I love books! My apartment may be tiny, but my stacks of books are huge! It’s always such a treat when I can escape into a bookstore and explore what’s on the shelves. Hot off the press is Mary Emmerling’s Beach Cottages, the 20th+ book from decorating editor and author, Mary Emmerling. This coffee table beauty features the rooms and outdoor spaces of 17 dreamy beach cottages located coast to coast.

Even if, like me, you only dream of life on the beach, you’ll get plenty of ideas and inspiration to help you bring a little of the look to your home. And, don’t just take in the pretty pictures; Mary’s included a primer on beach house essentials, a huge list of shopping sources, and, one of my favorite parts, clever lists of everything beachy.

Mary and I worked together for 10 years at Country Home magazine and is my long-time friend and mentor. We met at my favorite neighborhood restaurant, Morandi, to chat about life at the beach.

JK: What do you love most about living in a beach cottage?
ME: I love the freshness of it: the ocean smells and breezes; the flowers and produce in the summer; and sunsets enjoyed with friends.

JK: What do you consider the essential elements of a beach house?
ME: I love slipcovers, white ironstone, blue and white fabrics, natural materials such as rattan and sisal, candles, and breezy curtains.

JK: I love the touches of humor in your decorating. How do you keep a room fun?
ME: Don’t take decorating too seriously and surround yourself with fun things—like beach balls, colorful jewelry, and family photos that make you smile. Also, look in your closet for unexpected decorating accessories; beach bags, straw hats, and sarongs add great color and style.

Mary Emmerling’s Beach Cottages is available at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Photos by Carter Berg. Photos courtesy of Clarkson Potter/Publishers.

— Jennifer Kopf

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Yesterday I posted Amy Copperman’s feature on PostSecret.com and the latest book of confidential confessions by its founder Frank Warren. As promised, here’s a Q&A with him. If you haven’t checked out the site, definitely do. It’s beyond captivating.

Q: You mention in the introduction of PostSecret that you started the project in 2004. Where did the inspiration for the project come from?

A: I believe that I began collecting people’s secrets in order to better understand my own (although at the time I was unaware of this). Not long after receiving anonymous secrets, I got one that led to an epiphany. I saw a postcard that described a humiliating childhood event that was similar to one that had occurred to me over 3 decades ago. I had been blocking it out but when I felt this stranger’s courage in sharing his story, I was able to find the strength to face my own secret. I told my story to my wife and daughter and then wrote it on a postcard and mailed it to myself. It is in the first book.

Q: Tell us about the time in your life when you began the project. How old were you, were you in school, married, children, where were you working, etc.?

A: I was 40 years old when I started PostSecret. I had faced a crisis in my life a few years earlier and found by throwing myself into postcard art projects I was able to find some solace and meaning. I do not have any artistic training or background. I founded a business, Instant Information Systems, about twenty years ago and I continue to manage it. I am married with a 13 year-old daughter (who refuses to tell me all her secrets). We live in a suburb of Washington DC called Germantown MD.

Q: How much mail (and email) did you receive when the project first began? And now?
A: At fist secrets used to trickle into my mailbox, a few every week. Now it is a deluge. I get about 1,000 postcards from all over the world every week. The PostSecret website gets about 1,000,000 visitors a week so I am unable to put my email address on the site. If I did the email I would get would be impossible to manage.

Q: How do you decide if the confessions you receive are real?
A: I think of the postcards as works of art. I don’t think the question of veracity is that important. In the same way when I walk into a museum or library I don’t discount any works because they are “fiction”. I am much more interested with each cards potential to impact a person’s life. When I travel to college campuses and present the project I often tell stories I have heard from people describing how seeing their secret on a stranger’s postcard changed their lives. So in those cases, even if the story was not “true” for the author it was for the viewer.

Q: Does it bother you to know that a “secret” might be false or fake?
A: I think the secrets offer so much more depth than to be seen as either being “true” or “false”. Here are some comments that I have received that might help explain what I mean by that;
“I pray that by the time my first PostSecret is published it is no longer true”.
“My biggest secret is a lie.”
“When I kid around about being gay I am only half joking.”
“We gave each other our secrets instead of sending them to PostSecret. . . A year later, mine is still true, and I am sure yours never was.”

Q: With so many postcards, how do you decide which ones to select for print and online?
A: I try to select a wide variety of postcards to share. Each week I want to create a narrative that includes all types of secrets. Secrets that are funny, sexual, remorseful, hopeful, profound, trivial and soulful. I look for cards that express a hope, fear, desire or idea that I have not seen before or show it in a new way. What is funny is how every week after I make the selections and post them I have my own private expectations about which secrets will generate the most email and comments - I am always wrong.

Q: Why do you feel that it is best for strangers to reveal their secrets?
A: I believe that we all keep secrets, whether we admit it or not, but I do not think that it serves us or others to tell them all. However, I do think that we keep too many secrets. Perhaps we are afraid that if we share some of our secrets we will look weak, dumb, or selfish. Sometimes I think we keep secrets for the wrong reasons. If we could instead find that right person to talk to we might find that talking about an embarrassing story or admitting our frailty might lead to a more authentic relationship with others or ourselves.

Q: Why should those secrets be shared with you, as opposed to someone they know?
A: I do not ask that people share their secrets with me in place of a family member, friend or psychiatrist. PostSecret only offers another way. I think one reason people do share their secrets in the PostSecret community is because it is anonymous and there are no social repercussions.

Q: What do you think accounts for the amount of negatively charged secrets that make up a lot of the postcards in your compilations?
A: I think that by their very nature secrets are usually dark. They can be taboo, politically incorrect, offensive, obscene. In many cases they are secrets because we are not comfortable talking about them in pubic. If we have good news or a happy secret it will not be a secret for long.

Q: A portion of the proceeds from your books goes to the National Helpline Network (1-800- SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433). Does the amount of suicide-themed postcards account for the choice to donate to the charity or do you have a personal story related to the cause?

A: Suicide is an important issue for me. I have lost a family member and good friend to suicide and have struggle through dark times myself. Because the secrets come to me anonymously I am unable to reach out individually to help people who tell me they are suffering. So I channel my efforts by volunteering on the hotline and promoting it. PostSecret has raised over $100,000.00 for 1(800) SUICIDE and more than that I hope it can act as model for how art and philanthropy can thrive together.

Q: What is something about you that someone would be surprised to know?
A: I am pretty friendless.

Technorati Tags: interview, postsecret.com, Frank Warren, confessions, personal, anonymous

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Sarah Jessica Parker

In case you didn’t know, it’s not always natural beauty that makes celebrities look worthy of the pedestals we put them on. Often it’s the genius talents around them. One such visual magic maker is British-born lifestyle, celebrity, and advertising photographer Barry J. Holmes.

I met Barry J. in 1994 when I was writing part of the first edition of the Time Out San Francisco travel guide and as he was taking the corresponding pictures as the staff photographer for London’s Time Out magazine. I have been a fan and friend ever since.

More than a decade later, Barry J. Holmes, now working in Hollywood, continues to push the editorial envelope with images that remind us why foreign magazines are more fun to look at and read than our tame U.S. versions. Just look at his images. They’re so much more exciting and full of personality than most of the portraits I see today.

THE ART OF BARRY J. HOLMES
Beyond a fantastic eye and undeniable raw talent, part of his poetry is in composition and a fearless use of color.

I’m such a fan of this saturated Christina Ricci portrait that I have a print of it hanging in my dining room.

And how appropriate is it that Barry White is larger than life?

Marcia Cross never looked so glam!

But Barry’s staging and propping is also flat-out brilliant.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” get in bed with Barry’s underground way of thinking.

When Barry had nothing special to work with in a library shoot with Kyle McLaughlin, he literally read into it by building a chair out of books.

Barry took this pic of Irvine Welsh, author of “Trainspotting,” outside the famed restaurant The French Laundry–and borrowed some of my intimates to set a genuine laundry scene. (What I won’t do for a friend!)
But here’s my personal fave:

Sexy, dangerous, and playful, it makes me anxious just looking at it, and more understanding of why all the Hollywood girls want to make out with Tommy Lee. (But perhaps I’m naive—I haven’t seen the video.)

THE INTERVIEW
Want to know about Barry’s finest career’s finest moments, get tips on taking better photographs, and find out what he was doing in an S&M club? Read the following exclusive Q&A with my fab photographer friend Barry J.:

How would you describe your style of portrait photography?
I’ve often pondered how I’d explain my style of work. With all the influences that I’ve continuously experienced over my career and my background in reportage, documentary, and celebrity, I’d say that my work is vibrant, human and open.

What makes a good portrait?
You don’t need to be a professional to take a good portrait. I think familiarity with your subject can help, but get in close and try to get some emotion–happy, sad, pensive. It doesn’t matter, just bring the viewer in with something intriguing. However, just good lighting can make a characterless shot have something inviting.

How do you get people to relax when taking a photo?
There was a major turning point in my portrait taking approach some years ago. I was a shy and nervous photographer during the first five years of my career. Some of the first sessions I was commissioned to do were Jeff Goldblum, John Cusak, and Natasha Henstridge to name a few… I’d make the mistake of putting the talent on a pedestal, talking about their work, which after a day, a week, or a month of interviews on their work was the last thing they’d want to talk about. Then one day I talked about vegetarian recipes with this pregnant English actress. Well, it turned what was an awkward shoot into a session where she opened up laughed and was more versatile and vulnerable with her personality. Yeah , celebrities have a somewhat bizarre life, but at the end of the day they’re human and want to be treated as such.

What’s the best advice you can give anyone who wants to take better photos?
Set the camera to manual and take endless amounts of photos, depending on where your interest is in photography. Saturate your mind with images from that genre. There no harm in getting ideas from magazines, movies, and music videos. The best photographers do it. Eventually you’ll not need to do it so contiously as you’ll develop your own opinions and artistic flair.

Who’s your all time favorite person you’ve photographed?
That’s a difficult one, as I’ve had so many varied experiences. But I must say shooting Lenny Kravitz and Steven Tyler with the U.S. flag was quite a buzz. It’s now in the Hard Rock in San Diego.

What’s the strangest photography experience you’ve ever had?
Shooting at an S&M club in London as a young photographer.

What is the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on a shoot?
I guess having Monica Bellucci (of “The Matrix” and “Malèna”), throw 20 glasses of water at me before we got the shot. She was so good at it that she’d get me in the lens every time. I had to retrain her so it would work for the camera angle.

Have you ever been star struck on a shoot?
Honestly, just once and it wasn’t an actor or actress. It was Video director Chris Cunningham. I was a huge fan of his and I was booked by Levi’s to shoot the advertising pics on the TV commercial he was directing. It was such a strange feeling having those giddy exciting feelings that go with being star struck. That was some time ago. I’ve never had the ’star struck’ feeling again.

Here’s Cunningham’s commercial:

What’s the best advice you can give someone who wants to be a photographer?
There’s no right or wrong way of going about being a photographer… First and foremost. Being totally obsessed with the medium is a plus. I used to watch TV through my camera. Bare in mind I was only 15 or 16 at the time, so if you’re a 30 year old looking for a career change, maybe just going out and using all your spare time to shoot would be a better idea as your family and friends might think you’ve lost it if you’ve got a camera glued to your face watching CNN. In this day of digital it’s much easier to experiment. Try taking a photography course full- or part-time, but remember the tutors are only guides. Take in what they have to say, but If you’re going to succeed as a full time photographer you have to have something individual that feels exciting and right in your heart.

SEE BARRY’S WORK IN L.A.
If you’re in L.A., check out BJ’s work at the new pub the Village Idiot, where his huge black and white images of a heated anti-racist rally in Britain loom overhead.

Erika Lenkert

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