It is almost a pity that #lockdown2020 is coming to an end, at least in Berlin. The lifting of the restrictions in in this city are nowhere as generous or liberal as the other German states, but nevertheless, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Travel is still off my list of activities, but for many who are itching to break free and away from home, the possibility of a summer trip is suddenly viable – at least within the country. How and when travel to other neighbouring European countries will be deemed safe is anyone’s guess, unless you like living on the wild and careless side and are willing to risk everything. Patience is the name of the game now, but with different rules.
In the meantime, our mother-daughter photography projects continue in my MacGyver-like bootleg studios, and I have to say, the set-ups are improving by the session! I finally found a workaround the stilly grey curtain I had been using thus far. With a long strip of double-back velcro tape, two black scarves, and a bamboo rod I was good to go. Who needs all the expensive equipment and background rolls of a studio? The fun part of the photo session is always scrounging around the house for whatever is available, and with a little bit of creativity, you can’t tell from the final result what it took to achieve the effect. Many of the photographers who own the proper equipment or shoot in studios will cringe at my bootleg set-up, but hey, I am the only one who can say that I have two very unique studio addresses for FrogDiva Photography:
1: Kitty Litter Corner Closet, 13597 Berlin,
2: Window cor. Antique Desk, 13597 Berlin
The model may have to hold the mini flashlight from my keyholder herself from time to time, but we did manage to achieve the following effects with the double flashlight method (shot at the Kitty Litter cor. Closet Studio)
For the Peony series I used the set-up near the window for the natural light. Setting up the proper backdrop makes post processing far easier, but more importantly, I got to play around more with the angles and achieved a soft lighting that I wanted for this Latino-inspired look.
Even Cherry, one of the cats, finds our photography adventures interesting, and will be the first to inspect the set-ups. One of these days I will attempt to build a studio just for her, because photographing a black cat against a black backdrop is just going two amber dots on the screen.
FrogDiva Thoughts 