Why not in a way you would usually capture portraits?

As a portrait photographer, sometimes I find it hard to photograph images of still objects. Even during the quarantine this year, I challenged myself to experiment and shoot something outside my comfort zone. Interestingly enough, I found out that I’m definitely not a still life photographer. I’ve tried to move the positions of the object or the light, but something always wasn’t right in my opinion. In the end, I found it easier to arrange objects similar to the way I would usually position human beings.

This summer, during my photoshoots of musicians, I’ve met one of the three luthiers in Bulgaria, who make guitars. I was blown away - never seen or met anyone who makes musical instruments. His name is Stefan Kudef and he goes under the brand Qdeff Guitars - custom made boutique pieces, that sing in an incredible way. You can follow him and find more about his work on his Facebook page.

Beautifully crafted pieces, made with love and attention, but unfortunately not photographed in the best, most complimenting for them way. It hurt to see how such beautiful objects don’t have a proper online presence, so I’ve offered Stefan my photography services. We worked together on coming up with the place and time of the shoot. He insisted to be outdoor, by the sea or in a forest, so it matches the feel of the guitars and complements the wood they are made of.

We did the shoot at sunset, at a small out of town beach. As locals, we know many of those spots, so it was easy to just come up with the location and just drive to it. When we arrived, there were a few people that were about to leave, as the sun has already passed the horizon.

Even though we shot on one location only, I wanted to capture each guitar on a different background, complimenting its beauty. We had 3 guitars, 3 variations of Izabel.

I’ve used:

1 light
Natural background
Last colours of a sunset sky
Natural stands, such as stones and broken stumb