Luxury Interiors: Denice Hough Photographs Home for Lucia Tait Tolani
Hong Kong-based photographer Denice Hough specializes in photographing architecture and interiors. Her recent work for interior designer Lucia Tait Tolani features a family home within a high-end rental property called Branksome Grande. The luxury listing, which received a multi-page feature in Home Journal Magazine, is elegantly decorated with pops of color in subdued hues of green and blue against more traditional, comfortable furnishings.
This unit is one of 92 units in the building, and it’s definitely on the higher end. They go for about HKD 120K, which is approximately $15,000 a month. The penthouse is about $30,000 per month.
Denice has been working with interior designer Lucia Tait Tolani for about three years. They met through a mutual friend when Lucia was looking for a new photographer to capture the spaces she designed, and since then, Denice has photographed all of the work on her website.
I’ve been shooting architecture and interiors primarily for nine years now, so I’ve got the experience. I think because we are both Americans living in Hong Kong, there’s a sense of familiarity too, and we quickly bonded.
During the shoot, the biggest challenge they encountered was the weather. While the property usually has stunning harbor views, it was raining and overcast the day of the shoot. To work around it, Denice began shooting the balcony first before it started raining more heavily. She also took care to work with Lucia to stage and shoot more images than necessary, so she could edit shots together if needed.
I always shoot multiple images to be able to brighten the dark areas in post-production and make everything look natural.
Lucia styled and staged each room, removing unnecessary clutter to make sure everything was pleasing to the eye and ready for the camera. Denice spent about four hours photographing the spaces and capturing the details through long exposures.
It took a bit of time since I had long exposures due to the dark day and lack of natural light, and Lucia is a perfectionist, so every wrinkle and tassel has to be smoothed out.
In addition to the magazine feature, the resulting images were also published in a South China Morning Post article about the listing. The soft light in the photos portrays a sense of warmth and comfort throughout the home and brings to life Lucia’s vision for the interiors.
I’ve done so many interior photos, it’s like second nature to me, but I have really enjoyed seeing Lucia’s different interpretations of her clients’ styles.
Credits:
Photographer: Denice Hough
Interior Designer: Lucia Tait Tolani