This still life with shells, porcelain, and glass vessels was my casual backdrop for a day of photo editing for Vertu Art + Design. I have collected, displayed, and photographed the type of useful and beautiful objects one finds in 17th-century Dutch still lifes for many years. From humble to refined objects, my desired result is an informal immediacy. Here flowers are placed loosely in a large, round contemporary glass vase exhibiting a maker's seal (of the kind found on