Give Me Elbow room

Finding hidden treasures in my old posts that were never posted.  Here is another piece I wrote back when my blog was just in its infancy and my followers numbered a big round zero. 

This post was originally written 2/13/2009 but never published.

I’ve always longed to live in the country, to have trees and natural vegetation as my neighbors. Living in tight clusters of homes where one’s neighbor is so close it feels as though one shares a common patio or garden. This may be fine for a lot of people however for myself I’ve always enjoyed a bit of freedom, cherished my elbow room.

Little less than two years  five years ago we, my husband John and I, lived in a small rental house in a close packed development, it was a temporary arrangement as we were in the process of building a small and unpretentious home. Having earlier purchased a parcel of land, close to 3 acres, in a semi-rural area, we envisioned a simple home, much like a farm house, something that would blend in with the smaller clapboard houses dotting the area. However the people who purchased the property adjacent to us were building a Floridian Mediterranean inspired house with paladin windows and barrel tile roof, very incongruent with the rural neighborhood. Theirs’ was a house you saw in every gated community from Miami to Naples and from Homestead to Tallahassee.

On the other side of this mini mansion sets the original homestead of the farmer who had subdivided this acreage, his was a humble house made of raw wood clapboards. Weathered and gray this homely little house sat low on the land, crouched under the large trees that attempted to protect it and fitted the landscape well. Trucks and tractors littered the farmer’s property...after all he is still a working farmer...had watermelons for sale just last summer...$3 apiece ! So, for myself, no mini mansion. I wanted to feel like I belonged here, a part of the area not apart from the area.

Every day that we lingered in our rental unit, I longed to be able to look outside a window, any window, and not view the wall of a neighboring home. Our patio practically butted up against the property line where a stark white fence divided the two backyards and afforded some privacy but also gave a foreboding sense of confinement. Nothing to look at as we sat out on the patio...only the bland white fence...not a tree, or a garden...hard to have a garden with little less than an 7 foot stripe of land between the patio and that imposing fence ! My only consolation was that it was not our home, it was only a rental and soon we could walk away from it.

When our small house was at last completed and we received our "Certificate of Occupancy" it was cause for celebration. John popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and we toasted our new home, our property, getting out of that claustrophobic neighborhood and most of all toasted having a view and some breathing space. Liberation! Viva la liberation !

Small Space Photo Studio

Many of us find ourselves searching for more space; a cabinet in which to stash that large crab boil pot that we use maybe once a year or a cupboard for the old set of Grandma's china that we've inherited. Constantly we're seeking places to store our old and newly acquired treasures.  In today's life style not only do our belongings need space, so do our hobbies; it may be well and good to commandeer a corner of the dinning room, a nook in the living room or even converting a small closet into our "studio" but what happens when space runs out?

For some time now I've been using the top of our guest bedroom dresser as my "photo studio". With a top that measures 20 inches deep and perhaps 40 inches long, plus a large mirror that infringed upon this space making photography awkward, something had to be done and adding an addition to our home was not an option.


Then a friend gave me a great idea on where I could garner my much needed photo studio space and though it may work for me you may find it unfeasible in your own situation.


My home is small but it does have 3 full bathrooms.  The smallest of the baths held little usable space; counter tops are small, floor space meager...however there is a tub. Could this tub alcove be used as a workable photo studio ? Well I'll let you be the judge of that.

Photo above ... John, my darling hubby, cut a large sheet of 3/4 thick plywood to fit across the top of the tub. He knew the weight of the plywood would not be enough to keep it from slipping about on the tub rim, therefore he measured exactly where restraints would have to be placed to prevent the plywood from shifting. I certainly would not want to be photographing items and suddenly have my photo studio dumped into the bathtub. Chunks of 2 x 4's are securely screwed to the underside of the plywood sheet and act as a brace keeping it from sliding.

Photo above and below ... Using more plywood and 2 x 4's, John constructed a table that pretty much fills the space within the tub alcove and then anchored it firmly to the foundation sheet of plywood. Everything is a solid as a rock; no wiggles, no jiggles, no sliding, no slipping.

Photo above ... The table is covered with a white sheet to hide the less than decorative  wood and now all is ready for setting up my "photo studio".

My light box, camera stand and a couple of halogen light fixtures were acquired by way of a lucky eBay bid, in the finale moments of its auction, I made a bid that was just $1.01 over the highest bidder and won the light box set...a $60 value (supposedly) for $21 with FREE SHIPPING ! I figure I probably couldn't beat that price again even if I had a baseball bat to do it with.

The aluminum reflector lights were purchased at my local Home Depot for about $5 each. A friend, who's a semi-professional photographer, suggested I get some daylight energy efficient bulbs to use in my reflectors, even gave me the name; "GE Energy Smart Daylight 6500K" .  They are fantastic and I'm passing the recommendation on to you.

 

So there's my "Photo Studio" and when I wish to hide it...no problem.