The Office: Part Two

I work at home and as you'll see from my previous post I'm lucky enough to have a great office space behind my house. When I'm not on a shoot I am almost certainly glued to my desk - researching upcoming projects, replying to endless e-mails, scouring design blogs for inspiration, or doing more mundane things like paying bills and creating schedules for the weeks ahead. My desk serves both my professional and my personal worlds. Work stuff, life stuff, kid stuff, it all gets done there.

Here's how it looked once upon a time...

I really like this shot because it's not too far off from how it usually looks. I always have design books close at hand, just not stacked right there. I generally have some sort of caffeinated beverage within reach, just not necessarily in a dainty teacup with strawberries and powdered cookies on the side.  And that memento board really looks that way - that's where I put the pretty things that inspire me. Behind me on the other wall is a large cork board plastered with other things in a less artful way.

Here's how it looked a few weeks back when I was actually working in there, not shooting pretty pictures:

Not quite as pretty right? At this angle you can see all the other horrors in the room, like the unfinished drywall around the doors, the overflowing wastebasket and the stacks of paint cans for a job I was working on at the time. It also happens to be nighttime so the lighting is horrible. This is where all the magic happens. My bum sits on that pretty chair (found in an alley by the way) and taps away at that computer, feeling very important, until I suddenly realize it's dark outside, I haven't made dinner and my kids are starving. That's when I lock up, take my 4 step commute to my kitchen door and leave work behind for the night.

Next time: Scenes from a real kitchen. Mine.