Tomato Stills

Tomato Still Life

I have decided to take part in Julie Powell’s Sunday Stills photography class. The Week 1 focus was on light. I have to admit, I didn’t exactly follow the rules to set up the scene and photograph it across the day to observe the light changes. I discovered that finding a natural light area for photos in my house was quite a challenge due to window pane shadows! Plus, I only had an hour when I was inspired to set up the scene with light through the window of my back door into my kitchen. Even then, I was challenged with shadows as the afternoon sunlight was shining through tree branches, and I had to avoid blocking the light when taking pictures.

I did immerse myself in setting up the scene, watching the way the objects cast odd shadows, and noting how the changing light affected the color of the tomatoes across just an hour of time. It was almost meditational, just as Julie has suggested it could be!

Tomato Medley

The photo with only the salt shaker was taken at the start of the hour, the top right around the midway point (after adding the pepper shaker for interest), and the lower right was taken at the end. The light and color changes are subtle given my time constraint. I also cropped the photos to avoid evidence of kitchen clutter!

My house has it’s limits as a photo studio! But, I am looking forward to following the instructions for the next class! You can join in too; the online classes are free!