Nashville Retail Photography – Boutique Salon on Music Row

I love photographing commercial architecture. Often that involves large commercial and/or corporate spaces, but occasionally I get the opportunity to work in a small, more intimate space. I was excited when, a few months back, CDP Architecture reached out to have me photograph “Bangarang” – a boutique salon on Music Row in Nashville.

This space was terrific in many ways. So much character and a great story from the owner on the name (big Peter Pan fan) as well as interesting ways that CDP was able to completely renovate this historic building – including the opening of the ceiling and finishing off part of the attic space and adding an iron spiral staircase.

We had to get there very early on a Sunday morning. It was important to get the natural light spilling into the main rooms, and we were fortunate to have clear skies all day long. After about 10 am, the sun would be over the building, so while we had plenty of time – I still wanted to take advantage of the beautiful natural light that was presented to us while we could.

To keep the rest of the set of photos consistent throughout the series, I made the decision to “manufacture” some sun by putting a light outside on a tall light stand to create a similar effect as the sun coming into the room. The sun never actually comes into the room this way, so I didn’t want to make it too unrealistic – but more like a reflection of the morning light from the neighboring buildings.