Stef Albert Bothma is a designer, painter and musician and works on the international scene. He is frequently in New York and used to live in the city with a view over the North end of Central Park. He has now settled in the Tuscany town of Lucca, Italy, after working to decorate part of a Palazzo in excellent style and taste. New York Cottages and Gardens magazine features the story in their
December/January 2019 issue.
A breath taking place to be.
The Hamptons have some wonderful residential architects to work with and certainly there are developers ready to speculate on building houses. Creating a 10,000 square foot house as economically as possible but not have it be bone ugly can be a challenge.
Photographing a house on a very grey day, one could say ‘bone ugly’ again, was also a challenge. That is what happens sometimes and you make the most of it.
Schools back and we are open for business.
Please let me know if you have any projects you would like to get photographed this autumn.
Mick Hales was born in England and grew up in Pakistan and Nigeria. He studied photography at the London College of Printing and moved to New York in 1982. His first commissions in New York were for Oscar De La Renta’s wife, Francoise,
at House and Garden magazine.
A Selection of Books Photographed by Mick Hales
City Green: Public Gardens of NYC. Jane Garmey, Monacelli Press. 2018
New York Living: Reinventing Home. Rizzoli Books. 2017
Living Newport: Houses People Style. Bettie Bearden Pardee. Glitterati Press 2014
Bouquets with Personality. LucindaRooney. Mick Hales Stewart Tabori and Chang. 2009
Gardens Private and Personal. GCA book. Mick Hales. Abrams 2008
Flower Arranging the American Way. WAFA. Mick Hales. Abrams 2009
Private Newport: At Home and in the Garden. Bettie Bearden Pardee. Bulfinch 2004
New York Apartments: Private Views. Jamee Gregory, Charles Davey. Rizzoli. 2004
Antique Garden Ornaments; Two Centuries of American Taste. Barbara Israel. Abrams
Superb Palladian style American Country house of Lynn St. John combines, art, color, whimsey and architecture to die for.
Set on the crown of a hill above the Kinderhook river in Columbia County is the fabulous house of Lynn St. John, a former NYC advertising and editorial photographer, who got a start through working for Irving Penn. The strong eye of a photographer shows through with the decor and design of the interiors. The house dates back to 1839 with tall windows and high ceilings, allowing wonderful daylight to fill the rooms.
Photograph your projects in their Prime
Mick Hales was born in England and grew up in Pakistan and Nigeria. He studied photography at the London College of Printing and moved to New York in 1982. His first commissions in New York were for Oscar De La Renta’s wife, Francoise, at House and Garden magazine. Since then he has worked with many major book publishers and most of the shelter magazines. His photographic style comes from studying how daylight is affecting a garden or building and being at the right place at the right time.
A Selection of Books Photographed by Mick Hales
City Green: Public Gardens of NYC. Jane Garmey, Monacelli Press. 2018
New York Living: Reinventing Home. Rizzoli Books. 2017
Living Newport: Houses People Style. Bettie Bearden Pardee. Glitterati Press 2014
Bouquets with Personality. LucindaRooney. Mick Hales Stewart Tabori and Chang. 2009
Gardens Private and Personal. GCA book. Mick Hales. Abrams 2008
Flower Arranging the American Way. WAFA. Mick Hales. Abrams 2009
Private Newport: At Home and in the Garden. Bettie Bearden Pardee. Bulfinch 2004
New York Apartments: Private Views. Jamee Gregory, Charles Davey. Rizzoli. 2004
Antique Garden Ornaments; Two Centuries of American Taste. Barbara Israel. Abrams
Photograph your projects in their prime. Call Mick Hales and he will photograph your projects where ever they are. 518 672 0014
One of the greatest pleasures of working for talented designers capturing their work is to see what is going on in different parts of America. Lisa Kahn decorated a Spec house by the architects KUKK from Naples, Florida.
Fountain fitted rills line the entry to this bay side house.
The property sits right on a lagoon with a boat birthed up behind it. The house is large and spacious, appropriate for the Florida weather with high ceilings and large roof overhangs. To decorate a house of this size with no incoming furnishings from a client’s previous property takes a lot of everything, from beds and chairs right down to napkins and flatware.
Swimming pool and falling wall fountain abut the exterior kitchen dining area.
Lisa Kahn enjoys working with spec houses because she gets the freedom to do what she wants- as long as it is in the budget. As she has been very successful in this area with spec houses in the past the developers are confident she will create a great interior. The colors are quiet and harmonious creating a peacefulness in the house.
Beautifully chosen fabrics by Lisa Kahn add to the quiet feeling of the house.
When photographing a house like this, I like to use as much available light as possible, to reveal the house’s design elements.
Natural light pours through the shower stalls into the bathroom. All enclosed with light green tile work.A guest bedroom on the upper floor has a green color scheme.Bringing together soft colors of green and blue create a layered feeling.Kitchen colors come together with marble and ceramic matches.The high ceilings enable plenty of open space in the kitchen area.Final details of matching colors with furniture and exquisite elements.
Coming soon to a bookstore near you-
New York Living:
Re-Inventing Home
Written by Paul Gunther, Gay Giordano and Charles Davey, Foreword by Adele Chatfield-Taylor, Photographed by Mick Hales
Penthouse living room of New York artist.
Pub Date: April 11, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Category: House & Home – Decorating
Publisher: Rizzoli
Trim Size: 9-3/4 x 10-1/2
US Price: $60.00
ISBN: 978-0-8478-5845-3
About This Book
Residences featured here show New York living from our present time: homes that defy traditional definition but which are nevertheless rooted in the historic ground of the city.
Remodeled Brooklyn brownstone takes advantage of all available daylightBeautifully combined bathroom with sitting room .
What does a home look like in twenty-first-century New York? While the city’s name alone brings to mind very specific ideas—the Fifth Avenue penthouse, with its elegant moldings and crystal chandeliers; the SoHo loft, with its bright spaces and air of bohemian ease; the Brooklyn brownstone, with its fireplaces, parquet floors, and lush backyards—the truth is, New York today is much more than this, and the potential for variety in ways of living is, now more than ever, virtually limitless. As a result, in the twenty-first century, the combined design professions enjoy an unprecedented menu of prospective solutions, whether based upon respect for a classically inflected New York past, an emphatic denial of such a tradition, or, most often, some hybrid response that often yields the best innovation possible.
beautifully constructed marble shower stall
This was a wonderful project to work on and gave me the opportunity to see what is being done within the New York area. Of course space is the huge challenge in NYC homes and apartments and getting light into the interior of brownstones. The variety and inventive nature of the projects chosen for this book go from the humble to the very well off. Enjoy the book!!
Dining table sits in the living space between kitchen and seating area.
Catskill Charmer: NY Cottages & Gardens March 2017
It takes a diverse palette for Herman Vega and Eduardo Rodriguez, both Venezuelan, to furnish a Catskill retreat house set deep in the woods. The actual building is quite undistinguished but their combinations of ‘clean lines and eclectic elements’, produces stunning results, both inside and out.
Mick Hales photographed the story for NY Cottages and Gardens. The magazine loves to use as much natural light as possible. The great thing is Mick Hales loves to shoot that way too, it gives a real rounded feeling. Mick first started reflecting light into rooms from outside when his strobe flash blew up on a shoot for House and Garden magazine in India. He has learnt a lot from years of shooting for magazines.
Herman Vega and Eduardo Rodriguez Catskill retreatKitchen and dining area are open to living room.Beautifully composed outside seatingRustic objects compliment bedroom closetAttic becomes guest bedroom. Perfect retreat.
Photograph your projects in their prime.
Mick Hales. 518 672 0014