My limited photography knowledge and equipment means that I simply focus on taking advantage of good light when it’s available. Most of the shots I take are in the workshop, just from whatever light is coming through the south-facing windows. If there’s no good natural light at the moment, I wait for another moment.
A couple days ago, we had a bright winter day. This time of year, the sun is low in the sky and casts lovely shadows. The birds were singing, calling me outside to take some shots of a bird bowl I just finished. I had some fun propping it up in trees and such; seeing how the light played on it in different situations.
Before we return to that, here are a few shots of the early stages of this bowl. The sapwood on the cherry tree had begun to decay while still standing, but the heartwood was still solid and fresh.
Above is what it looked like when I split out a big crook. This is all above the pith, and the missing upper portion became a spoon.
A little further along. The split surface was naturally hollow toward the middle, with the “wings” raised up more at the widest part of the body.
There it is at the end of the green carving stage.
I could have come back to it a week or two later, but other things intervened and it ended up being well over a year until I finally returned to it. I refined the shape and surfaces, which took much longer than the green carving stage. There it is finished, above, perched on a branch. Here are a few more photos of this one from my time outside playing with light and shadow:
Lots of creatures were soaking up the winter sun that day. Here’s my buddy just outside the shop window enjoying some seeds.
