My interview with legendary interiors photographer Amy Neunsinger
Design by Nickey Kehoe / Photograph by Amy Neunsinger
I recently had the opportunity to interview Amy Neunsinger for Native Trails’ blog. A first-call photographer and designer from Los Angeles, she designed and lives in one of the most photographed homes in California. She’s also the secret sauce behind some of my favorite designers and brands (Leanne Ford, Mark D. Sikes and Nickey Kehoe, among many others) and is cohost of the Magnolia Network show “Capturing Home” with Kate Martindale.
Let me tell you, this homegirl right here was SO excited to talk to Amy. This was a make-your-week kind of chat because not only is she my favorite photographer but she was instantly warm and open to me. We spoke via Zoom, where she joined me from the guest house slash work studio behind her legendary home in Laurel Canyon. This was a couple of weeks before my own house was going to be photographed so I was eager to talk with her about styling for an interiors shoot and about, well, everything… I hope you enjoy reading our conversation!
Design by Leanne Ford / Photograph by Amy Neunsinger / Farm sink by Native Trails
If your career was a pie chart, what portion of it would be photography and what portion would be design?
AN: I love pie! If there were a pie chart, I’d say 65% photography, 35% design.
That probably gets mixed together because you’re often doing both things at the same time.
AN: Especially with the show. Now that we have a show, the design portion of the pie is growing.
What’s it been like to have your own TV show?
AN: It’s amazing. Kate and I both feel like we don’t even have a camera there. Because we’re just doing what feels like our job. Especially when we’re photographing. But sometimes, you’re like, “Am I alive? This is so hard!” When I watch an episode, I remember how tired I was. It’s real — the amount of work. We do everything ourselves.
Design by Leanne Ford /
Photograph by Amy Neunsinger
What’s it been like collaborating with Leanne Ford over the years?
AN: You know, it’s so funny. We met about six years ago over a cheese plate at a mutual friend’s barbecue here in Laurel Canyon where I live. We were the only two people there eating cheese. And I’m like, “Oh, I love you! Thank you for eating cheese!”
We started chatting, and I had not seen her show yet. She was saying, “God, you know, I did a shoot at a house in Laurel Canyon years ago when I was a fashion stylist, and it really changed my view on interior design, and it got me really intrigued,” and she started describing my house! We had this kismet moment. She’s such a close friend.
I was just in Sewickley, Pittsburgh, shooting her new book. We have a mutual admiration club. I just love her. She’s such an amazing designer and human. And we both love cheese. In L.A., that’s rare.
How has living in Laurel Canyon influenced your style?
AN: I bought my house before I was married so I have literally grown roots here. And my style has evolved because it’s the quintessential indoor-outdoor living. I have to come outside to go to the guest house/office. All the doors open to the yard on both sides. My garden is edible. I literally went up and got peaches this morning for me and my mom for breakfast. The design celebrates the outdoors, which is California living at its best.
Do you have any go-to tips to share when approaching styling a home prior to a photo shoot?
AN: First, if you’re shooting for a magazine, what season is it coming out? Because it’s important that the photos lend themselves to that. But I think my biggest tip is to let the house tell the story. Don’t overwhelm it with props and food and florals. Because the house is the star.
Also, you should feel like a human just walked out of the room, so you feel the humanity in a space. You don’t necessarily see the family photos, but you feel the life, the heartbeat, there. That’s important, so people automatically feel comfortable, and if it feels familiar.
Photograph by Amy Neunsinger
What are some ways to create that human-just-walked-out-of-the-room vibe? Is it about pulling a chair away from the table, things like that?
AN: Absolutely, it’s having a dish on a drain board that has water on it. You know, opening a window. Just these little things that are like, “Oh, yeah, that’s real. People do live here.” Because sometimes I look at homes in magazines and they’re so perfect that I can’t imagine myself in the space, so I turn the page.
There’s this quality of warmth that a photo needs to evoke. It could just be the quality of light coming in — a dappled low light coming across the floor — and you’re like, “Oh, yeah, my house does that somewhere.” So, it’s really trying to pull at the heartstrings of the viewer any way you can. Not overtly, but subtly.
I do that a lot with light. Because we all respond to light. I tell my story with light, and a stylist tells their story with little bits of humanity that lend themselves to the house we’re shooting.
From Season 2, Episode 4 of “Capturing Home”
Photograph by Amy Neunsinger
Before you photograph a space, are there certain things you always remove? Like, would you take away the coffee pot or take the television off the wall?
AN: I hate seeing a TV. Usually if you take it off the wall, then there’s this big, huge gaping hole with wires. I try to just avoid that angle in a room. You see the room, but the TV is cropped out. Everybody has a TV, I get it. I just don’t want to see it in a photo. I feel it’s a soul sucker. Regarding the coffee pot, if there’s a beautiful glass coffee carafe there, use it.
Do you have any styling pet peeves? For instance, how do you feel about turning books backwards on the shelf, so you don’t see the spines?
AN: I am not a fan of that on a bookshelf, because how do you find the book? I really believe in functionality. But in a beautiful stack, if the books are mismatched and some of them are faced with the pages out — if it feels real — totally don’t mind that. I also find that a floral arrangement in every room doesn’t feel authentic because you don’t live that way. 400 apples in a bowl? Feels like they’re just gonna rot.
The styling should feel authentic and real and not abusive to the amount that’s used. Sometimes less is more in telling a story. And a little bit of chaos is beautiful!
Like, Kate and I are so funny. We were scouting a house recently for a job. And there was the stack of magazines and newspapers and books on this kitchen island that was so beautiful. Like, we couldn’t even look at the house. It just felt like an art pile. It’s things like that, that are real, and that tell the story of who lives there. That is beauty to me, and to Kate.
Styling is very personal. I don’t think it should overwhelm a space. I don’t think it should be a calling card for the stylist either. I think it should just kind of go away and tell the home’s story. And that’s hard to do. It’s not easy because it’s not formulaic.
What you just said makes me think of one of the photos on your website. It’s an exterior where it looked like an orange tree had just been pruned and it looked like the branches had just been left on a patio table.
AN: Yes! Then, that abundance works. But I just hate waste in anything. So, yes, I think that is a pet peeve — the TV and waste.
Photo by Amy Neunsinger
You said you like to tell a story with light in your photography. How do you do that?
AN: Every photographer tells the story differently. I feel like my job is to tell the home’s story and how it’s situated on the property. I follow the sun, and I tell the story of the house that way. I do not light the interior; I let that story be told by how it’s situated on the land with the sun coming in.
That’s just my process. I feel like it’s authentic. I feel like it really celebrates the intention behind the design. I’ve been fascinated by light since I was little. It’s how I tell my story. There’s one sun; there’s one source. And it’s so funny, on the show, our DP was watching me light the stills, and I then started lighting for the motion as well. He’s like, “Wow, light must struggle.” And I said, “Yes, light must struggle,” because it doesn’t come in clean through a window.
It comes in through atmosphere, through telephone poles, through trees, through cobwebs. And that itself is a story that gives you a sense of space.
Design by Leanne Ford / Photograph by Amy Neunsinger
“Light must struggle” — love that.
AN: And it does. It does not come in directly. And sometimes when it does, you tell that story. So then you understand, “Oh, there isn’t a tree in front of this window? Yeah, I understand where this room is.” Or, “Are we upstairs? In upstairs rooms, the trees are thicker.” That’s how I do it. It’s not right or wrong. It’s just my way.
On your Instagram, you recently said a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson sums up your philosophy of design. It’s that “The ornament of the house is the friends who frequent it.”
AN: Yeah, my big philosophy is a happy home is a happy block is a happy town is a happy city. So if you are happy in your home, and you share it, then that pays forward going outside your door. So it’s how you make people feel. If I feel good, and I share it, then anybody who comes into my home hopefully feels the same way. And they go out into the world trying to do the same. If you’re happy, then you have house pride, and it’s shared and it’s paid forward.