About CARLY CARYN : EYE FOR STYLE
Carly Caryn is a bicoastal freelance photographer and artist, based out of her two favorite historic neighborhoods, New York City's Greenwich Village and the Hollywood Knolls in Los Angeles, CA. She specializes in historic architecture, signage, and travel destinations, working in both digital and traditional film formats, to provide interior & exterior, commercial & residential site photography, as well as post-production digital imaging services.
Carly is a rare breed of Hollywood, California native whose love of architecture first began at the age of five, tagging along on historic walking tours of Los Angeles lead by her mother, Christy McAvoy, a renowned historic preservation consultant. Known affectionately as “the preservation kid”, Carly grew up attending open house tours, boarding meetings, and community outreach events sponsored by organizations such as The Los Angeles Conservancy, California Preservation Foundation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Hollywood Heritage. Despite her perceived adolescent boredom with the subject at the time, something resonated deep within…
Carly went on to attend UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and TV and later, Art Center College of Design, where she graduated with a BFA in Film with Distinction. Shortly thereafter, Historic Resources Group (http://www.historicla.com), one of LA’s top architectural and historic preservation firms, offered Carly the opportunity to photograph the Hall of Justice in Downtown Los Angeles for its CA State Office of Historic Preservation Tax Credit application.
Out of her architectural work, sparked an idea for a personal photography project and labor of love – first documenting LA’s retro "googie" signage and iconic historic landmarks, then later applying the same concept in San Francisco and New York City. Carly was initially attracted to capturing hyper-colorful old signage and its neon fonts, graphic shapes and construction for fun and use in her artwork, but as the project progressed, she started to feel a sense of duty and purpose in photographing these old buildings and cityscapes. After witnessing many architectural landmarks go by way of the wrecking ball time and time again, it became a personal mission of Carly’s to document these gems while they are still in existence and ideally, play a part in their preservation.
As of summer 2010, Carly is currently in the process of obtaining funding grants for her latest labor of love, utilizing photo mapping software (Google Earth) to “geo-tag” her archive of photographs, pinpoint their exact location on a web-based virtual map, and create downloadable walking tours. She firmly believes that utilizing this revolutionary, cutting-edge geotagging technology has the potential to become an invaluable cultural resource for the historic preservation and architectural communities around the world, photo documenting and mapping historic districts, building by building, block by block. It is her hope that, through the medium of photography, she can continue to play a vital role in the rehabilation process of historic buildings, document our city’s most beloved cultural landmarks, creating a library legacy of photographic images and urban mapping surveys, for future generation’s use.
ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS
The Stevens House, a John Lautner Design, Malibu
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Hollywood Bungalows Site
Yamashiro Restaurant, Hollywood
The How House, an RM Schindler Design, Silver Lake
The Lot (formerly Warner Hollywood Studios)
1343 N. Laurel Avenue Estate for the City of West Hollywood
Hollywood Community Housing Corp. Historic Bungalow Courts Project
Hotel Constance, Pasadena
Scott Ave. Apartments, Silver Lake
Park Wilshire Apartments, Hollywood
Pacific Electric Lofts, Downtown LA
Downtown Women’s Center
Paul Williams Cultural Center, South Central Los Angeles
Arwyn Manor Apartments, Hollywood
Trader Vic’s @ The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills
Sweetzer Avenue Apartments, Hollywood
Poole House @ The Southwest Museum, Mt. Washington
Nickelodeon Studios on Sunset, Hollywood
Disney Studios, Royal Laundry Building, Pasadena
Culver Studios, Culver City
Lompoc Theatre, Lompoc, CA
The LaFetra House, a Ray Kappe Design, Brentwood Hills
The Storer House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Design, Hollywood
Los Angeles City College – Men’s Gym & Physical Education Building
The Volk House, a Quincy Jones Design, Crestwood Hills
Gustav Rich House, a Thornton Abell Design, Brentwood
Villa D’Este Apartments, West Hollywood
Las Encinas Hospital, Pasadena
The Ennis House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Design, Los Feliz
Jane Wiedlin House, a William Kesling Design, Silver Lake
La Marquise Apartments, Hollywood
Security Lofts, Downtown LA
Metro 417 Lofts, aka Subway Terminal Building, Downtown LA
Security-First Bank Building, Hollywood
Hotel Chancellor, Hollywood
La Leyenda Apartments, Hollywood
Nirvana Apartments, Hollywood
Jensens’ Recreation Building, Echo Park
The Eames’ House, a Charles & Ray Eames Design, Pacific Palisades
The Wolff House, an RM Schindler Design, Sherman Oaks
The Gould House, a Greene & Greene Design, Ventura, CA
Pine Villa Residence, Long Beach
Sony Studios, Culver City
Eastern-Columbia Lofts, Downtown LA
SCIARC (Southern CA Institute of Architecture), Downtown LA
Pegasus Apartments, Downtown LA
The Millard House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Design, Pasadena
Ravenswood Apartments, Hollywood
Grace Avenue Apartments, Hollywood
The Sowden House, a Lloyd Wright Design, Los Feliz
The Californian, Fresno, CA
Santa Monica City Hall
Pisgah Home, Highland Park
The Bembridge House, Long Beach
Old Bank District, Downtown LA
Continental Building, Downtown LA
Farmers & Merchants Bank Building, Downtown LA
Hellman Building, Downtown LA
San Fernando Building, Downtown LA
Miskhon Temple, Venice
Van Nuys Municipal Building
Whitley Court, Hollywood
Vista Del Arroyo Bungalows, Pasadena
The Standard Hotel, Downtown LA
The Rowan Building, Downtown LA
The Ziegler Estate, Highland Park
901 S. Broadway, Downtown LA
McCarty Memorial Christian Church, West Adams
AGO Sorority House, West Adams
The Merritt House, Ambassador College, Pasadena
Hall of Justice, Downtown LA