Downtown Photo Shoot

Can I say that it was just a little exciting to take my jewelry and props downtown to a Minneapolis photography studio?  Bethany (bethanyhway.com)  & I arrived at Delaney Photography and unloaded our props.  We brought rocks, wood, fabric, watercolor paper, driftwood, sand, a worn section of dock from the lake, paint brushes, wax stamps, paper product, feathers, leaves, Bibles and the jewelry.  The props are spread on tables in the foreground and you can see a shot in progress back in the natural light.

The studio was a gorgeous space with old wood floors and painted white brick walls.  Dan Delaney’s (delaneyphotos.com) photography equipment was amazing.  Take a look at his digital Hasselblad connected to his Mac for instant viewing.

Shot #1

After discussing what props we’d use in each shot, Nicole Uphoff (nicoleuphoff.com) began creating.  What happened was amazing.  There was a beginning idea, “let’s put the Living Stones jewelry on the natural woodsy stuff”, and the shot then took on a life of its own.  Here are Beth, Nicole and Dan working out the first shot of the day.

Shot #2

The second shot involved an old section of wooden dock from the cabin ‘up north’ in Minnesota, and my ‘God’s Touch Dove’ piece.  Beth and Nicole tweek the shot and see the results onscreen and work it until the composition is perfect.  Then they leave and Dan takes over to actually shoot the official shots concentrating on getting the lighting just right.  It was an amazing process to watch unfold.

Shot #3

Beth knew what she wanted to do with my newest linear sculptural jewelry; a bracelet and two rings.   She brought along her little pieces of driftwood, sized to hold them and we added ground up seashells, driftwood and birch bark.  How to make the jewelry pop out was the hardest part in this process.  More shells, less shells, wavy line in shells?  Nicole added a piece of petrified wood to prop up the top ring and the composition was anchored.   After looking at the image on the computer, Dan knew he could manage the background with lighting to get it to recede and the jewelry came to the front.  Once again I was impressed by the creative process in which all parties worked toward the best end result.  Have I ever told you how much I enjoy the design process?  I am most certainly a process person and love to get to the finished piece, but that is not the most important thing.  What I am learning through the process is.

Shot # 4

A simple and clean shot was called for with the ‘Sealed in Christ’ jewelry.  Because the jewelry looks like a wax seal, we melted wax and created a stamp on an envelope and were good to go.  With the addition of an inkwell, pen and paper the stage was set and shooting commenced.

Shot #5

Another new addition to the Arise Designs jewelry lines is the Initials.  In this shot we focused on just one piece of jewelry, the ‘S’, which hung on yummy colored silk cording.  This infusion of color to my usually monochromatic silver and gold jewelry screamed for a watery emotional background.  I brought along brushes from an Aqua Media & Collage class I had taken at the end of the summer, and a couple of practice paintings.  Voila!  The effect was stunning.  You can see we’re still inspired and energized by the project – Beth & Nicole are still smiling!

Shot #6

We ended the day with the Bible shot with small earrings and a pendant.  The large Bible in the background is an old family Bible from the 1800′s but that’s another post!  The smaller Bibles were in Swedish, from my mother-in-law, and the rest were passed down from both sides of the family.  The broken bindings and worn leather made a beautiful foil for the smooth high polished sterling.

What a productive and fun day of work we had.  Thank you Bethany, Nicole and Dan.  It was an honor and a pleasure to work and learn from  true professionals.  Stay tuned as Arise Designs continues to take form and arrives on the internet as a new website.

Logo by Bethany Hway

{images: Laurie Ashbach}