It would have helped if the three items I had chosen weren't all black. It was hard enough to shoot the initial setup in my basement, with several lights on the "still life" just to bring out some texture and depth to the scene.
When it came time to shoot the 100 images, I tried to set things up in the kitchen, with lots of natural light coming through from the window, but it created a huge reflection on the helmet's visor. Next step, take it outside so that the lighting levels will be higher; just set it up in the shade to take away the reflections. No such luck. Now I was getting reflections of the sky, overhead telephone lines, and the side of the house, off the entire helmet. Brainwave! Take all three items down to the community centre at the end of the block. Lay them out again on the grey asphalt, in the shade of the tree on the corner of the lot, and voila!, much improved lighting and more appropriate "backdrop".
After about 50 images, things were starting to get a little desperate. Maybe a closeup of the zipper on my riding jacket, perhaps a creative angle on the curve of my riding boot, the logo perhaps. By the time I got to 70 images, my time was running out.
I was scheduled to participate in the Nygard Fashion Show at 5:00 p.m. and it was already going on 4:00! I still had to upload all my images, create a Picasa album, and submit it to Sarah in 30 minutes!
I didn't leave the house until 5:00 p.m., and then had to drive across to the other side of town, in 5:00 traffic. I ended up at Nygard 30 minutes, but they let me in anyway. I am still haunted by the fact that I still needed to shoot ANOTHER 30 images of this still life to complete the assignment properly. I was really finding it hard to come up with different angles and ideas for this shoot. I found myself approaching creative exhaustion with this one. It was a good lesson to learn. Next time I'll choose my items with a little more forethought.
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