a day at the museum

Hi! Welcome to my new photoblog, a place for outtakes, experiments, inspirations, and general photography-related discussion. This blog will eventually become part of a larger website for TTOAE, but while the site is under construction, you can find my photos on Flickr and stay up-to-date on my Facebook fan page.

To kick things off on this blog, I'll post a series of shots that I took at the Museum of Civilization several weeks ago. The museum's exhibits are brilliantly designed, with dim, moody lighting that creates a terrific atmosphere... and very blurry pictures. It was tough to work with, but the lighting yielded some pretty interesting results.

The photoshoot was all about making the most of shadows...


...of reflections...




... of artificial lighting...


and of pre-made compositions...


I'm not used to taking pictures of subjects that have already been composed for me, so this was the biggest challenge -- putting my own spin on the subjects and trying to look at them in new and different ways.

Many times, real and artificial elements were mixed together, like this backlit photograph that was placed inside a real vintage windowframe:

... or this digital image projected onto old barrels:


Other times, the displays were 100% real, and their vintage charm spoke for itself...





Aren't those little shoes adorable? I could have used a pair, because my flip-flops were killing me.


Thoroughly inspiring trip -- different from my usual nature and self-portrait fare, but very fun nonetheless... and a great demonstration of how well the 50mm works under poor lighting conditions. I'm planning more museum shoots in the future!

Oksana { Facebook. Flickr. All images copyright; please ask before using. }