Morning Ritual | A Stylized Shoot
A couple of weeks ago during my morning coffee ritual, I was struck with the desire - nay, need - to indulge in an impromptu stylized shoot. Just the night before I had watched a lifestyle photography class on Skillshare by Marte Marie Forsberg and it was so inspiring that I was overcome with the longing to catch a moment - to immortalize a mood, a feeling, a setting, and tell a simple story with whatever I had.
As soon as my french press was ready, I began to gather objects from the four corners of the house: a black mat board to absorb light, my coffee (which would grow cold, but was worth it - small sacrifice when you live by the mantra "anything for a shot!"), a flower arrangement, and small vessels of decanted maple syrup and cream. I brought a butcher block table top that my dad built over to sit on top of the little mid century modern cabinet in our dining room so I could have the best light next to the patio doors and went to town. And oh, it was so refreshing! I love taking pictures of people, but taking pictures of objects was thoroughly satisfying. I could control things for the most part (except for the tiny toddler who insisted on grabbing my coffee mug every time I moved far enough away to get a photo) and adjust at my leisure, slowly seeing what I liked and didn't like. I varied placements, played with f-stops, removed items if they become too cumbersome or visually distracting, and finally ended with a small cache of images I felt happy with. Images that evoked a mood. Dark and brooding is such a fun look and it was thrilling to chase after those still-life styles I had studied so diligently in art history.
My creative itch satisfied, I tinkered and played with post-processing to my heart's content and am now ready to share.
Please enjoy my coffee series...