One of the things I enjoy about working in real estate is getting to see how people live. I've always loved to glimpse inside houses - through a lit window in the early evening, on a house tour, and now all the time as part of my work. And one of my softs spots is old and untouched houses - they ring bells for me every time.
One of my all time favorite websites hits on both counts.
Dutch photographer Bert Teunissen, in his Domestic Landscapes project, has been documenting a vanishing way of living as he takes us inside the older houses of Europe and Japan. In mesmerizing photographs Teunissen shows us the homes and their inhabitants posed in kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms that are almost timeless in appearance. It is easy to imagine that the rooms look very much as they would have generations ago.
In a New York Times interview Teunissen says that the buildings and way of life he has documented are "fated to disappear as a consequence not only of architectural standardization but also of social displacement and shifts in public opinion about life and how it should be lived."
Teunissen estimates that over 90% of the buildings he has photographed in the last ten years no longer exist. Photonet.org quotes Teunissen's description of his subjects, "Their houses and ways of life are fading out of our societies, forever, together with their knowledge. It is my aim to capture this, wherever I can find it, before it disappears completely."
I can't include any photographs here due to copyright rules but I urge you to check out Teunissen's website. There's very little descriptive information on the site but once you start looking at the photographs it is hard to stop. The photographs are organized by country - if one country's photos don't grab you, try another. It's hard to pick favorites but I think mine are the photographs from France and England.
Check out www.bertteunissen.com. You're in for a treat!
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