Sketching in Glass
May 22, 2022
Photography sessions can have different objectives. Just like runners don’t make a race out of every run they go on (or at least, they shouldn’t!), not every photo session is intended to deliver the next masterpiece. Sometimes it can be helpful to take that pressure off, and just see where a scene takes you without worrying about the end result.
For this exercise, I wanted to try some different compositions of an everyday subject: a pair of glass bottles. These sketching efforts are the perfect time to learn something new about how the light behaves as it interacts with a scene, what lines are more interesting than others, and so on.
I placed the two clear glass bottles on a wooden floor, with natural light coming from behind the bottles. They are slightly irregularly shaped, making for interesting reflections and refractions, especially when the light passes through both bottles. The texture of the wood floor added a bit of interest to the background.
Sketch in Glass I-IV
None of this resulted in anything that is portfolio worthy, but that wasn’t the point or the intent. I learned to not introduce too much light or contrast in the scene, or the lightest reflections in the glass would be completely blown out. This is now something I can apply the next time glass and reflections are in my viewfinder. I also learned that it is okay to let go of the end result, and just enjoy the process of playing with light.