Metalworks

I am just getting back into photography. I married into a family that takes very few photographs, so I returned to taking photographs a few years ago mostly to capture Christmas memories. But, of course, the problem with digital is the lack of the tangible--those photos now live on discs and ironically mostly as vague memories. But, this food thing has meant that I have a concrete place (intangible as it is) to post my pictures. And, so, I have started to look at them and attempt to improve them. As such, I decided I would join in on jugalbandi's Click photography event. The theme this month is metal.

I had read the contest form at the end of February, and I was fairly confident that it was not for me. I love porcelain, ceramic, stoneware, wood, bamboo... as vessels for food. Their surfaces are comfortingly soft and smooth to the touch; each of those materials strike me as food service vessels. But, what about metal? I think of silverware and cooking-ware. I had quickly thought about maybe doing something Macbethian with food bubbling in metal pots, but I am not quite in a theatrical aesthetic right now.

But, then on Easter, we worked on making vegan cookies, and I opened a drawer that was overrun with multicolored dragees. I had purchased them to decorate something at sometime--but as they now strike me as a choking hazard, I rarely use them. But, that drawer, made me think that there was a good metal picture in there. So, rather than food displayed on metal, I decided to think of metal food. I looked through the cabinets to help me compose the scene. In the end, I decided to create a modern, adult Easter basket--in a sleek, metal bowl (that we usually use for nuts.) I would have loved to experiment with lighting scenarios, but it was a crazy work week--so I was rarely home when natural light was streaming into the kitchen. (This is the largest outstanding question I have about blogging--how do so many bloggers shoot their lovely dinners in perfect natural light? Aren't they at work at that time?)

and the outtakes...