August 6, 2010

The New York Times Interviews The Selby

The Selby has spent years looking inside the quirky homes of people around the planet and interviewing them for his website, theselby.com. Subjects range from the virtually unknown to high profile figures such as designer Karl Lagerfeld and model Helena Christensen. The New York Times visited The Selby’s studio in New York for a feature in the Sunday Styles section. William Van Meter reports that “theselby.com is a window into the private realms of those Mr. Selby deems ‘cool.’”

The article follows The Selby’s ascent from a photographer working on a personal project to a bona fide phenomena. Commercial success followed his cult status as an ethnographer of the homes of unique individuals, shooting campaigns for Cole Haan and Nike and working on a special project with Louis Vuitton. The Selby talks about his unusual path to success that is becoming the norm: “When I started in 2001, it was very clear. You start working for magazines, work your way up to the best magazines, the art buyers and art directors see those great magazines and hire you to shoot an ad campaign. Now it’s a totally different game. People who are making decisions about ad campaigns aren’t looking at magazines for inspiration. They’re looking at the Internet.”

While the easy accessibility of the Internet has critics crying that print is dead, The Selby’s move from online to print couldn’t have had a more positive response. Abrams published “The Selby is in Your Place,” a hardcover collection of The Selby’s work, and sold out of 12,000 copies in less than a month. Abrams issued another printing only to be sold out again, and is now on its third printing. Below are some of The Selby’s favorite images from the book.