Birthday Presents Come in Waves

And when the waves are good, you ride the waves.



Aurora and I took a trip up to Rochester last night to pick up two new strobes I had seen on Craigslist. I have wanted real studio strobes for at least twenty years. Always just out of reach, both in terms of skill, but also expense. Yesterday's find was more of a steal. These strobes have seen virtually no use. Since I already had light stands for my speedlights, setting up the strobes was no sweat. I wasn't sure how I would trigger them initially, but I think for now, I am pretty happy having a wireless trigger on one, and then have the other one slaved so it pops when it sees the first one fire. Pretty simple.


Of course, I had to get Aurora and Nancy to submit for some posing. I need plenty of time behind the lens to really figure out how I want to move the light and shadow. I think, sometimes, one light might be all I really need. Today though, has been non-stop flash. Probably shot over 500 images to get 20 or so that are pretty decent. Lots more to learn.





This was a fun hair-light experiment. I gelled it with a purple gel, and aimed it from straight behind Aurora. Just enough light to give her a "purple haze". Pretty fun. I tried some similar ideas using pink and red filters with Nancy's portraits tonight. After looking them over, Nancy was forthright that they would NEVER be seen by another human being. So I guess they were pretty hideous. Like I said... tons more to learn.

Learning by Teaching

For the last twenty years I have spent most days at the wheel, confident in my ability to take a lump of mud and turn it into the pots I see in my head. Granted, I have had the occasional day off for injury, vacation, etc, but by and large, most days have seen me throwing pots.

When we took on our apprentice Hannah, one of the things we looked forward to was getting to know where she comes from and what she brings to her way of working. She had previously studied under another potter in Ithaca, Margie Martin. One of the most interesting things about watching Hannah work on the wheel was that she centered almost completely opposite the way I did. She spent half the time centering that I did. WHAT? How was this possible? Turns out she was using a similar method to what Robin Hopper suggests.

So I had to try it. Damn if it doesn't spin circles around my previous methods. Here I am, two decades of making pots and still learning the basics! Go figure. I know some potters will say, of course you do it this way. Well, I didn't. Guess it just proves that there are always other ways of working. I love the idea that even at this stage in my learning, there is still LEARNING.

I encourage anyone wanting to throw better, just beginning, or even pros, ... to check this video out. There's a lot to be learned from any potter, but Robin Hopper is a potter's potter. He makes it all look so easy.

Click here for the video from Ceramic Arts Daily