The Beginnings: Before Style, There Is Atmosphere

Photo by Don Hunstein, courtesy of Columbia Records / Sony Music.

My mother read the Vogue, its pages always nearby, slightly worn at the edges. Music filled the house from morning on — Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jon Baez, Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas — vinyl spinning endlessly, as if silence had never been part of the plan.

Sunlight poured through the living room windows, catching tiny dust particles dancing in the air, never settling. The sound came from large wooden speakers, warm and grounded, making music feel physical, forever present and alive.

The smell of freshly made coffee drifted through the rooms and lingered, mixing with the scent of glossy paper and old vinyl sleeves. There was the weight of sound, the way light softened everything it touched. A sense that beauty lived in details, in tone, in how things felt rather than how they announced themselves. I didn’t know it then, but this was my first education in aesthetics — not as style, but as atmosphere. A way of seeing, sensing, and absorbing the world that stayed with me.

My father played Bach — Suite No. 3 in D Major— is a piece I always associate with him. His execution for detail and the way he furnished his workspace were deliberate and minimalist. There wasn’t a single unnecessary piece of furniture, every object carefully chosen and placed. He made sure I had access to state-of-the-art cameras, music equipment and any other technical gadgets. His eye for color, paired with Afghan and Central Asian carpets that added texture and warmth, shaped the way I perceive the world — in tone, in form, in the spaces between objects, in how things feel as much as how they appear.

That early exposure shaped how I move through life, what I notice, what I’m drawn to, what I return to again and again. It taught me that inspiration lives in presence, in mood, in the spaces between things. This journal exists because of that beginning — and what follows grows directly out of it. Other people have also shaped my sense of aesthetics, though I’ll leave their stories for future blog posts.