Bobby Goodnough, an agent for Linda A. Gary Real Estate,  called me up and said he had a luxury property he needed to shoot in Lake Worth.  My initial thought was, “luxury real estate…in Lake Worth? Huh?”  Lake Worth, especially the Town of Lake Worth, is not particularly known for luxury of any kind.  Don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty of good folks that live there.  There’s just not many Mercedes S-Classes or BMW 7 Series running up and down North “A” Street.  But then it quickly occurs to me that the eastern edge of the city limits ends right at the Intracoastal waterfront, where all the high-dollar action is.  That’s where we were headed.

The front of this home is actually rather understated…very classy, but not over the top.  The real story was when you walked in the front door.  This home is meticulously appointed in every category and every room…from the grand salon, complete with two seperate sitting areas, to the powder room off the kitchen with what appeared to be a hand-carved cherry and marble vanity.  It turns out that every detail in every room has been put together by a world-famous designer by the name of William Eubanks.  Once I got through the stunning and pristine  interior, I opened up the massive french doors that connect to a huge loggia, perfect pool, expansive back yard and private beach.   After taking my initial walk-through, to plan my shots, it was apparent the photography was going to need to be perfect in order to showcase this place the way it deserved.

Technically, my biggest challenges here were that the main rooms are immense, especially the grand salon.  It was obvious that lighting the room with strobes would prove to be quite difficult, mainly because there’s nowhere to hide them, and I’m fighting huge windows blasting in tons of sunlight the whole length of that room.  With the time and budgetary limitations of this job, I made the decision to shoot the salon and the enormous kitchen all ambient.  The compromise is that the room ambiance will look natural but we’ll lose a detailed view out the windows.  Since the interior design is really the star of the show, I chose to favor the room and not necessarily the view. 

The bedrooms and other smaller rooms were shot with my typical 2 strobe setup, one on one side as the main light source, and another opposite the first set 1 or 2 stops less as fill.  Both are bounced off the wall or ceiling to give an even, soft light to the rooms.  Bobby didn’t initially request any twilight shots.  But I knew that this house, especially the pool and surrounding landscaping, would be perfect to showcase the luxury that this place is all about.  So I offered to come back and photograph the exterior and the grand salon on spec.  He agreed, the photos turned out fantastic, and have been a staple in my portfolio since.

This home is right at 6500 sq ft, has 5 bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms and is offered by Bobby Goodnough of Linda A. Gary Real Estate for $2,495,000.