Still Life Challenge

Today I have been setting up a small studio at home and practising my Still Life skills. Nothing is as easy as it looks! Now that I have completed my research for our assignment, I have found contemporary photographers whose work I really like and espouse. However, they have probably honed their skills over several years, and I feel as though I really am at the very beginning of my development. It takes time to gather objects that reflect the self and have some meaning attached to them, choose colours that photograph well together, form an aesthetically pleasing composition and then photograph the scene in a creative manner... and lots more! There is also the concept of why these objects should be put together, or the idea behind the creation of the Still Life. For the purpose of todays' shoot I gathered objects that do, for me, have meaning attached to them in the form of memories, but other than that I will have to look at the images and "see" what it was about these particular objects that made me put them together. Or maybe I shouldn't intellectualise everything and leave some things to instinct and intuition and the pure enjoyment of doing something creative.

I did enjoy the process and I also realise that to spend just one day shooting Still Life is only a start to the creative process. The photographers' whose work I have studied have reached a "knowing" which directs their creations.

I was mainly using natural window light to shoot my Still Life today, and for part of the afternoon I chased the shadows around the house when I noticed how beautiful the patterns were. Later I used a model light with a softbox and reflector to try and compose some good lighting effects, but by this time I was tired and my creative impulses were waning!

Here are some of the results of my day. My images are influenced by Veronica Bailey, Andy Goldsworthy, Rosy Martin, Sarah Lynch and Uta Barth.

Chasing Shadows