Happy vegetables

For the past three and a half months, I have been stuck at home thanks to a hernia and then recovering from hernia surgery. With nothing else to shoot, I decided to do a few focus stacked still lifes. At first it was just something to keep me from noticing that I'd lost the summer vacation and that I was turning down portrait shoots every other week. Starting about two weeks ago, I found a theme for these still lifes that I really enjoy: the secret life of vegetables.

The series was inspired by a small toy chair that my daughter made at school some years ago. One day I came into the kitchen and saw a pear sitting in the chair. It had an interesting quality to it, like the pear was a person sitting for its portrait. I spent a few hours taking its photo that afternoon, and liked the result.

After that, I bought some colored construction paper to use as still life backdrops for a test shoot I had planned with the Phase One Trichromatic camera. I couldn't leave the house, so the sales rep brought it to my house. I had wanted to use it for a portrait shoot, but because of my recent hernia was stuck at home. With the "pear chair" in mind, I asked my wife to pick up some small vegetables I could pose in the chair for the test.

The shoot didn't result in awesome photos, but it did give me some ideas for more shoots with vegetables. I ordered some PVC colored backdrops, and got to work. Now I am satisfied I have several decent shoots, and have ideas for more. This post then, is just to show these as works in progress.