The Home Studio

Feb 21, 20213 min read

Updated: May 5, 2021

On a recent Creative Studio module workshop session, we explored the concept of the home studio and how it can be set up, albeit from a photography focus.

The home due to Covid-19 is required to take on many forms and must serve a wide array of functions. One major function for creative practitioners is that of a makeshift studio space. Creative practitioners around the world have been forced to adapt themselves, their processes and their homes in order to produce work. Within the workshop we explored how Jamie Collier set up his home studio, sharing ideas on lighting, space and tools. Throughout this MA course, my own makeshift studio space, which is also my kitchen, has changed over time to adapt to this new level of creative production and learning. The kitchen table, which was seldom used, has now been replaced by a Scandinavian style desk with a drawer and storage spaces. Prior to Covid-19 this would have been almost unusual and seen as impractical, however, in the world today this is a common solution. When the notion of lighting appeared at the beginning of the session I was intrigued. The concept of which direction the windows in rooms were facing and their effect on the light levels within rooms made me question those within my own studio space, however, this is something that I had not considered. How comfortable is the lighting within the room? Upon discovery, at this time of year, the light fills the space nicely allowing for a bright work area, although fast forward to four o'clock and the light has dimmed and has been replaced with synthetic overhead lighting. This, however, is not so much of an issue for my discipline per se although it would be nice to have a level of natural light that fills the space around the clock.

The sessions main activity saw us create an infinity curve out of paper and tape, using our mobile phone cameras to create near studio-quality images. You can see the results and the behind the scenes of my curve within this post. Following this, we were tasked with creating a collection of images that centred around a theme. A collection of at least four images that feature similar items, for example, shades of tea or various LEGO blocks. This task seemed to have arrived at a perfect time as before this workshop I had collected the dead leaves off of one of my many houseplants (you could call it gut instinct). These became my central theme, matching the theme of extinction and the natural world from the final major project. Using a sheet of cardboard from a recent furniture purchase, the soft daylight from the large glass panes in the living room and my mobile phone camera I was able to create a collection of twenty images showcasing the strange forms of dead Calathea leaves. These images, after being undertaken through a quality check and experimenting with filters and other editing techniques within the Snapseed application, were taken into InDesign and formatted into a poster. The Layout application from Instagram was used initially however, the application does not allow this quantity of images to be used on a single post. The photographs were left natural in the end with no editing, a nod to leaving the leaves as they are naturally.

This workshop has opened my eyes to how to use simple materials such as baking paper, old cardboard and making clever use of natural lighting and its movements around my home/studio space.