On meeting Julius Shulman

Rizzoli's new book: The Glass House with cover photo by Robin Hill

left to right: Julius Shulman, Robin Hill, Juergen Nogai. Photo by Hilary Lewis.

In 2007, I attended the opening of the Glass House and got to spend a few hours with one of my creative heroes, Julius Shulman. If I were an actor, this would have been similar to spending a few hours with Marlon Brando! He and his assistant, the gracious and talented Juergen Nogai had spent a few days photographing the Glass House prior to its opening. I had with me a recent copy of Home Miami Magazine which featured my photo of the Glass House on the cover and also had two beautifully crafted articles written by Paul Goldberger and Hilary Lewis. To say that I was a liitle daunted by showing my photography to arguably the best Architectural Photographer that ever lived was an understatement, but life sometimes throws up these moments and I wasn't prepared to just let it slip away. So I asked Julius for his critique! Julius thumbed through the article. Sweat started to appear on my furrowed brow. I stumbled for eloquence and found these words pouring unceremoniously out of my mouth; "I think those hotspots could be a little better controlled." Julius then furrowed his brow,pierced me with his hyper intelligent eyes and asserted "Don't ever criticize your own work in front of others!!!!!!." He then went on to say, and I will never forget this, "Robin, I wish I had thought of shooting the Glass House from behind the swimming pool!" Totally gobsmacked I thanked Juilius for his time, ordered some more champagne and took his words on board, that in times of darkness I remember to keep me going and to never, ever, ever give up on this most joyful and challenging profession. Fast Forward to 2011 and I recently learned that my photo 'Glass House Dawn' (above) will be used on the cover of the new official Glass House book to be published by Rizzoli. Much of my photography over the last ten years has focussed on Historic Preservation and I'm a proud member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation who are doing a really remarkable job in keeping the essnce of the Glass House Estate intact. To learn more about how you can visit and support the Glass House please click here: http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/