Rusty

Teddy Mouse Picnic
Originally uploaded by Nostromoo

My name is Jamie, and I've had a teddy bear for the last 31 years.

That's what I imagine I'd say at a teddy-bears anonymous meeting. Do people use their names at such meetings, isn't it meant to be anonymous?

You see I'm a hoarder. I hoard everything. Just yesterday I was ruthlessly trying to sort out some paperwork and I discovered I have kept every insurance renewal form, every cover letter, for every policy I've ever had on any vehicle. Why?

And when you combine hoarding with anything that has sentimental value, however remote, it's really, really hard to get rid of it. So Rusty just lives on the shelf. I don't need him, I'm past the days when I lie awake scared of the dark, I just can't get rid of him.

Today I wanted to take a picture of him. Not actually this picture, this was probably my plan...hmm, F I suppose. For plan A I wanted to try something new.

I read about a technique called Focus-Shift on the Strobist blog today and it seemed quite interesting. To be honest I didn't really appreciate the cited example, I didn't really understand it and the lack of definition on the keys bothered me, but technically it is quite something. I had an idea for a shoot with Rusty, that's the Mouse's name by the way, sitting in a chair by the fire with a glass of whisky. Only Rusty is only about 16 inches high or so, and a normal chair would just look, well big. It would look like a teddy bear left on a chair. And I wanted something more realistic looking.

Oh who am I kidding, a stuffed mouse sitting on a chair by the fire drinking whisky? Perhaps I'm deluding myself that it could look like anything other than a teddy bear left on a chair.

Nevertheless, I thought that perhaps I could use perspective to make a closer to the camera Rusty look the right size for the chair. The focus shift technique could then be used to bridge the focal gap between the two objects. The chair and drink in the background, illuminated by the light from the fire, with Rusty somehow suspended closer to the camera lit briefly by a strobe pulse.

Okay it sounds stupid perhaps, but I had hoped it work work. Sadly however I couldn't get the first to light correctly, I think perhaps one of the gas valves is blocked so I had to think of a plan B. Plans B though E also proved to be problematic to implement so I just sat Rusty up on my desk and shot him from my chair.