In the marketing field he has been commissioned to shoot brochures for such high-end schemes as the Warehouse in Dublin’s Clanbrassil Street.
McCall recently assigned himself a special commission — to snap his own restored and modernised Victorian redbrick on Lombard Street West, in the heart of Dublin’s old Jewish quarter.
He believes it has never been so important to get pictures right when selling a home. Having recently become a home hunter himself, McCall is increasingly frustrated with the quality of pictures in brochures and on property websites.
“Poorly composed, badly exposed, incorrect use of light and not including enough detail are the biggest faults,” he says. “What’s the point of including just one pic of the outside and the garden if the house needs work inside? If it needs work, let’s see it anyway. It’s not like we’re not going to know.”
The first point of contact for a vendor is the online or printed pictures. “Don’t just start snapping,” advises McCall. “When I photograph a house, I take a walk around it first to get the atmosphere, to see where the light comes in and to see where I can get the best angles. Generally I shoot from chest to waist level, but I’ll always stand up higher or get down lower in case there are any special shots to get. You need to get a sense of a room and show its dimensions. This usually means showing as much floor area as possible.”
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He adds: “One of the biggest mistakes people make is to start banging off with a flash. I never use artificial lighting — I use the most natural light possible.
It can help to use peripheral artificial light in darker corners by turning on lamps, but there’s no substitute for good daylight.
McCall acquired his home as a first-time buyer in 1999, when the market was extremely hot. At the time, Dublin’s “Little Jerusalem” in Dublin 8 was beginning to emerge as a fashionable neighbourhood after becoming run-down in the 1970s and 1980s.
Traditionally an area associated with Dublin’s Jewish community, it is mentioned in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses as the area in which the protagonist Leopold Bloom lived.
Across the road stands the old synagogue, now an interiors warehouse, and the Jewish museum is nearby. McCall was born in the area. “I knew the area and really wanted to buy in it, it was so central. But I did worry about prices. They were getting out of my league, so I borrowed about £10,000 more than I could afford. The house was in run-down condition, but most of the damage was superficial. The whole of the back was damp: it needed rewiring and replumbing, there were holes in some of the walls, and the back extension needed to be demolished.”
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McCall had some family friends who were builders. The property was gutted and the extension was replaced by a swish cedar-clad affair designed by the architect Colm Duggan.
McCall’s contacts proved invaluable. Apart from the builders, working in the fashion industry meant he had friends in the interior design industry, not least his girlfriend, a designer in her own right.
“These houses are unusual in that they appear to be a cottage from the front, but they’re two-storey to the back. You get inside, see the high ceilings and stairs heading upwards and downwards, and you think, ‘Wow! This place has some space in it’,” he says.
The house was built in the 1860s, of a type designed for the newly emerging middle classes. McCall decided to retain period details such as the cast-iron fireplace in the drawing room, and the rolltop clawfoot tub in the bathroom, but also to modernise as much as possible.
Downstairs, the old kitchen and new extension were turned into a svelte, bright living/dining/kitchen area. The panelled ceiling was preserved and painted white, and the floor tiled in white marble.
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The hall and landing areas were covered in herringbone sisal carpet and the living room’s original pitch pine boards were sanded, whitewashed and varnished. Bright off-whites were repeated upstairs in the two bedrooms.
McCall and his girlfriend are now scouring the city for another property. They’ll either stay in the city or move to the far edge of the county. His house is for sale through HOK Residential (01 663 4300) for €950,000.
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Selling your home the McCall way:
When taking pictures of your home or when instructing a photographer, snap what the viewer will want to see. Imagine yourself as a prospective buyer.
You’ll need a clear picture of the front of the property, the kitchen, the rear garden, reception rooms. Bedrooms, bathrooms and ancillary rooms are not as important.
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Lighting: Pick a good day with a clear sky and photograph your property around noon when there are no shadows. Inside, removing nets and lifting blinds let in light. You may need to turn on side lights to ensure the whole room is in view. Pictures often become darker or lighter when published in photocopies, brochures and newspapers.
Composition: Try a number of angles until you find the best shot. All pictures should have a focal point (in the living room it’s generally the fireplace). Don’t have half a chair or a single table leg intruding on one side of your picture. Staging: Clear the exterior of the house of cars, bins, rubbish and other items that obstruct the view. The same goes for inside. Remove as much furniture as possible to make rooms look larger. Cut out unsightly features such as electricity pylons and neighbouring laneways.
Resolution: Digital cameras are great for “bracketing” — that is taking as many pictures as you can and then selecting the best ones. But the picture needs to be of high enough resolution to make it useable. Newspapers generally require a resolution of at least 1 megabyte. Websites will require less, while magazines will require perhaps 10 meg. Too many estate agents use pictures with too low a resolution, so the pictures are grainy. However, don’t send the highest resolution as this will make the picture files large and difficult to handle.