TeaChat

Stentor wrote:Beautiful cup and intimidating photography skills, debunix.
In a way, the quality of the pictures you take kind of keeps me from posting more pictures myself since mine are just poorly composed, crappy phone pictures

It's nice to see pictures from everybody The camera is not so important. Mostly it's the lighting that's important. Soft ambient light from open windows seems to work very well for taking pictures of our tea things. Even if you can't compose a picture very well, or if your camera is not very good, keeping the scene well-lit is the easiest way to ensure that your picture will turn out well. But in the case of debunix, it looks to me like he has a macro lens or something else that can focus very close to the lens in order to get clear pictures of small details.

In any case, I'm trying to encourage you to take pictures

Please don't be intimidated into not sharing photos of your teawares taken however you can take them. Photography happens to be my hobby, and I like to practice on my teawares, because ceramics and glazes are quite intricate and fascinating. But it's not all about the camera--it's about sharing beautiful things and beautiful light, and that isn't just about the camera.

Cellphones can take some pretty nice pictures, if you give them a chance....



And so often they're handier than the big camera at capturing the moment before it's over....



So catch what you can, pay attention to the background and the light, and play with your camera. We're happy to see what you share with us.

Thanks a lot for the encouragement, guys.
Oh and I didn't want you to feel bad about posting such great pictures. I hope it didn't come across that way.
Please keep doing it, guilt-free!

A May Flower set to celebrate Spring... Finally.

Wow! Gorgeous set! Where can I find such things?

Wow I ordered a gaiwan just like that from China Cha Dao many years ago...when it turned up it was the wrong one and actually they didnt have any of these left i was gutted at the time!

Where did you get it? I've dreamt of owning that gaiwan for years!

Thanks for posting the pic Tim!

Alex wrote:Wow I ordered a gaiwan just like that from China Cha Dao many years ago...when it turned up it was the wrong one and actually they didnt have any of these left i was gutted at the time!

Where did you get it? I've dreamt of owning that gaiwan for years!

Thanks for posting the pic Tim!

Great to share Alex. Got this from the 90's. Been in the vault for many years

I really like that the cherry blossom has no green leaves. Just looks really iconic like that.

Got this tea table trolley made last week. Just a simple set up with a retractable table top on the side for the hot plate to sit on... Sometimes your tea just has to follow you...

A new tea bowl.



Lots of carbon trapping.

Subtle and gorgeous, as usual....

Reverse Side



Hey guys, here is a Yunomi I picked up today at the SF JapanTown "Cherry Blossom Festival". The artist's name is Thomas Arakawa, he is a local artist and incredibly nice guy.

The cup itself has a very nice presence when held and feels as if it were carved from stone. He told me he achieves the texture seen on the "red side" by actually taking a cheese grater to the clay.

Mr. M

Beautiful cup.

What does it look like on the inside?

debunix wrote:Beautiful cup.

What does it look like on the inside?

The inside is really difficult to photograph properly. It is pretty neutral which provides a good basis for the tea's color, however the texture of it is like granite. The quality that makes it difficult to capture properly is the fact that the very bottom is highly reflective.

I managed to get a decent picture of the foot though, for all you foot fetish'ee's out there.

Celadon tea tray. Perfect for one off gong fu