For Daniel Milstein, owner of Daniel Milstein Photography, being a luxury real estate photographer has some pretty exceptional perks.
“It’s a fantastic job,” he said. “I get to spend an enormous amount of time on waterfront properties in beautiful weather, and I don’t have to pay the property taxes.”
Specializing in luxury properties since 2008 out of Bedford Hills, N.Y., Milstein covers the New York metro and Westchester area, as well as Fairfield County and the Connecticut coastline. Among the many homes he has photographed is the Farmington, Conn. house that once belonged to former professional boxer Mike Tyson and later rapper 50 Cent.
50 Poplar Hill Drive in Farmington, Conn., the former home of professional boxer Mike Tyson and later on, Curtis Jackson (known as 50 Cent).
Daniel Milstein Photography
Real estate listings are designed to be enticing. And when they involve luxury properties and estates, the homes can almost sell themselves. But these impressing listing photos don’t just come with the property. Luxury real estate photographers like Milstein and CT Plans Photography’s Hicham Bensaoui have gone inside some of the most stunning luxury homes in Connecticut to capture the coolest — and craziest — houses around.
“I did a couple thousand homes back when I was photographing,” said Bensaoui. “There are a few things I’ve seen in my life doing what I do, but the craziest is a full basketball court in the basement and also a full hockey rink in the basement.”
While he has been CEO of CT Plans (specializing in photography, drone footage and 3D rendering) for the past three years, Bensaoui has found merit in his newfound office life. Now, he leads his team of photographers and continues to grow his business that “started from a little desk at home” and now serves almost 30 percent of their market. But when he was photographing homes, it was the diversity inherent in each day that made it intriguing.
“The best part was being able to see different homes and different styles and meeting different people,” said Bensaoui. “Every day is different because you’re not going to the same office and the same desk; you’re going to different homes with different people. And loving what you do and having the opportunity to do it is every day is, I think, the best thing ever.”
Milstein also encounters such diversity in his work. He was recently at a home that he said “takes top honors as the single largest waterfront property we have ever photographed,” with its “1,286 linear feet of Atlantic beachfront next to a nature preserve.”
“It was on a massive beachfront that can’t be developed by anyone else,” he said of the property. “We ended up staying overnight to catch some dawn footage from the air, and then there were three of us operating two drones to catch the sunset. It’s the kind of thing we can do because of the marketing budgets for luxury properties.”
90 Jule Pond Drive in Southampton, N.Y. This home “takes top honors as the single largest waterfront property we have ever photographed,” said Daniel Milstein of Daniel Milstein Photography. “Forty-two acres with 1,286 linear ft of Atlantic beachfront next to a nature preserve that doubles the amount of open beach.”
Daniel Milstein Photography
But there is one home Milstein said he will “absolutely never forget.”
“It was two days shooting this house, and it was filled with backlit onyx panels on more walls than I’ve ever seen,” he said of a home in Great Neck, N.Y. “This same house had polished granite floors in the boiler room and in the driveway, and had what looked like lights on carnival rides inside on the walls of the foyer.”
Bensaoui and Milstein both said that encountering some of these unusual details is just one part of the job — the main goal is to produce footage that is both true to the property and as enticing as possible.
“I think the one main thing is to keep in mind is for my photographers to keep in mind that if they were the potential buyer, what would they want to see?” said Bensaoui. “You want to showcase the best features of the house, as well as give some sort of perspective to be able to visualize the space. Bottom line: you have to put yourself in buyers’ shoes and visualize that space for them.”
CEO and founder of Stamford-based CT Plans Photography said he tells his photographers to put themselves in the buyers’ shoes when they photograph a home to help house hunters visualize the space.
CT Plans Photography
Before Milstein begins taking photographs of any home, he has a particular mantra that he likes to bring to each shoot.
“I am looking to tell a story that is consistent in fit, finish and luxury,” he said. “Unlike marketing a smaller property, it’s really not about showing everything; it’s about showing people enough to generate interest and tell a story, and if it doesn’t tell a story, it doesn’t do much to generate interest.”
With luxury properties in particular, Milstein lets the agents prime him on what features they would like to feature before he gets to work. From there, he is fixated on storytelling.
“Most of the time, the agents I’m working with have significant experience, and a quick conversation with the agent of what they want to highlight in a property gives me a good idea,” he said. “The agent is the marketing specialist. My job is to find an attractive way to tell that story.
