Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Impatient Drivers

Note to impatient drivers: riding up my rear end is not going to make the car in front of me go any faster!

(And it must be nice that those pesky Speed Limit signs don't apply to you.)

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Heat

I think I'm starting to get hot flashes. I can't tell for sure because the heat index here has been over 100 degrees for days, and it's so humid you feel like you need gills to breathe. Either way it's a drag!

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Photo Backgrounds




There is a guy who is a long-time customer of mine, who is a serious rockhound and who has a lot of spare time on his hands. He happened to come in one day a few weeks ago when I was working on photography and noticed the various backdrops I use to display my jewelry on when I'm taking pictures: a piece of wood with a light "interior" side and a dark bark "exterior" side; 2 different light grey patterned tile pieces, 1 beige patterned tile piece, and a small but very pretty piece of driftwood. (I also shoot outside on the edge of the courtyard water fountain, a cement bench, and various plants and leaves.)

The next day my friend shows up with a huge chunk of pyrite (fool's gold) for me to use in my photography. I'm not kidding, this thing is at least 10 inches long by 8 inches wide by 5 inches deep--the biggest chunk of pyrite I've ever seen. There's one section with glittering little square nuggety protrusions, and other sections where the rock is smoother but still has the "gold" flecks through it. A beautiful specimen, but my first thought was whether it would be too shiny to get a decent picture without glare from the flash.

A couple of days later he comes in with another big rock. This one is honey onyx--layers and striations of soft peach alternating with white, and an uneven, rocky face, which is perfect for displaying jewelry. Just gorgeous, and a nice neutral color that I thought would be great for a background.

Last week I finally got around to shooting some new photography using these unique pieces. You can see the results yourself--the same cameo pendant taken on both rocks. The pyrite is actually not as bad as I thought, but doesn't work well for every color of stone. With the right item, though, it's a really interesting background! And the honey onyx is fantastic--I don't think there was any piece that I tried to photograph that didn't look good on it. I'd love to get some comments on what YOU think!

Just a couple days ago, my customer brought in this FANTASTIC big piece of driftwood for me to use. It's got light and dark sections and lots of lumps, bumps, holes, and protrusions that are going to make for amazing pictures! You can see more examples of the pyrite, the honey onyx, and soon the driftwood in my Etsy shop or my Artfire studio. (Be sure to look at the jewelry itself while you're there!)