Thursday, October 7, 2010

Philip Prewett metal furniture fabricator

I always enjoy photographing artisans and their work. Last year I completed a project for the New Hampshire Furniture Masters, created a series of product shots for jewelry maker Dana Israel, and recorded a significant portion of the work of painter Frannie Schwab.

So when I encountered Philip Prewett, I didn’t think twice about inviting myself over to his workshop to take some photos of his creations.

Prewett is a plumber and electrician by trade, but a furniture maker by passion. The 43 year old resident of Ackworth, GA is a self-taught welder who doesn’t hesitate to use whatever materials he has on hand, including the discarded “junk” of others.



A muscular man whose imposing stature conceals a gentle, artistic disposition, Prewett started fabricating furniture for his own use around four years ago. He says welding furniture is easier than woodworking. His first project was a pot rack. Now he makes mostly chairs and an occasional table.

Notice in the above picture of Phil sitting on the first rocker he made, that Phil has placed the initials PP on the posts. Now he numbers his productions in sequence.









How long does it take Phil to make a chair? It took three and a half weeks for Phil to make the two-seater rocker, putting the hours in after work and on days off.


He plans for his next project to be a sofa. I hope he puts cushions on it!

Technical note about the photographs: All were shot in Phil’s workshop, using four flashes. Two were high, to the left and right of each chair, and slightly behind, pointed directly at the chair to accentuate the shadows and the metal rods. The third was in front of the chair at camera right, shooting through an umbrella. The fourth was at camera left, also somewhat in front of the chair, shooting through an Orbis Ring Flash. There was liberal use of curves and layer masks to darken the background and vignette the images.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

wow...very nice piece of art... wonderful blog in here...love it...keep it up...


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regards,
badloi