When you're given two bottles of wine...

[Mike Buckley]

A friend joined my wife and me for dinner about five months ago to celebrate a famous winemaker's 91st birthday and to watch a documentary film about him. She gave us these two bottles of wine and I've never been able to figure out how I wanted to photograph them. That was until two days ago when I gathered some clusters of wine grapes with the permission of this farmhand who had discarded them.

The grapes aren't the species used in the wine, but I can only be so picky. I'm grateful that they're the right color.

[ajsmith]

Another great photo. It has a sophisticated and rich feel. I like the monochromatic theme.

[Donald]

That is another beauty. Wonderfully arranged composition.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[FootLoose]

Nice concept, Mike.

[TonyW]

I find myself salivating.

It's interesting how well the lighting defines the edge of the dark bottles against the dark background.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone! Now that I've finally made the photo, it's good to know that my wife and I get to drink the wine.

[Loose Canon]

Will you be peeling grapes for her?

Very nicely done Mike!

[Mike Buckley]

Will you be peeling grapes for her?

I've got a shot in mind that, if it works, will be very much in line with your thinking. I doubt that it will work but I've got to try it just in case it does.

[chauncey]

He was also removing some small sub-clusters of grapes attached to the main clusters to prevent the grapes from becoming too sweet

Sorry that I missed that post...having been a fan of "Ice Wine", sweet grapes are the bestest kind.

A friend joined my wife and me for dinner about five months ago to celebrate a famous winemaker's 91st birthday and to watch a documentary film about him

I like the composition and the shot itself but, why not share the wine with your guest?

[Mike Buckley]

why not share the wine with your guest?

I'm a bit surprised someone didn't already ask why we didn't do that when she brought the wine. Part of the explanation is that she actually forgot to bring it to dinner and sent it to us a few days later.

Another part is that when we have people over for dinner, the wine is already carefully selected to pair well with the food, decanted (when appropriate) and brought to the ideal temperature. On this particular occasion, we drank red and white wine made by the winemaker whose birthday we were celebrating. So, when I take wine to dinner or receive it as a gift, I always expect the wine to be enjoyed by the host some other time.

Another reason not to enjoy wine on the spot brought by guests is that the potential content for a photograph becomes dramatically limited.

As to sharing the wine with our guest in the future, that's exactly what I hope to do. It has been so long since we've seen her that the wine will be one of several ideal excuses to get together. She had not drunk the wine and bought it on the advice of a wine buff who highly recommended it. So, she would look forward to trying it out if she hasn't already done that.

[NorthernFocus]

The arrangement with the grapes really works here. Really nicely done.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image. I too love the grapes at the base, but I especially love all the colours/tones, beautiful shades of one dominant colour.

[bnnrcn]

I loved the composition with grapes

[Digital]

Mike, very nice composition.


Bruce

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, all. It's great to learn that including the grapes in the photo apparently works for everyone.

[wtlwdwgn]

Beautiful still life photograph Mike!

[ST1]

Well done Mike for resisting the urge to drink the wine. The two different height bottles give the image a edgy twist, which I do like the inclusion of the grapes adds to the overall image.
I find the reflections on the bottle shoulders a little distracting especially so for the reflection of the tall bottle on the shorter one that along with the double catchlights on some of the grapes means that I can only award you 9.99 out of ten

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Steve and for Peter's attention to the details.

I actually thought people would generally not like that the composition hides that the bottle on the right is raised. I was concerned that some people might not like that one bottle might seem taller than the other. Just the opposite, perhaps it's an attribute I hoped it would be.

I happily plead guilty, Peter, to the other stuff that reduced your score from from a perfect 10 to 9.99 (though I have to disagree that the photo deserves such a high score even after your reduction). I like everything about the lighting and reflections that you disliked. Though it's not important to me to have two reflections on some of the grapes, that characteristic doesn't bother me. The only thing that would be better than happily disagreeing about those details here in the thread would be disagreeing about them over a glass of wine.