…it soothes, it inspires, it speaks the feelings inside me that have no words. This is a something I have never taken for granted, and when I hear myself play I sometimes wonder where the music comes from, and how do I play? Sometimes I have no idea how my fingers seem to find the right notes at the right time. Music is pure magic, non?
As you know my little floating home is quite small, so every corner is used to it’s maximum potential while I’m working from home. This is what my dining table looks like on a typical weekday – covered in photographs, drawings and papers needing my immediate attention, tea cup at the ready, and clothes drying on the clothes rack, catching the breeze off the canal. Yes it’s a small space to work and live in, but to me it’s got alot of heart, and that’s all I need to get inspired.
Here are two polaroids of one of my little shelf vignettes on le petit bateau. The shelf is right under a window, and I often marvel at the sunlight as it hits the display at different times of day. These polaroids were taken just before dusk.
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I love how polaroids are so emotive. From a technical perspective they are often soft/out of focus, often under or over exposed, and so often marked by dust once they come out of the camera. And it’s all these qualities that make the images on a polaroid so beautiful, raw and real. It’s what I always strive for in my digital photography – imperfection.
You may have noticed already that I love including shots in my work that are a little soft, a little under exposed, a little dusty. This is because I try to capture the atmosphere, rather than the object itself. When I walk into a space that I am to photograph, the first thing I am touched by is the light and how it affects various corners of the room. I look for beautiful objects but I try to capture how these objects make me feel, not what they look like, or what they should look like. I like to create a story of images from a space that makes you, the viewer, feel as though you have walked through the space with me and by the time the story of images is complete, you have been touched by all that has inspired me too. You can see what the object or space is, but also how it makes you feel. That is always, always my goal – thank you for the inspiration, polaroid.
Hello Monday! This week I’m going to post a polaroid a day, in celebration of my new/old polaroid camera. Here is the first one of the coming collection – my kitchen (click here if you missed my cozy bedroom polaroid from last week, and the view outside my window on a windy day). I just washed the dishes and love the soft light that comes through the window above the sink.
I will also tell you my polaroid story sometime this week. In the meantime, you might also recall these polaroids from last year – oh I’ve come far…
xx
One of the ateliers I visited and photographed in Paris last year but was not able to feature in Paris: Made By Hand was that of artist Hélène Manche. The only reason I was not able to feature her atelier was because it was private, not open to the public. BUT, I was very pleased to find out her pieces are sold in The Collection – a boutique that sells various handmade work of European artists -which is featured in the book.
A little while ago, I asked Hélène if it would be okay if I shared some of my photos of the little corners of her private studio with you, my dear readers. I was very happy she said oui!
So would you like to come with me for a very private tour around Hélène’s Paris studio?
