Thursday, April 28, 2022

Ivy's Stuff

It was more than two weeks ago that I posted of our attempts to photograph the deceased Ivy's smock. You may recall that to put it in context, Sue surrounded the smock with some of her own paintings and supplies. But she wanted a photo that included Ivy's Stuff.

Ivy gave most of her art away over the years, some to the local cat rescue lady for her auctions, but her son still had two pieces on hand that Sue could borrow. Before she passed away, she donated her other supplies to a local group that offers art opportunities for handicapped children. Sue contacted the lady who runs the program to see if we could set up a time to come in and use some of these in photos. 

That is what we did. It was not a studio setting you understand, and we worked in very cramped quarters with a wide angle lens. As I have recently posted, wide angle lenses can easily cause distortion. To avoid distortion as much as possible, you must hold the camera very level, but you will still tend to get some wonkyness, as I did, below.


The two featured paintings ↑ are Ivy's, and so are the easel, table and chair. The smock you already know about, of course.

From there, we moved to a very tight spot where I had to tilt the camera, and this, of course, resulted in distortion that I didn't really want. I was able to correct some of it in post, but I could not avoid making the nearest objects loom disproportionately large.



We took quite a few photos with Sue making subtle adjustments of the various props, but those two ↑ should suffice.

As a wrap, we put the clown photo on the table, eliminated everything else and took a photo.


Photographically, it is often best to simplify the scene and eliminate distractions, but the earlier photos tell the story that Sue wanted told.

Her son lives in Florida but does much of his work and business in Toronto. He got marooned here in Canada when the pandemic struck. Then he stayed with his mother as her health declined. Once Ivy's affairs have been wrapped up, he will return home and take these final two paintings with him. For her part, Sue was able to capture these photos and Stuff as part of her personal memorial and tribute.


18 comments:

Patio Postcards said...

What a lovely tribute Sue & you have made for Ivy's memory. The two clown painting is quite colourful.

Marcia said...

The last one is the best. The others are too busy.

Boud said...

It sounds as if her son can now close the circle. That's good.

Barbara Rogers said...

Great tribute to an artist. So glad you all were able to gather the paintings, smock and setting to memorialize her talent.

Jeanie said...

I like how you set this up and can see how it would be a challenge. But I'll bet Ivy's son was delighted -- and grateful you would want to remember his mom in this way.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

This was a nice way to remember your special artist friend Ivy and I also liked the final image while recognizing that working in a cramped space was challenging.

NGS said...

What a lovely tableau you created to celebrate Ivy. I hope it comforts her family.

Marie Smith said...

What a lovely tribute to a talented friend!

MARY G said...

An AC camera class, and lovely paintings. A nice memorial. Fine way to greet a sunny morning.

Shammickite said...

Nice tribute to Ivy. And what a good idea to donate the art supplies to a group to help handicapped kids. I bet that was greatly appreciated.

Margaret said...

The photos are lovely and meaningful. You've captured the essence of Ivy.

Rita said...

You can tell she was a woman with a lot of life and fun in her. Very talented, too. Nice tribute. :)

Goldendaze-Ginnie said...

Lovely AC ... the photos, of course, but Sue's story especially.

RedPat said...

This is a lovely tribute to her. I like them all.
I'm not sure why but your comments didn't show up on the page but they did show up on my dashboard. Blogger seems to behaving comment problems.
The buildings in the shot are on Bloor west of Dufferin.

William Kendall said...

A good tribute.

Debby said...

I really loved the last one. It focused on the picture itself. The others showed more of her, which is not a bad thing, especially since that was exactly what Sue was trying to do. The two of you make an awfully good team.

Joanne Noragon said...

A beautiful tribute. Sue is a talented artist, too.

The Furry Gnome said...

Perspective in the first photo is the best.