The Selby in habitus

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conversation todd selby – New York, usa

theselby.com has become a cult, colourful and quirky archive of global creatives at home. Elise Coroneos talks with founder Todd Selby about his studio, celebrities and Sydney.

Inside

The Selby Text Elise Coroneos

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Photography Tim Knox and Todd Selby

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conversation todd selby – New York, usa

It is a hot afternoon in New York’s East Village and Todd Selby is in his studio updating his website. Located below the staircase of a former tenement building, Selby is uploading the images from his most recent photo shoot. Less than three years ago, Selby was a somewhat successful full-time commercial portrait photographer working in New York. However, waiting for the phone to ring to herald his next job was his least favorite part of the job. So instead of waiting, Selby decided to reach out to people he knew and ask if they would let him photograph them at home and post the result on his website. Many agreed.

Within three months, the part-time project had developed into a full-time passion. Now, a mere three years later, the website attracts 35,000 unique daily visitors. The beauty of Selby’s work is that it combines the feel of a hip online interiors magazine with a documentary-like, voyeuristic style by capturing people inside their private realms. Each entry is literally a series of snapshots revealing the subject in the place they call home. Shots of individual pieces, whether upmarket design chic or eclectic umbrella stands, provide a surprisingly revealing insight into the personal taste of each subject.

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Being a subject of The Selby carries a certain cache, with many considering it a badge of credibility. The only criteria is that Selby himself finds you inspiring and, in his own words, “cool”. Simply being rich or famous will not suffice. “It does not play one way or the other. I am really interested and driven by who they are as a person,” says Selby.

That said, A-listers can arouse Selby’s interest. He has photographed designer Karl Lagerfeld, model Helena Christensen and Olivier Zahm of fashion magazine Purple, but regards them in a similar way to his sessions with lesser-known members of the global creative community. “I am not interested in creating an online tabloid for the artistic community,” says Selby, who, when growing up in Orange County, California, was interested in ceramics before discovering a passion for photography.

A typical shoot lasts about three hours.

Selby requests a tour of the home and at least one change of wardrobe. Each subject is also asked to fill out a questionnaire, usually using a coloured Texta, which he then scans and posts on the website to accompany the photos.

One of his favorite shoots to date was with Paris-based interior designer Jacques Grange,

01 Todd Selby in his studio.

02 Todd’s quirky eye and character have made the website a cult favourite.

03 The studio is alive with ideas in progress.

04 Odds and ends.

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“I found people in Australia to be some of the most supportive and open to meeting with me.”

– TODD

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conversation todd selby – New York, usa

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When it comes to his own personal style, Selby believes it is his studio, not his home, that best reflects his personal taste.

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05 Inside the home of ‘Dangerous Dan’ aka Dan Single, co-creator of Ksubi jeans.

06 The home of surfer, artist and filmmaker,Ozzie Wright, and his family – Mylee Fitzgerald and Rocky Rover Wright.

whose work for Yves Saint Laurent Selby greatly admires. “His home is just really fantastic. He has a really eclectic, humorous and colourful aesthetic that doesn’t seem to play by anyone else’s rules, yet still works, which I find really ingenious,” he says.

During a visit to Sydney last year, Selby photographed many local entrepreneurial designers including Dan Single and George Gorrow, the founders and creative directors of Ksubi, fashion and costume designer Tina Kalivas, photographers Lyn Balzer and Tony Perkins, as well as model Emma Balfour and photographer Andrew Cowen.

So inspired was he by his visit, Selby released a limited-edition booklet called The Selby Sydney. Despite having travelled all over the world to photograph for his website, the only other stand-alone booklet commemorating his visit to a single city has been The Selby Paris.

In addition to the booklet and on the website, some Sydney sessions appear in his latest book, called The Selby is in Your Place, which was released in April 2010. Essentially a coffee-table hardcover version of the website, the book sold out of its first printing within the first month and was in its third printing in August 2010.

“I found people in Australia to be some of the most supportive and open to meeting with me. They were similar to Americans, except that Australians let me into their homes out of a sense of hospitality, whereas Americans more

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conversation todd selby – New York, usa 07 Front cover of Todd Selby’s book, The Selby is in Your Place (Abrams, 2010).

often do it because they want to show everyone everything,” observes Selby.

Selby describes Sydney as “nice and relaxed” and reveals that when he was leaving he asked himself, “why am I going back to New York?” He hopes to embark on another trip to Australia soon, with Melbourne and a visit to New Zealand likely to be included on his itinerary.

When it comes to his own personal style, Selby believes it is his studio, not his home, that best reflects his personal taste. Crammed with posters and objects he has collected during his travels, the narrow room, not much bigger than a large walk-in closet, evokes a sense of a home away from home. “My studio is my special inspiration because it is where I like to hang stuff that I am interested in working on,” says Selby, who lives close by with his girlfriend, Danielle Sherman, a designer for Alexander Wang.

While the queue to get Selby’s attention has grown over the years, he does like a challenge. He hopes to photograph the Obamas in the White House within the next few years.

“They are style icons. If he gets re-elected, I believe I will have a good shot at making it happen,” says Selby.

The Selby, theselby.com habitusliving.com/beyond/theselby

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