Marilyn Botta Photography

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Mini Carnations and Green Pears

January 13, 2025 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

I decided to do a still life using mini carnations and green pears as the theme. I put the carnations into a pear-shaped brown glass vase. I also added the carnations to a small black-and-shite ceramic vase. I added a green lit candle to a metal holder and placed two green pears beneath it. I placed all the elements on top of a wooden board. I added an orange texture as a background to bring out the beauty of this composition which have complementary colors.


Filed Under: Still Life Photography, Uncategorized Tagged With: area, background, beauty, black and white ceramic jug, bloom, blossom, board, brown vase, candle, carnation, carnations, ceramic jug, closeup, composition, floral, flower, flower arrangement, flowering, flowers, food, fresh fruit, fruit, fruits, green, green candle, green pears, greenery, juicy, leaf, leaves, pear, pears, petal, pewter candle holder, seedlings, still life, substrate, table, texture, vase, warm, wood, wooden, wooden board

Reading by Candlelight

July 24, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment


I enjoy combining many seemingly unrelated objects into a cohesive composition and telling a story too. The theme is reading by candlelight so, in addition to the candle and books, I added a red candle holder, an alarm clock, and pears. I felt that his creation needed some lovely pink lilies to bring it together. The pink glass vase matched the pink lilies. This arrangement has a classic, still-life feel with a soft, blurred textured background.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: alarm clock, background, beautiful, blue clock, blue texture, book, burning, candle, candlelight, candles, clock, composition, coziness, decor, decoration, flame, flowers, food, fragrance, fruit, glass vase, glasses, green, house, indoors, light, lily flower, lit candle, natural, open book, pear, pears, pink lilies, pink vase, red, red candle holder, still life, table, vintage

Ruth’s Vase and Green Apples

February 11, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

 


I went to visit my friend at Brandon Wilde a few weeks ago. I had admired a vase she had on her desk and thought nothing of it. But the next time I went, she insisted she wanted me to have it. I thought it only fitting that I use this beauty in a picture. I had some beautiful lavender lilies so I added them to this porcelain vase with a southwestern motif. I felt that the green in the Granny Smith apples would offset the vase’s design. I photographed this scene against a black background for dramatic effect. I felt the red candle holder and flame would enhance the composition. It was a labor of love for my wonderful friend.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: apple, Apples, background, beautiful, beauty, bloom, blossoming, bouquet, bright, candle, ceramic, composition, flame, floral, flower, flowers, food, fruit, glass candlestick, granny smith, green, leaf, life, lilies, lilly, lily, petal, photography, porcelain, porcelain vase, red, red candlestick, smoke, still life, still life with flowers, summer, vase, vase of flowers, vase with flowers, white, white candle, white vase

Green Grapes and Pears and Table

September 11, 2023 by Marilyn Botta

I decided to do a still life with the color theme green and brown. I like those earthy colors because they blend so well together. I already had a small, green ceramic vase, and rather than my usual red grapes, I felt that green grapes would be in keeping with my theme. I bought some yellow chrysanthemums to offset the green and brown tones. Once I had the specific composition mapped out, I assembled my vision on a shiny brown reflective desk. The brown pears, green grapes and all the elements came together. For a dramatic flair, I photographed the scene against a black background.

My second image is similar except it is assembled on a wooden board, taken against a white background. I then used a texture in Photoshop to add the blue background. It is similar to the first, yet different.


Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: artwork, background, beauty, black, black background, bosc pears, brown, brown desk, bunch, bunch of grapes, ceramic, ceramic vase, colorful, conceptual, cuisine, fine art, flora, flower, flowers, food, freshness, fruit, glass vase, grape, grapes, green, green ceramic vase, green grapes, green vase, healthy eating, indoor, juicy, leaf, multi colored, pear, pears, photography, ripe, still life, stillife, studio, studio shot, table, vase, vases, vibrant colors, yellow, yellow chrysanthemum, yellow flower

Hydrangea, Pears, and Plums

July 11, 2023 by Marilyn Botta


I have never used hydrangeas in a photo before and wanted to see how it would look. I came upon some in a store and thought I would somehow incorporate these delicate blue flowers into a still life. I had a pretty wicker basket at home already and decided that some brown Bosc pears and red plums would complement the gorgeous colors of the hydrangeas. I set this up and decided that a black backdrop would create a perfect contrast to the vivid flowers and fruit. I was pleased with the composition. I was about to give up for the day when suddenly I got a brain storm and this whole creation fell into place. Luckily I persisted.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: basket, beautiful, black, black background, bloom, blossom, blue, bosc pears, bright, delicious, flora, floral, flower, food, fruit, fruits, green, hydrangea, hydrangeaceae, juicy, leaf, leaves, multicolor, multicolored, organic, pear, pears, petal, petals, plum, plums, produce, purple, red, ripe, still life, sweet, wicker

Orange Lilies, Ukulele, and Pears

July 9, 2023 by Marilyn Botta

I purchased some beautiful orange lilies. I decided to use them in some Still Life photos featuring a green hat, green vases, Bosc pears, and a ukulele my friend loaned me. I photographed these images against a black background so they would pop. I rather like them and I sure hope you do too.


 


Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: background, black background, black table, bosc pears, brown vase, buds, card, ceramic vase, color, colorful, delicious, flowers, food, fruit, green hat, hawaii guitar, hawaiian guitar, healthy, instrument, juicy, melody, musical, musical instrument, orange lilies, pear, reflections, shiny, small guitar, still life, studio, sweet, tasty, tropical, ukulele, vase

Ukulele, Yellow Lilies, and Lemons

May 8, 2023 by Marilyn Botta

My friend loaned me her ukulele for this photo shoot. I posed ukulele in back of a still life with a brown ceramic vase with yellow lilies and lemons against a black background. I realize this is just one picture but I thought it needed a post of it’s own. I liked using a musical instrument in my still life.


Filed Under: Flowers and Trees, Still Life Photography Tagged With: art, background, black background, brown, brown ukulele, ceramic vase, citrus, colorful, delicious, floral, flower, food, fresh, fresh fruit, fruit, fruits, green, green ceramic vase, instrument, lemon, lemons, lily buds, musical, ripe, still life, ukulele, whole lemon, wood texture, wooden, yellow, yellow flowerbrown vase, yellow lilies

Food and Flowers in Studio

April 22, 2020 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

Since we are in a lockdown due to the Pandemic, I have been coming up with creative photo ideas in my studio. What do I like most?–Food and flowers! So, I set out to make some fruit plates with cheese. I put everything on this silver plate that I got from Hobby Lobby as a prop some time ago and never used. I added a lovely lily that had bloomed in a vase at home. The resulting images are just what I had envisioned.

I also took some photos of the same lily and added different textures as backgrounds. It is amazing how a background can make the same image look different.




Filed Under: Flowers and Trees, Food Tagged With: backgrounds, cheese, flowers, food, fruit, lily, pandemic, plate, silver, studio, textures, vase

Donna’s Big Birthday

March 19, 2019 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

Donna, one of our favorite people, celebrated a Big Birthday. She is so well loved that I cannot even count how many friends came to wish her well. I tried to capture everyone in the party as best as I could, but it was almost impossible. I decided to at least get a group shot at the end of the evening. I gathered everyone who was still there on the front lawn, set up my camera on the tripod, and got in the picture. The evening was so lovely, the food was wonderful, and most of all it was in celebration of a specular lady. Happy Birthday Donna and many more. 









Filed Under: People and Events, Uncategorized Tagged With: birthday, camera, capture, celebration, food, front lawn, group, happy birthday, party, people, photographs, photos, spectacular, tripod, wonderful

Thanksgiving at Grace House

November 29, 2018 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving 2018 at Grace House. The food was amazing, especially the Turkey, but most of all the company was superb. I took a few photos outside on the steps. All in all, although I didn’t spend the holiday with my biological family, it felt like family–and that’s what it is all about. 



Filed Under: People and Events, Portraits Tagged With: biological, company, family, food, Grace House, holiday, photos, steps, Thanksgiving, Turkey

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