Continental Shift Sculpture

"The essence of sculpture is for me the perception of space, the continuum of our existence." - Isamu Noguchi

Continental Shift was my first official "on the books" photography shoot of one of Walt Rickli's stone sculptures. It's a moderately sized two piece granite functioning counter top consisting of an L shaped piece and an island; together the pieces are about the size of the average kitchen and are packed into some seriously tight quarters. The photograph you see above is of the island with pears set into the basin for color and contrast, water is supposed to drain along the grooved channels as if rivers into a lake.

There were 2 challenges faced on the shoot that day. First the island piece and the wall surrounding the counter were bare with nothing but taupe paint and white trim around the single door frame and window, second there were still unfinished electrical boxes and wiring that would have to be cleaned up in post processing. We ended up having to scrounge decorative elements from around the house as best we could even going so far as to raid the fridge for the pears you see here. Still it was a fun exercise in the frustrations of lighting a scene such as that and trying to find the best way to capture the piece.