Kitchen stories

The March assignment in my still-life photo project for this year featured “Kitchen stories”.

As each kitchen hides and reveals countless objects and activities, I initially thought it would be an easy theme. But as I discovered, when you dig into the details, this is too worn, that is too reflective, this does not look as interesting as expected and those elements simply don’t complement each other…

Among my ideas was a composition with frozen strawberries placed in an old metal bowl alongside frozen blueberries and a beautiful dish towel. I loved the result – until I noticed the blueberries had smudged the plate they were sitting on, the strawberries had unsightly dark spots making them appear rotten, and the defrosting that occurred during the photo session did not help either… You gain many unexpected experiences when you actually start creating something…

So those photos didn’t make it into this presentation but here are the more successful ones.

A small alteration in the set-up made a remarkable difference, even though the composition remains similar…

Do you maintain perfect order in your kitchen or embrace an organized mess? Depends on the circumstances, doesn’t it?

The coffee grinder below represents a piece of my family heritage. I remember my grandmother having it, then my mother, and now it’s in my possession. That connection feels deeply meaningful… It serves only as decoration now but holds a treasured place in my life.

A side note to share. There is an abraded spot on the drawer by the knob that needed retouching during editing. That would have been slow, meticulous work before. Now, with AI implementation in photography software, it was a one-click action with perfect results. I truly appreciated that!

I noticed beverages appear in many still-life photos so I decided to try something different…