I have a hard time shooting pictures of some of my art work. The pictures never quite show what I see. I suppose that’s a common complaint among amature photographers. Just the other day I discovered a way to shoot some of my work in a way that I really like.
I realized that I don’t interact with my work from a distance and see the work in a static view. No, I walk around or past each piece. Sometimes my eye catches one or two elements. Sometimes I get drawn into fragments. So I started shooting details of some of my pieces, isolating parts from the whole. For some pieces it works nicely.
Detail from painted table base by Todd Fillingham.
Detail from paper table by Todd Fillingham
This last image is a little off-putting I think. It is really not out of focus, this is how the print looks on the table base.
Another way that seems to work for me to shoot some of my work is to include some of the context or enviroment that the piece is in. Sometimes I like the environment to be a little undefined. Here’s a sketch for a carving.
Drawing by Todd Fillingham for a carving done in mahogany.
Resin nude on Paper Base Table, both by Todd Fililngham
And sometimes just shooting the piece in room it is shown in when the light is just right is OK.
Boy With Kite by Todd Fillingham
And this last piece I had to “photoshop” the background.
Resin, wire and cloth figure by Todd Fillingham
I’ll get back to that post about the next table I’m working on soon.
Oops, I wanted to add this painting as well.
Fillingham Art Furniture Design 
I love “Boy with Kite”.
Thanks! That was modeled from an old picture of me when I was about 7 years old, trying to fly a kite I had made. Things were going pretty bad in my family back then, hence the menacing structure of the “kite”.
Boy with Kite is my favourite too. Is the boy made of steel? Or what kind of material? And you painted it? Very interesting work.
Erika, thanks. Yes it’s mild steel. Some of the color is due to heat treating, sanding and buffing and then some marks with prisma color pencils finished it off. I coated it all with clear lacquer.