Q&A with Miguel Flores-Vianna

Today I'm thrilled to share some images from one of my favorite Photographers, Miguel Flores-Vianna. Though Miguel is a Photographer by profession, he is a traveler by heart. You've seen Miguel's interiors, lifestyle and travel shots in all of your favorite magazines and he's been kind enough to share some of his most recent photos taken while traveling to Turkey among other places. His eye and own talent for art and design led me to ask him to do one of our Q&A's. Miguel is based in New York, but as you can tell he is influenced by an international taste for people, culture and style. Thank you, Miguel. You inspire me.

1. Name: Miguel Flores-Vianna.
2. Occupation: Photographer.
3. Last purchase you made that is hanging on your wall: A roughly carved 19th Century Syrian wooden picture frame I bought in Aleppo a few weeks ago. To be honest it is not hanging yet, it is at the framer's. I plan to use it as the frame of a 100 year old photograph taken in Ephesus, Turkey.
4. What is the item you have had the longest hanging on the wall: A reproduction of a Leonardo da Vinci painting of the Madonna and Child . My mother must have bought it in Europe when she was single and, when I was born, had it framed and hung it next to my crib. It has been with me in all the bedrooms I have had in my life.
5. Favorite place to buy art: It is always the unexpected find, in the unexpected place,that gives me the most satisfaction. But I guess that buying art directly from the the artist, from his/her studio, seems special to me.
6. Do you collect anything: To call my collections "collections" is a bit of an overstatement. I buy certain things I like: Mediterranean ceramics, central Asian fabrics and 19th Century and early 20th Century photographs of the ruins of ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean.
7. Any special advice for anybody hanging art at home: Once I saw someone's bedroom where all the paintings were hanging remarkably low. I asked its owner why he had it done so. He explained that he got a lot of pleasure from seeing the images in the wall at eye level when he was laying in bed. It made such sense. I love that kind of reasoning. Thus hang art in a way that pleases you, don't hang it to impress. You have to live with it.