New Small Photo Booth for my Home Studio

My photo booth setup, installed in the studio, lights on, and ready for action.

Right before the pandemic forced YVC to move classes online and forced me to teach from home for over a year, my husband finished the extensive renovation on my home studio. The renovation gave me new walls, new floor, all new shelves and tables (except for the wedging table) and a lot more space for my work. I gained the extra space with better storage under my work benches and deeper shelves, but also by removing some awkward furniture and cleaning the place up quite a bit.

The photo booth needs both a deeper and taller shelf space than I had previously with my wooden shelves.

There was even new space for some significant upgrades to my studio equipment. In December I added a pugmill to the studio (which has proven to be a great studio tool!) and this spring I finally added a small photo booth to the studio. 

The photo backdrop has a gradient that provides a nice black to white range behind the work.

I've had a high quality large scale photo backdrop setup for years and I like it a lot. It replaced the lower quality backdrop I bought during graduate school and transported from Wisconsin. But that photo setup is quite large. It works great for large scale sculpture, but as I don't have space for it inside the studio (or the house), I set it up outside and try to take all the photos at once.

Photos of the work on the shelf look bad because of lighting, but also because of all the other stuff in the background or around the work.

The studio at YVC has a small photo booth that is permaently set up and gets used regularly (when students are on campus). This photo booth requires no setup, so students (and I) can just walk over, switch on the light and have quality images of their work without needing to clean a space, adjust lighting or move backdrops.

A plain white, grey, black, or gradient background removes all background distractions of texture, shape, and depth so you can focus on the work.

The photos may not be as high quality as those done by a professional photographer with professional lighting adjusting to get rid of shadows and glare, but they are head and shoulders above pictures taken on a work table. I encourage my students to really think about the quality of their photos because a poor quality photo can make good work look mediocre. I've also found that a good photo can actually make a work look better, or maybe it allows us to focus on qualities we might otherwise overlook in the work.

The small photo setup works great for small scupture and functional work like this citrus squeezer.

So, the upshot is that now that I have the space, I got myself the same photo booth for my home studio, complete with a vinyl gradient backdrop like the one we got for school. In my old home studio, pre-renovation, the photo booth would have had to go on the table or counter, eating up my valuable work space, but the new shelves are deeper and their height can be adjusted. 

I made a lot of citrus squeezers last summer. Many of them are still available if you are looking for one.

I've got the booth on a shelf, where it takes up a lot of space, but it doesn't take up work space. Since I had to put it next to the wheel or the glazing area, I was worried about it getting dirty. At YVC, the booth is way over in the corner of the main studio, away from wheels, sinks, and work spaces. At home I put it near the glazing area, but I've blocked it off when I'm not working on it by using this large whiteboard sign thing.

The whiteboard/image board keeps the photobooth clean and also gives me a visible storage space for inspiration/reference images.

My husband found the white board being thrown ow. It has a plastic front that can be lifted and posters or photos put underneath. Now the whiteboard is doing double duty for me, blocking stray glaze (and some of the dust) from landing on the photo area and also giving me a more convenient spot for reference photos than pinned up on the shelves themselves.

faceted mug and bowls made for student demos for online clay

The small photobooth won't work for my large sculpture and doesn't work great for work intended to be installed on the wall. I'll still have to set up the large backdrop for scupture, but this way I can take photos more often with less effort. My husband, whose pandemic career has become home renovator, is painting and renovating the laundry room. I plan to use the grey walls in that room as a convenient location for photos of work meant to be installed on the wall (shh, don't tell him about my ulterior motives. He thinks this is about laundry).

lots of citrus squeezers, let me know if you want one (or more)

Covid Bulbs, Again

 

Covid balls from this last firing

In January I posted some Covid balls I made for New Year's gifts. A few friends requested their own, and I got right on making them (really! I sculpted the covids within a week or two), but it took me over 2 months to actually fire them. 

Covid balls partly glazed

 

I made about a dozen of these guys the second time around but was waiting until I finished some other work to get them fired. 

The most recent covid balls, before their strings and directions were attached

As it is wont to do, teaching kept getting in the way of finishing stuff, but I was eventually able to finish glazing some face bulbs from summer and a bunch of odds and ends that I made as demos for classes.

Some face bulbs from last summer

As I was glazing this batch weeks and weeks after making them, I got thinking it would be fun to use some Mt. St. Helen's Ash glaze to add some depth and texture to the ball. (I'd like to add some dimension to the bulbs too, but I made the first batch in a bit of a rush and the second to fulfill orders, so I figure I have room to experiment on the next batch.

Mt. St. Helens Boxes from last spring

The Mt. St. Helen's glaze comes from the set of boxes I made last year for the Mt. St. Helen's 40th Anniversary show at Boxx Gallery. I had some extra glaze leftover from that show. As I underfired it last time and was firing the covids to the same temperature, I figured it would work out ok.

Covid ball with ash glaze

I'm pretty happy with the texture that's been added to the green. But I wish I had mixed the low and higher fire glazes together a bit more like I did in the Mt. St. Helen's boxes, so I might do that next time.

Mt. St. Helens steam vent with ash glaze

Honestly, I forgot that I wanted to try the ash glaze until the last moment. At that point I had already added the red. When I got the ash on the red, I thought, no big deal, I'll see what happens, which means that some of the red parts that have the ash on them look a bit like they have a spill on them. 

Covid with ash glaze on red and green

But, to my suprise, no sooner had a posted pictures of the loaded kiln and fired work on social media, than I had sold nearly all of the covids. After I get these shipped or delivered, I'll be able to put the funds to good use: working from home makes me realize how much I miss the small photo booth setup at YVC. 

The small photo setup at YVC, a few years ago

At home I have a photo set up, but its really designed for big stuff. The small one at school can stay up all the time and is just the size I need for taking little photos like these (without setting up the table, backdrop, tripods, etc. And now that I'm working in this lovely remodeled home studio, I have space for it, too!

My home photo setup a few years ago

Next week is finals week at YVC. For once I've got my part of the studio kit stuff done (mostly done), I'll be teaching the same online studio classes next quarter. The online clay class, this second time around, went a lot smoother than when I taught it with zero prep time in Fall, so I don't anticipate having to spend spring break remaking it. All that to say, that with just over a week left to go, I'm really excited about getting into my studio during spring break!

My four ash Covids

Looking Back: Year in Review

Annual Photo Album

Every year before Christmas I made a photo album featuring photos of my daughter with family and friends. I've been doing this since 2011. I make the photo album online and order copies for our family, the grandparents, and the aunts and uncles. Making the album feels a bit like working out. I dislike starting but feel better after it's done. I do enjoy some parts of actually putting the album together, but the process is exhausting and often frustrating. The biggest stressor is always trying to make sure that all the family is represented equally.

7 years of photo albums

I don't remember to take photographs very often at family events and only one side of the extended family consistently does remember. So the photo album always has candid photos of our family, usually featuring cats, and a bunch of posed and candid photos taken by my Dad and brother, who remember to take photographs. This sometimes leaves a gaping hole where all the visits with the other side of the family should be. It stresses me out because it makes it look like I've excluded part of the family when really it's just down to who remembers to take out the camera.

Our big family project of the past few weeks--Legoland Yakima

Most years, with my family far away and my mother-in-law close by, we remember to take photos for the big event of traveling to see family and forget to take pictures the many times we visit with Grandma. This year Grandma moved away too, so maybe we'll remember to take enough photos of everyone for next year. I guess that's a silver lining.

There were an extraordinary amount of cat pictures this year.

This year, without any family in-state, we didn't do much for Thanksgiving, so I had time to start on the photo album early (usually I panic and start it right after the quarter ends). The first step is going through all my photos from the year (or since mid-December when I made the last album) and looking for the family pictures in amongst pictures of my work, my students work, and the cats. I was really surprised by what I saw when looking back at the photos from last year.

Busy Quarter

This quarter has felt exceedingly busy, busier than most quarters, for a variety of reasons that mostly matter only to me. I'm always busy, but this year the busy has been heavily focused on school-related stuff and I've spent very little time making my own work, doing shows, or even applying to or planning shows.

Also we're getting ready for the fall Clay Sale at YVC (November 29 from 11-7)

Whether the busy quarter is just a normal thing that is only noticeable in the moment, or whether this quarter is unusual, the feeling has been that I'm busier with my day-job than usual. I've felt like I'm working hard and still barely keeping up. When a break comes, like it did over Thanksgiving, it feels great to do very little.

I do have excellent support at YVC, our Program Assistant made this t-shirt that we'll be selling at clay say for $15.

During this summer, I felt strange and didn't even make work in my studio during most of August. This fall I have neglected this blog a bit, both because I feel like I spend too much time already on the computer doing grading, and because I haven't felt like I've done that much worth writing about. (Who really wants to hear about the nuts and bolts of my attempt to gamify my classes? Me!)

Last Year in Review

plates for my brother

When I looked back at my pictures from December, I was surprised to see how much I'd done last year. Actually, I was surprised at a how much I'd done from December through March. Last December I was finishing both a custom set of cat nesting dolls for my nephew AND a set of dishes for my brother and sister-in-law. How did I find the time to do that? 

nesting cats for my nephew

In January I had new work at a Nasty Woman exhibition at Yakima Maker Space and in February I had work at an Art as Activism show in Hood River. I also undertook a major studio clean-up project in January that I finally finished in May. Why did I have so much extra time?

planter commission for my aunt

In February and March I finished and shipped a commission of planter sculptures for my aunt. In February I also installed new work at Yakima Maker's Space and at the end of March I presented twice at NCECA! Also, though I haven't written about it, I did finals and finals grading at NCECA and the day I came back, then immediately spend my Spring "break" doing an on-campus ESCALA training before beginning both the Spring Quarter and my ESCALA project.

NCECA 2018

But it didn't even end there, I had work in yet another show in April at Boxx Gallery in Tieton, in May at  Gallery One in Ellensburg, and immediately after the quarter ended, I made two sets of new work for an Art a Day show in Hood River in August. Then I joined a new gallery in Yakima. And during this time made a bunch of demonstration videos for hand-building, flipped my classes, our cat died and we adopted three more, and I made a set of 3D printed work for the YVC Viticulture program. I didn't make any work in August, in part, because I was exhausted (also, I wanted to do all this gamification and rewards for my online class).

Political Bulb from one of the installations last year

I'm exhausted even now. I guess I went full speed ahead through Winter break, through Spring break, and even skipped my usual "buffer week" in June. No wonder I haven't felt like doing anything this fall.

Best Friend at 20 years

PSA: Back up your images

In the culmination of a lengthy multi-week saga regarding my computer, the things I want it to do with it, and my inability to be patient with technology, I thought (for several hours and then overnight) I had lost all my images yesterday.

New images of newly fired first amendment cups--not lost.

It turns out that ignoring the problem for 20 hours solved it. The only missing images ares one I didn't actually take, but it reminds me that one should back up one's images periodically. The best time to do this, of course, is right after you terrify yourself by actually, or (one hopes) almost losing all your stuff.

I'm missing a good image of this piece and any image of it's partner. Both are now at Boxx Gallery in Tieton for their holiday show (opening this Saturday 11-4 during the Mighty Tieton Holiday Bazaar).

I remember a few years ago, I was in my office at work when the power went out, followed by groans and screams all up and down the office as faculty called out that they hadn't saved whatever they were just working on, along with a few relieved people saying they'd just saved. We probably all saved our progress regularly for the next few days.

I never successfully printed my design, but the kid used TinkerCad and hers printed mostly ok.

The problem I had yesterday had to do with updating my computer and updating iPhoto. A few weeks ago, I had to update my OS because I was trying to learn software for making objects for our 3D Clay printer. The software I was trying to use required an updated OS. So I updated the OS and spent the next week annoyed at Safari for discontinuing the bookmarks bar. Chrome's fine, but I use Chrome for Canvas and Safari for stuff like my blog and goofing around online. (I acknowledge that this may be silly, but Safari has my bookmarks.)

 I never did get the software that required the OS update to save correctly, but look at this dinosaur duck a student made.

Apparently I hadn't updated my blog in some time, because I also hadn't opened iPhoto in the new OS until last night. Once I opened it, I was offered an exciting opportunity to pay Apple more money for iCloud storage. I declined, then iPhoto proceeded to update? without any sign of progress for over an hour. After a couple hours, I thought there must be a problem, so I tried to investigate and was met with several alarming surprises, one of which being a pop up that said iPhoto is unavailable in my country, another being that when one searches for iPhoto or Photos in the App store, there are no results. IDK

Don't mock my pain, Apple!

After this glimpse at the terrifying possibility of losing all my photos, and realizing that if I did, it would be my stupid fault for not backing them up, I went to bed. This afternoon when I got home from work, iPhoto had updated (I couldn't look this morning because it would have ruined my day if it was still stuck on that mocking orange "Have fun with Photos" screen). So, all's well that ends well.   I'm going to back up my photos now.

There may be more cats in the future, Camden.

studio photo setup

the photo setup in the YVC studio

In March, I attended a lecture about student portfolios at the NCECA conference in Portland. The lecture was focused on having students take responsibility for photographing their work and collecting the images in an online portfolio. The lecture made it seem fairly easy to implement in the classroom.

student/teacher collaborative mugs for clay sale photographed in the portable studio

The first step in the process was ordering a photo setup for the studio. After a bizarrely challenging chat with a representative from B&H Photo, I purchased a portable studio setup. It was delivered during spring quarter and I and my students had several opportunities to try it out.

student work in the portable studio with light

The setup is easy to use. It has a light built in on the top and we've taken photos just with our cell phones.  In fall, I plan to implement the second part of the process, actually requiring students to take photos of their work and keep track of them. Another NCECA lecture discussed using SnapChat in the studio and I've been considering incorporating some of those ideas as well.

clay sale work photographed in the portable studio

I took a few photos this quarter, and they mostly turned out. I saw student taking photos, but mostly I didn't see the resulting student images. 

student glaze tests photographed in the portable studio

The major disadvantage of the portable studio setup is the size. A group of more than about 3 mugs is too large to comfortably fit inside the backdrop and moderately sized sculpture is simply too tall and too wide.

student sculpture photographed, more or less, in the portable studio

I have a photo backdrop for my home studio, but it is considerably larger. It would be a more significant commitment to fit one in the YVC clay studio and I don't plan to do so in the near future.

The portable studio used by at child

Eye Candy: Yellowstone

Last week I replaced my studio time with a trip to Yellowstone. I will resist sharing all 300 photos, but the place was so pretty I need to share some. If you've been to Yellowstone, sorry if I confuse the names of things. If you haven't I hope this post isn't too dull. 

Mammoth Hot Springs

I especially liked the sorts of structures and formations that are formed at Mammoth Hot Springs. This was our first stop on our trip around the park. I think it was the most beautiful and visually interesting single spot we visited.

Minerva Terrace (possibly)

neat shapes

neat curves juxtaposed with stalactites

or this might be Minerva Terrace

neat texture

curves 

spines? I'd like to read about why the different shapes happen

bright chartreuse

we thought we'd read about this guy falling in eventually

terrace levels

Norris
I'm pretty sure our next stop was Norris. The heat of the sun and the hot springs makes one a little less focused than one might be. We walked on a lot of boardwalks and saw a lot of hot springs.

check out that hot dry shadeless expanse (crossed by a boardwalk)

yellow

perfect setting for an apocalypse movie

green and orange

I like the yellow hole with the spiny burnt trees guarding it

Lamar Valley
On our way out of the park we saw lots of Bison. One guy was sitting right next to the road chewing his cud and soaking up the attention of the Yellowstone paparazzi.

publicity buffalo

Yellowstone Lake

The next day we drove through one of the wildfires and stopped at Yellowstone Lake. The pelicans were performing synchronized movements in a huddle. I assume they were either fishing or performing a type of water ballet. Later when I asked the Ranger why they bobbed into the water together like this, she said they don't. Apparently I photographed animatronic pelicans.

animatronic pelicans preparing for a dive

diving

jazz wings

did I mention the fire?

Old Faithful
We ended up at Old Faithful earlier than expected because of the fire. We asked if there were any cancellations and lucked into a cabin for the night (instead of camping in the Tetons). The best part of staying at Old Faithful was the walk on the boardwalks behind the eponymous geyser at sunset. These were my favorite thermal features, but possibly that's because we had plenty of time, no crowds and it wasn't hot.

we got to see this guy erupt 3 times during our stay

the boardwalk at sunset: highly recommended

burping, bubbling, chugging, wheezing holes everywhere

Castle Geyser, my favorite (though I didn't get up to watch it erupt between 4 and 6am)

this guy filled just to the edge with boiling water then settled without seeming to overflow

boiling at the edge

orange bacterial "lily pads"

don't you love those soft organic shapes at the edges

Castle Geyser as the sun sets

this splashy guy jumped and popped and sprayed us on an off for 15 minutes while we waited

blue, orange, green, yellow, red, pink

full moon

playing with tree reflection in the water

En Route to Madison

Our last day in Yellowstone we stopped a few times on our way from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone, though I'm not sure exactly where. We saw some beautiful thermal features and the colors were especially impressive. Unfortunately the entire the population of Montana, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming were lined up on the boardwalk that day. Several of them, I believe, attempted to push me into the water. I saw a kid drop her glasses off the boardwalk and another drop her hat. Later we counted at least 6 hats and a jacket at the edge of a large, deep spring. I wonder if the rangers have a special tool for removing them. At Kids' Castle in Yakima staff uses a long stick wrapped with backwards duct-tape to retrieve balloons from the ceiling. I imagine a similar tool could retrieve hats.

seriously, the colors!

a river; not a hot spring

Yellowstone Under Canvas
On our last night we camped outside the park in what my husband called a "tent city." I found the cot and set of sleeping bags quite cosy and enjoyed a wonderful night's sleep. I would highly recommend it. However my husband ended up sleeping in the car, so he might not. If you go, don't drive through the electric fence gate like it says (it will scratch your car). Instead get out and open the gate by holding the tennis balls, don't worry, they didn't electrocute us.

really quite peaceful and pretty, and you can watch the fish in the river while you drink your hot cocoa for breakfast