Project kit

The sections of a case study, for the inside of a project post.

Atelier Soma fired its first collection over one winter: twelve stoneware pieces in three glazes. We photographed every piece on the same travertine plinth, with one light moved by hand between frames, so each glaze reads the way it does in the hand.

Client	Atelier Soma
Year	2026
Discipline	Still life
Role	Photography
Location	Bergen, in the studio

The brief

Atelier Soma wanted pictures made the way the work is made: few tools, patient light, and nothing added in post that was not there on the day. The same frames had to carry a printed catalog, the shop, and the showroom wall.

What we did

We scouted the kiln room at the hour we would shoot, then built one set in the studio and moved the pieces instead of the light. A first edit went to Soma within the week, and retouching stopped at dust and the odd cable.

Three ceramic vessels on a travertine plinth against a dark wall

The first three pieces out of the kiln, on the travertine plinth. One light, from the left.

Hands shaping a clay bowl on a potter's wheel — The last bowl of the collection, on the wheel.

A dried grass stem in a glass bottle casting a long shadow on a pale wall — A stem from the kiln yard, our only prop.

A concrete spiral stair seen from below — The stair core, looking up from the bottom step.

Burnt orange silk frozen in the air against black — Silk, thrown by hand and caught on the third try.

Portrait of a young man with curly hair in a denim jacket against pale paper — Idris, between setups.

A low concrete house set into a grassy slope

An oak chair in a slice of sunlight against a plaster wall — The living room, at four in the afternoon.

We shot the house from the field first and came inside when the sun came round. The chair was already there. We only moved it a hand's width into the light.

An empty studio with a paper backdrop and a softbox — The rest of the week in the studio, one frame from each set.

Mira photographed the pieces the way we see them at the wheel: slowly, and in one light.
Founder, Atelier Soma

31 of 40

Frames used in the catalog

Days in the studio

Light, for every frame

Credits

Photography	Mira Halden
Production	Tomas Berg
Retouching	Idris Kaya
Ceramics	Atelier Soma
Printing	Northfield Press

How we worked

1. Scout

We visited the kiln room at the hour we would shoot and handled every piece before we planned a single frame.

2. Build

Tomas booked the room and built one set: the plinth, a plaster wall, and the pieces lined up in the order we would shoot them.

3. Shoot

Two days, with Soma in the room. Frames went up on a monitor as we made them, so every choice was made together.

4. Finish

Idris retouched for dust and true color, never for a different object, and sent files sized for print and for the shop.

Next: Low House →

Low House, a low concrete house set into a grassy slope