Portland, Ore.-based lifestyle photographer Lincoln Barbour describes his photo style as real and natural. His home and interior work is bright, airy, and filled with natural light. He says that with each photo he tries to, “evoke a feeling of being there.” His goal is to create shots that are true to life. In my opinion, I believe he succeeds at his goal quite nicely.
Recently, Lincoln got some extra mileage out of a “tiny” home assignment. Originally, Lincoln was hired by Jessica Helgerson Interior Design to shoot a unique project she’d completed—her own home. Jessica has been a long time client of Lincoln’s, and he’s shot many of the interiors in her portfolio.
[She is] one of the most talented interior designers I’ve ever shot for. Anything that Jessica does, I know is going to be a fabulous project to photograph.
The relationship between Lincoln and Jessica has been a fruitful one as his photo style brings out the beauty of her designs.
She’s been very popular on the design blogs. Lately, we’ve noticed that if her project is featured in a blog, then a magazine won’t want to feature it. So, for this shoot, she held on to the images for half a year before they went public.
This turned out to be a smart move. When Martha Stewart Living saw the photos of Jessica’s tiny house, they knew they wanted to publish them—especially after they learned more about the home’s history.
It’s pretty fascinating. The house was remodeled from all reclaimed materials. It was first built in the early 1940s as a part of Vanport Village; a quickly erected development built to house shipyard workers. When Vanport Village flooded in 1948, this particular little house was floated down the river to Sauvie Island, where it became the goose-check station. Years later, it was remodeled to become a rental house. As part of the remodel, the worn out roof was replaced with a green roof, planted with moss and ferns gathered along the Columbia River Gorge.
Lincoln was excited to license his images to Martha Stewart Living, especially since this was the first time he’d been published in the magazine. He feels that this shoot affirmed that he’s now producing work at a “really high level.” He says,
I’ve been at this a long time, but some days you never know where you stand. You see all these photographers winning awards for hipster looking photos or over lit shots of athletes and I’ll wonder if shooting architecture and interiors is ever going anywhere. Then, when I have a project like this and everyone connects to it, I feel better about what I’m doing. I can’t think of anything harder than taking a picture of a building and having that shot evoke something from the viewer.
As hard as it may be, Lincoln sure makes it look easy.