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Heart of Glass - Blenko Glass

Blenko Glass is a West Virginia treasure that spans generations. Nothing symbolizes the state of West Virginia better or more beautifully than Blenko Glass. We will discuss current and former craftsmen and designers and how important it is that Blenko and West Virginia glass be appreciated and valued by the younger generation.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Photographing Blenko - WVJanis







The following is from Blog Friend - West Virginia Janis

Please send your photos, your ideas, questions, your BLENKO comments to theblenkoproject@aol.com
Someone was asking me about photographing glass. As many of you can guess, I LOVE to photograph WV Glass. Photographing glass, after a hard day at work, is very relaxing. If you have a digital camera, try it!BEWARE!!!!! Glass is VERY hard to photograph. These three shots represent about an hour of work and are still far from perfect. You have to get the light right. The tall pieces are hard to make look pretty-- if you get the whole piece from top to bottom. I try to find glass pieces that look good together. Another suggestion is to find a piece of pottery or something solid that adds visual interest without competing. Glass allows the eye to see beyond the surface. Pottery and white blankets stop the eye.The photo of the three pieces spread out on a blanket is for archival purposes. What do you have? What does it look like from top to bottom? I only added the yellow pieces for visual interest. They are not BLENKO. It is my understanding that the blue/green decanter and the red vase are BLENKO. The photo of the red vase is the kind of photo I take to capture the details of a piece. Not the best depth of field but I like the angle and the deer spots peeking around the corner. The green/blue and red/yellow pieces together is my my favorite shot. The blue/green piece with yellow rings is a BLENKO piece. The red/yellow vase in Kanawha. I didn't used to like the piece with the yellow rings until I discovered how well it photographs with other glass around it. Don't be afraid to take close ups of your glass. Enjoy!

5 comments:

Phani said...

Great Pieces of Art.

WV Janis said...

Dear Hillary and All:

If you want to see some glass pictures (beautiful), go to WV photographer Rick Lee's September13 blog photos. The photographs are of glass at the Purple Moon in downtown Charleston.

http://rickleephoto.blogspot.com/

WV Janis

P.S. I hope you breezed through your mock boards.

Heart of Glass said...

When I first started blogging daily someone would send me links to Rick Lee.
While I have yet to meet him, I have become a frequent visitor to his photo blog, and an admirer of his work.
Did you see the photo of high heels? - I collect shoe ornaments - and the shoe photograph is a totally unique and beautiful. Simple - expressive...

sweetdoc said...

Great photos.

DrAnnu said...

Very nice, great and I couldn't make the link to Lee work.