Somewhere in blogsphere there’s a blog that gives tips on photography equipment secrets that don’t cost the earth. I wish I had bookmarked the site because it was good. From what I remember one of the tips included a light box made from a cardboard box for taking better quality macro shots. A large rectangle is cut from each side of the box and the empty spaces covered with white paper, enough for a lamp to shine through on the other side. I tried making the light box but for some reason it didn’t turn out as good.
Little did I realise though, that I had a light box secret of my own. Like twelve months later. That secret was in the kitchen. When I first saw the kitchen I remember gasping with horror at the white cupboards, white walls, white table, white everything. It looked as if someone had stepped into the kitchen with a spray gun and shot the room white. Over time however I grew to like the kitchen for the windows because it shone light into the room and made it even lighter!
I would use the kitchen to take pictures because I liked how the light bounced off my food. Of course this is not a post about photography secrets but about a kitchen I once loathed. We have since moved house and while I love our new house, I miss the white kitchen with the large windows—even if all the windows had large gaps in between that made them howl on windy nights.
Last week Fleur and her class had a week of “stage” or work experience in something they’re interested in. As she is art obsessed, she wanted to work alongside other artists or at least observe them at their work. Of course what she really wanted work experience in was anime but Biarritz doesn’t draw alot of anime artists. However Biarritz does have many artists in other fields. The studio where Fleur did her “stage” enabled her to observe art lessons in drawing, oil painting, scarf dying, jewellery making, etc. She has never taken formal art lessons of any kind so this was a treat for her. The following are her own photos:
Calandria tagged us to answer questions about our gifts and talents. If you’re reading this consider yourself tagged too.
1. What is a talent you seem to have been born with that you have discovered, grown, and celebrated?
Survival skill instincts. Eating dinner with three older brothers and two sisters all with bigger appetites than your own can make dinner look like a rugby match when the last potato gets treated like a football. So you either fight or you die! LOL.
2. What is the gift you think you don’t have, that you most envy in others?
Telemachus’ mentor for her ability to change from a winkled elder to a beautiful goddess without the aid of plastic surgery (that sort of thing might come in handy one day). Elizabeth Bennett because she knows how to talk back to mean old ladies. The third little pig because he got to see the wolf sizzle in his pot. And Charlotte; she didn’t write much, but when she did it was a miracle.
3. What is a talent that did not originally come easily to you, that nonetheless you’ve developed through practice and hard work?
Blowdrying my hair without the use of a brush.
Inspired by Nate and Jaclyn at ImageIsFound.
