Todd Selby is in the business of people. The popular American photographer has made a career not just photographing others, but capturing them when they are most at home—quite literally. By snapping creative people in their houses or work spaces, Selby—known internationally as The Selby—presents an informative, often insightful look at humans and how they tick.
“I think that people are curious by nature,” Selby says. “So I tend to pick interesting people that I’m curious about and that I think a lot of other people are also curious about.” Having photographed everyone from fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to pizza maker Susumu Kakinuma, and with three gorgeous photographic books behind him and a slew of high-profile partnerships with the likes of Louis Vuitton and Samsung, The Selby has cemented his place as an influential and appreciated artist behind the lens.
Most recently he paired with Bugaboo by Diesel to photograph fascinating families in their homes and as such present an honest, playful look at relationships between parents and offspring. For his second installment, Selby photographed Williamsburg-based fashion designers Jeff Halmos (Shipley & Halmos) and Lisa Mayock (Vena Cava) and their young son, Lucien, and pug, Roscoe. “My style of photography is one in which I really kind of embrace whatever happens on a photo shoot, so I like the spontaneity that shooting children brings,” he says. “It’s just kind of a fun experience for them. We just make a giant mess and cruise around and go wild, and they think I’m the coolest, weirdest guy who just appears, and all of a sudden they get to play dress-up and make a mess and throw pizza everywhere.”
Even when shooting adults, though, Selby is able to use his images as a glimpse into the lives of today’s inspired minds. “People’s spaces say so much about them,” he says. “You really can learn a lot by seeing someone in their home or seeing pictures of someone in their home.” When it comes to his own spaces, he says if he was to be photographed Selby-style, it would be in his studio. “I have it filled with all my crazy stuff and all the artwork that I’ve collected, and my own work,” he explains, adding that it’s also filled with random knick-knacks, “strange handkerchiefs, little sculptures, piggy banks.” A self-proclaimed recovering hoarder, Selby is personified in his space, just like the people he captures in photographs.
Photos by Todd Selby of The Selby.
