glass

New Mexico Glassware Art Photography with Noah Starer

New Mexico Glassware Art Photography with Noah Starer

A big photography art challenge

Long-time photography client Noah Starer has made the transition from ceramic artist to glass artist in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It took me some time to figure out the technical aspects of photographing his ceramic work to his desired style outcome, but that time compared to how long it took me to figure out how to photograph this new series of glassware was well, incomparable. It took hours and lots of trial and error to get a shooting setup that minimized glare first, then reflections second. Most of the pieces were glossy and made of reflective glass, so you can imagine the challenge involved when you need to use off camera lighting to make them pop, and then stand in front of the piece of glass to actually photograph it. You can see the BTS shot of what I finally settled on as a shooting setup at the far bottom of this post.

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Philosophy of Antiques in the Park Gulfport Florida

Lots of glass items at Antiques in the Park. It seems Cs were in short supply in 1945.

I recently put on Facebook this statement that popped into my mind, "Only things that are old have any value."  One person commented, a 40+ year old guy, "tell that to my wife."  I meant it to be a serious statement though on the extremely disposable and commodified nature of all items, goods and personalities being created in 2010.  In 40 years will anyone admire a 2010 Toyota Camry the way they would a 40-year old Shelby Cobra today?  

All wonder over air travel has now been replaced by fear and routine, making a trunk like this one all the more valuable.

How is this for you?  iTunes DJ has just selected a classic song from the Amelie soundtrack to play.  The most modern form of playing music choosing a classic tune from before computers even existed while I write about the past on a wireless keyboard in front of two digital screens.  Perhaps this is the way of the future . . . using modern technology to help preserve the value of the past.

Hard to imagine a world only as big as the distance a wagon wheel could take you.

And by no means do I believe technology is advanced at all right now.  Computers and the Internet are still very much in their infancy.  How rough is it to use a computer still?  Not even my Mac "just works."  

This collection of old circus tumblers fascinated me. If I had $39 cash on me I just might have purchased them.

While browsing the tables of Antiques in the Park in Gulfport I came across the very green glass goblets my mother used to fill with pudding and jello when I was a child.  I had a very strong reaction to seeing them.  So strong I did not even thing to photograph them.  I was probably going to purchase them as I passed back by the entrance/exit on the way out.  I did not even have the chance as someone else, perhaps wanting to eat pudding from them once again, had already bought them and carried them cheerfully home as I would have done.

Nothing made now will rust like this oxidized tractor.

This was the first antiques show I went to in the south and I was surprised to see the legacy of slavery and racism in explicit messages on several antique decorative plates and even old 8x10 advertisements.  One recurring theme I saw was black people being pursued or victimized by alligators, suggesting I guess that white people would never be attacked by these apparently discriminating creatures.  It was a bit surreal and uncomfortable to see these items.  

I plan to visit a few more antique shows in the near future and I hope to find perhaps another set of those pudding goblets and maybe an old camera or two for decorating my desk with some photography history.