Chandelier

It’s easy for those who know to jump to the conclusion that this is one of the hundreds of chandeliers hand-made by Peter, Holly’s father, while he had his reproduction lighting business. But it’s not. During my tenure for The Upper Canadian, I photographed thousands of antiques of all kinds. Most of the shots were pretty pedestrian; the readers didn’t really want to see art shots. At least, not at that time. But sometimes I could get away with it, as in this composition. The important thing in my mind was its folky nature and crusty old paint on this turn of the 20th century Dukhobor chandelier, so I got to play with the arms overlapping and reaching out of the frame.The over-all effect of the block cut captures, I hope, that time-worn, folk quality.

I’ll do one of Peter’s chandeliers in the future. I think wood engraving would be the suitable medium to match the precision and artistry he achieved in creating his lamps.

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