Not Every One Is A Winner

I often see things on other blogs and I'm inspired to try my hand at something similar.  It's seldom something I need or even knew I would want.  But once I see it, I become slightly obsessed with making that photo 3-D for me.

This was one of those photographs.  It drew me in, got a good hold, and didn't let go.  And so the mission of collecting candlesticks and globes began.  I started by going through my own cabinets and followed that up with a few from the resale shops.

The globes to glue onto these candlesticks came mostly from one of my favorite "go-to" places.

The Habitat for Humanity Restore provided me with several globes at 50 cents a piece.  The guy behind the counter was determined that I would get these home without breaking them.  He wrapped them in paper and then whipped out his plastic wrap tool and proceeded to stretch it up, over, and around each stack until he was convinced nothing would move or shift on the trip home.

Sadly, I think he applied a little too much pressure with the plastic wrap and  one snapped.  No big deal.  That is why we keep glue on hand.

The rest survived the transport home.

More of that glue was used to attach the bases to the globes.  A few books kept the two parts tightly together until the glue had time to set. 

I actually found four matching globes at the Restore.

I think they will work very well in a variety of places.

But, I digress.  The initial purpose was to combine various sizes and styles of candle holders in one location.

I staged them first on the second floor mantel.  Too yellow for my taste and I couldn't tweak it away on Picasa.

This one accidentally turned out a little better.  Well that is except for the top of the lampshade reflected in the mirror.

I was trying all sorts of things to keep the reflections in the mirror from showing up in the photo.  I took pictures off the wall and laid lamps on their sides but I couldn't move doorways or a monsterous  armoire. 

After many, many tries I decided to move to another location on the first floor.

Proper lighting is one of my biggest roadblocks in getting good photos.

I tried several shots here too.  I wanted a direct center shot but the reflection of me and the camera in the mirror was a bit of a problem.

So I moved to a third location.  I took more pictures off the walls and moved more furniture and took a bigillion more pictures...none of which were that great.

So, if you are still with me, I'll tell you why I even bothered to publish this post.  Sometimes things just don't work out quite the way you think they will.  I have lots of lighting issues and camera issues.  I'm a novice in the photography department.  But, I also have other issues with this project.  I need larger globes and taller candle sticks and a super cool table to put them on.  Once I have all that, I need to hire a professional photographer to take the pictures. 

But for now, it's a wrap!  It all looks pretty nice in my 3-D world and that's going to have to be good enough.