’s also part garage and home to furniture and treasures collected during our years overseas. Chemist chests, armoires, Vietnamese screens, my abstract art, my mother’s old floral paintings. Flowers from gardens past hang from the ceiling and walls, their fragile shapes gracing the room. You name it, and chances are it’s here somewhere.
It’s a bit like a magician’s space, transforming as needed, from a working studio to a setting for Tahilla Gatherings. Scroll along and you’ll see the fabulously talented Joan guiding guests during Sketching in Silence at our gathering last month. I designed the space with our architect to make the most of every inch.
The light is one of my favorite things about this room. Filtered through north- and west-facing windows, it changes throughout the day, creating pockets of light and shadow. For photography, timing is everything. I can spend hours moving objects around, watching how the light falls, finding a story in the simplest arrangement. When my creative friend Christine visits Tahilla Farm, this is one of our favorite places to spend time together. Scroll along and you’ll see why.
In fact, I’m dreaming up a future Tahilla Gathering devoted to just that: exploring the stories we can tell through photographs, finding stillness through light, shadow, composition and the details we might otherwise overlook. Indoors and out.
It’s the sort of creative play I never tire of, and this little barn studio has become one of my favorite places to do just that.
