Cups? Cups!

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my favourite things about sharing a photography studio is getting to play with what the other photographers keep in the studio. It's a little like sharing a giant toy box, and a little like going "shopping" in your friend's closet; except, you know, with a much more mature, sophisticated and photographic twist.

... Yeah.

One of our members kindly contributed an espresso machine to the studio. I don't drink espresso (any any other kind of coffee, really), but that didn't stop me from being excited about it, because the machine had these really cute little cups that looked like they needed to be photographed. So one day, after an unrelated shoot, I did.

At first I tried some white-on-white stuff, then experimented with grey and black backgrounds, going for a monochromatic theme, but everything looked deeply uninspiring. On a whim, I leaned a gold reflector against the table on which I had the cups set up on a piece of black plexiglass.



When that didn't turn out too bad, I decided to ditch the black and white thing and add a bit of colour into the mix. The cups are still on black plexiglass, against a grey background, but this time with a bunch of red beads (from a random necklace we also had around the studio) spilling out of one of the cups.



When that worked as well, I decided to try a similar thing with blue. This time the cups are on clear plexiglass, with a sheet of bright blue paper underneath, and the blue beads spilling out of the cup are yet another prop necklace we had around.



I think I only stopped because I ran out of necklaces.

Doing this completely impromptu shoot was a lot of fun and reminded me of a side of studio photography that I love: taking things and playing around with them until you make them look good. They might not always be the most significant or groundbreaking of subjects, but there's always a way to make the mundane look extraordinary.

Ever been inexplicably drawn to shoot something apparently insignificant? I'd love to hear those stories!

Maria

Another post in the Embarrassingly Overdue Photos series.

Question: what happens when you put 2 girls in a room with a bunch of make-up, an umbrella and a camera?

Answer: An awesome photo shoot, some cool photos and a lot of cleanup.



Back in (gulp) August, my friend Maria and I got together for another photo shoot. It is my deeply held belief that most girls have at least one really great dress that they bought with high hopes but don't have a chance to wear or, worse yet, have no good photos in. Add to that our love for make-up and Maria's innate modeling talent, and it was already starting to sounds pretty good.

And then it got better. One of the things I love about sharing a photography studio is that everyone uses different equipment and there's always something new to borrow and experiment with. This time, Guillaume had brought in an amazing umbrella that I was itching to put in front of a camera, rather than in front of a light.



The results were some great shots, a few Singing in the Rain moments (minus the rain), and I hear Maria got a good arm workout out - seems enormous umbrellas get heavy after a while!

You can see the full set here.

Eventually the black dress on black background got a little old, so we switched it up with a bright red corset for a different look.