Photography at time of Coronavirus
photography at time of
coronavirus
how I keep myself busy with photography in lockdown
We’ve been on lockdown now for more than one month in Italy, due to Coronavirus.
We are only allowed to leave our home to go to the supermarket or to pharmacy’s.
As someone that has photography as a profession and a hobby, I had the need to find a way to continue practicing.
Here is what I did.
Chasing lightÂ
First thing I did was search for the light that could make the everyday life look interesting.Â
In the afternoon I get nice light in the living room and kitchen.
I also looked for something nice in the balcony.Â
Nature in the garden
food photographyÂ
The activity that requested more creativity from my part and that gave me more satisfaction was photographing some food I had so much time to cook.Â
After a long time I started to cook again, mainly cakes, and my boyfriend is happy.
As backdrop I used a wooden board that I had prepared with this purpose some time ago, with two different colors on the two sides. The dark one is my favorite.
I had to think of props to add to the picture, how to take different pictures every time. And it was fun.Â
All this food photography, the planning, the cooking or baking, the setting, and the actual photographing, helped me a lot to fight the boredom that comes at times of lockdown, when you are forced to stay at home all the time.
Often after lunch I can’t take my usual nap because I think of the pictures I want to take and get excited and can’t sleep.
One afternoon I spent hours photographing these fruit tarts, on a white backdrop. I don’t like very much the “flat lay”, the picture from above, it’s too white, simple, dispersive. I tried to add props, flowers, some green, but no, I don’t like it. I prefer the close ups, they are fuller.
I took some photos, looked at them on the pc screen, than photographed again doing some changes to the compositions that I liked more: some more flowers, the cup a bit closer to the dish and from a different angle, and hours passed. Without a picture that made me think “there it is”.
At one point a beam of light got onto my set, and the image changed completely. All previous pictures lost value to my eye; even though there were a few that I would save, they were nothing compared to the new images I had with this beam of light.Â
It’s amazing how light, even feeble and minimal, can change things.
This was light reflected from a window, not direct light. If you have the chance, try to compare them: the reflected light is much softer, you barely notice it, while direct light makes very strong contrast. They create completely different effects. They are both good, but different.Â
self portraits
Next I’m going to try to take some self portraits with a tripod.
It will be more challenging for me because I don’t like very much to be on the other side of the lens, but we shall see.