Meet Emily Minton Redfield

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Minton Redfield.

Emily, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My defining moment on the pathway to becoming a photographer occurred in the mid 70’s when I was a curious ten-year-old watching our house in Fort Worth, Texas being photographed by Architectural Digest.

Having a successful designer for a father helped to train my eye at an early age. But it wasn’t until I graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Psychology degree and back-packed through Southeast Asia with a camera around my neck that I got addicted to THE visual medium of photography.

My love of shooting landed me in a photography program at the Southeastern Center for the Arts in Atlanta where I specialized in Architecture. After a brief stint as a production manager at a commercial studio in New York city, My real launch came when I was offered a staff job shooting homes and gardens for Southern Living & Southern Accents magazines out of Birmingham, AL. After four years of honing my skills and garnering design contacts throughout the south, I set-up a freelance business in Atlanta.

Marriage brought me to Denver in 2001, where I now happily, yet carefully, juggle two kids with my career, feeling content to lay deep roots here. I shoot for a wide variety of clients…magazines and books, designers and architects. My work has appeared in the following publications:

Elle Decor, Veranda, Architectural Digest, Traditional Home, LUXE, Better Homes & gardens magazines, Interiors, Coastal Living, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, 5280 Home, Country Home and over a dozen books.

Has it been a smooth road?
Since the freelance world of photography is self-directed one has to promote oneself and hustle to keep the work flowing. I almost quit photography as a career path in my mid-twenties because the forging of the path requires such persistence and belief in yourself. However, once I was offered the staff job at Southern Living my road cleared and my strong technical and creative foundation of shooting interiors ensued. The 20+ years after that staff post that I’ve been freelancing have been hard work but smooth sailing for the most part. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had great clients and referrals have been the biggest source of my business. To be honest the biggest struggles have not been related to the actual photography business but rather the work/life balance of figuring how much work I can handle and still leave enough valuable time to be with my husband and children.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am quite specialized in that I focus on the photography of interiors and architecture with my clients primarily being Interior Designers, Architects and Magazines. I tend to shoot more residential high design than commercial projects perhaps because I like the personal touches and warmth of homes and think my photography reflects that affinity. I’m known for my use of natural light and my balanced compositions…leaning toward intimate vignettes in addition to the overall room shots.

I‘m perhaps also known for my ability to compose pleasing angles which bring the viewer into the room and elevate the balance of texture, color, lines and the overall grace of the design. I don’t shoot for many real estate clients typically because the needs there are different….they are going for widest angle shots possible to make the rooms seem bigger than they are whereas I choose lenses which give a realistic impression of the spaces. I shoot in a very daylight-balanced natural light style where any overhead lights are turned off and the light source is window light reinforced by my daylight-balanced strobes.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Denver is booming in the Design world now with the population’s growth surge. When I moved here 18 years ago it was a bit quieter compared to the design market of Atlanta where the southern love of entertaining seemed to parlay into people wanting to design their homes to the max, inside and out, whereas Denver had a more laid back western sensibility. Now as there are people moving here from all over you can see trends in Design change to reflect that in more sophisticated ways… bringing east coast chic, west coast cool, modern and traditional, it’s a huge mix now! As for photography and how that relates, there are ever more clients. To be honest I turn lots of work down as I could hardly keep up with the demand otherwise!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emredfieldphotography.com
• Phone: 720-201-9140
• Email: emily@emredfieldphoto.com

Image Credit:
Emily Minton Redfield

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