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Post by millring on Mar 5, 2008 21:14:39 GMT -5
I just started taking my own pottery pix. I should try to get your opinions... my site for pix is so cumbersome, I'm going to try to figure out a quick way to upload some.
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Post by Cornflake on Mar 5, 2008 23:46:11 GMT -5
Do it. I'm already a fan. A Millring original has a place of honor in our living room.
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Post by sekhmet on Mar 6, 2008 9:25:05 GMT -5
John, send them to me at 4thebirdz at gmail dot com I'll make a directory for you and send you the url for their place on my server. No problem.  |
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:27:17 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:28:21 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:29:34 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:32:06 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:33:03 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:34:06 GMT -5
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:35:41 GMT -5
Just for fun. We had visitors all winter....  |
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Post by millring on Mar 13, 2008 8:36:26 GMT -5
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Post by sekhmet on Mar 13, 2008 8:59:57 GMT -5
It must be amazing to look out the window and see those guys!
How lovely.
And the pots.. beauties!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2008 10:09:19 GMT -5
Millring, those are beautiful.
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Post by millring on Mar 14, 2008 13:37:56 GMT -5
Thanks guys, and thanks, Sehk, for hosting them. That's lots easier than my site.
I posted them and then got called away and forgot I'd posted them. These are the first shots of my own that I've trusted enough to use to jury for shows.
I'm also trying an experiment this year. My usual images are more like the first two -- pots framed in a graded background. But when one is possibly one of 100-200 potters jurying for the same 20 spaces at a show, it's all about standing out.
I got the idea last year from three things:
1. The woman who interviewed me for the magazine article seemed surprised that I considered myself a semi-production potter. I took it as a compliment when she commented that my pots showed too much detail work to be anything production. I thought about that, and the fact that the regular images didn't really emphasize that (if it's true).
2. For about twenty years now we've grown to see images differently. We're no longer so literal that we can't see a good impression of the whole by well-defined parts. Like MTV trained us with video.
3. A photographer friend mentioned a guy he knew who was just showing parts of his work as his images before he switched from pottery to photography at art fairs. Apparently when he did the close-up thing he got into more shows by being different. My friend allowed as how the guy had created KILLER images by his partials, though.
Anyway, so I've entered shows with the close-ups (which, as I look at them here seem a little out of focus, I must say) for the first time. So far I've only heard back from one of the three shows I did this with but, I'm happy to say, I got accepted to it. Still waiting on the other two. All three were REALLY top-notch shows and I decided that they were worth the risk.
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Post by Cornflake on Mar 14, 2008 18:37:06 GMT -5
Millring, both the pots and the photos are very nice. I don't know anything, but a couple of thoughts occurred to me. In all of the photos, you appear to have relatively soft lighting from overhead. You might consider using side lighting, and perhaps even fairly strong side lighting from a close light source, to bring out texture and create some interesting shadows. I'd also consider using a black background to add drama on the shots that aren't close-ups. I don't know if the results would be good or not but it might be interesting to see.
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Post by millring on Mar 15, 2008 11:54:38 GMT -5
Don, Good ideas. I'm using this contraption... www.ezcube.com/and I'm having a little trouble getting exactly the amount of light I want. Mostly I'm having trouble with the lights being to "hot". I've tried moving them further and further away. Then a friend suggested covering them with successive layers of the white nylon (like the box). I'm going to get a larger ezcube and see if that doesn't give me afew more options as well. Thanks for looking. |
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Post by Cornflake on Mar 15, 2008 12:29:45 GMT -5
I'd never heard of that device. Interesting. For still-life backgrounds, I use a very sophisticated system of poster boards and sheets on chairs or coffee tables.
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Post by Marshall on Mar 16, 2008 16:54:17 GMT -5
Nice work, John.
Let me know if you decide to hit the 57th Street Art Fair. I did a little research on it and it seems quite legit and popular. I haven't been before. But I'm getting awfully tired of the crowds and traffic at Old Town Art Fair. I'll likely look into this one.
You doing Madison again ?
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Post by millring on Mar 16, 2008 20:41:19 GMT -5
I decided not to jury for Madison this year. I've done it for two years in a row and there's a show I've wanted to try on this side of the lake (St Joe, MI). By all accounts it's probably not as good as Madison, though having done a show two years in a row, it's not a bad idea to give it a rest.
Curiously, the St Joe show was one of the three that I juried for using the close-ups. It's the first time I've ever gotten in to it.
Fortunately, I didn't have to decide about 57th St. I got into a Cincinnati show that I know is great -- same weekend.
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