the selby – photos in your place

I am a pretty nosy person.   I probably enjoy Facebook stalking a bit too much, and I love it when I have a reason to go into someone’s apartment while I’m working.  I am fascinated with how other people live their lives.

You can tell a lot about a person by just scanning their living space.   For example, in the book Blink by Malcom Gladwell, he writes about a study in which college students were described by two different groups of people – their best friends and total strangers.  The best friends, obviously, described the students off the top of their head.  Afterall, they know these students better than anyone.  The strangers, however, simply scanned students’ dorm rooms to get an idea of what type of people they were.  The study then compared descriptions between the friends and strangers.   More often than not, the strangers gave a more acurate idea of the college student’s emotional stability, contienceness, and openess to new experiences than some of their best friends.  This was based on looking at how they arranged and treated their living space.

That’s one reason why I like the website the selby – photos in your place.  Todd Selby makes videos and takes photographs of creative people and their space.  He showcases photographs from Brooklyn, Manhattan, London, Paris, Tokyo and other major cities.   I love the site because it gives me incredible insight to how other people are living and how they make due with their living space.  Here are some photos I enjoy.

Elisa Nalin, a stylist in Paris

Abigail Smiley Smith and Phillip Smith, London

Bill Gentle and Fanny Bostrom, Brooklyn

Each series of photographs also has interviews (oftentimes non-sensical) that give a bit more insight to the couple.  It’s a lot of fun to peer into other people’s lives!  If the site is too overwhelming for you (the amount of photos on there is staggering), then you can subscribe to an email each week that updates you with new photos of spaces.   It’s a weekly source of interior inspiration/envy (why don’t I live there?!).