Still Life Photography
A still life photographer will make images rather than taking them. He/She will pick objects and position them where and how they wish, adjusting the light accessing them. Still Life Photographers mainly use shoes, fruit or glasses as a main theme for their still life photos.
A famous photographer known for his still life photography is Dennis Pedersen, his profile from his website reads:
“Dennis Pedersen; A technical pro, leading the way in Still Life and creative product photography for over 20 years. Working with a variety of regular clientele Dennis is a renowned professional within the cosmetic and beauty world; their creative needs are exceeded with his ability to produce diverse, imaginative and technically outstanding images, which have set the benchmark for quality. With the transition from the darkroom to digital, Dennis house’s his own retouching / post production studio allowing him to push the boundaries of the label ‘Still Life ’ photographer, bringing images alive wherever it be with an explosion of water or a flare of special effects. Working from his own studios in Shoreditch, London. Dennis has developed an extensive portfolio ranging from Editorial and PR through to POS and Advertising. Dennis’ career path has been an unconventional one and his story will make inspiring positive reading for all aspiring photographers hoping to break into this difficult profession. Back in 1985, while working as a builder in London, Dennis met up with his friend, Greg Gorman, who was working as a celebrity photographer. Still a friend and successful photographer to this day, Gorman’s tales inspired Dennis to quit building immediately and try photography for himself. After a considerable amount of cold calling from studio to studio Dennis was offered the opportunity to work for fashion and beauty photographer, Jean Claude Volpeliere. Volpeliere’s work was mainly on location so Dennis started to learn his craft while traveling all over the world shooting for fashion magazines and beauty clients. His time with Volpeliere concluded via an introduction to advertising still life photographer, Jon Stigner. Known for his impeccable attention to detail and lighting techniques, Dennis jumped at the opportunity to learn from one of the best. Working with large format 10 x 8 cameras it was under Jon’s tutelage that Dennis discovered his true niche - a love for the technical aspects of photography. Working under Jon, Dennis spent three years studying lighting techniques and composition before taking the next step; to open his own studio in Hoxton Square, London. Dennis reflects: “Working for yourself under pressure makes you learn incredibly fast”. Striking out alone proved a steep learning curve, although this didn’t dissuade clients from knocking on Dennis’ door. With advertising providing the mainstay of work until the 1990s recession hit. The recession brought an abrupt end to the big advertising clients but an invitation to submit work for an exhibition in Hamburg took Dennis’ work in an altogether new direction. Choosing to work with a theme of liquids and water photography for the exhibition submission, Dennis became increasingly inspired by the opportunities presented by movement in still life photography. Discovering that they offered him the perfect medium in which to combine his technical and creative skills, he started to experiment with a variety of liquids, powders and special effects photography. Clients and magazines were immediately impressed with the results and Dennis’ distinct style – a unique blend of technical expertise and creativity - started to emerge. Today, Dennis shoots for almost all of the UK’s leading fashion and beauty magazines with his images regularly gracing the editorial beauty pages. Commercial clients have also been quick to take note and editorial work is balanced with advertising, PR and online commissions. Dennis concludes: "I love my work as a still life photographer and am hugely grateful for the inspiration and advice that I have been given throughout my career"”
STILL LIFE
A still life (plural still life's) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Some modern still life breaks the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.
Another Still life Photographer is Jonathan Knowles who is a London based photographer specialising in graphic still life, liquid and people photography.
His unique photographic style has earned him award winning, national and international advertising commissions working with agencies worldwide.
In the past eight years he has consistently featured in the‘200 Best Advertising Photographers in the World’ books. He is now also one of the top 10 all time award winners in the Graphic Annuals, and has had images included in their last four volumes of ‘100 Best in Photography’.
Some of his photos consist of:
Analysing Still Life Photographers
I was researching Jenny Van Sommers' (a famous still life photographer) photography and one image of hers really caught my eye, it had been named 'alpha'.
What initially caught my eye was the bright colours on the left hand side of her face.
I noticed that she is portrayed as a proud confident yet plain woman from the way she is shaped. At first thoughts of what this image is of I thought it to be of a Girl with a mistaken identity. Looking more closely and really thinking about what the picture could mean I thought that she looks like she has been scarred by something in the past and that she is fighting against something now, maybe cancer. She is plain because she is she has been undergoing treatment meaning she is being cleansed. Inside she is unwell and is slowly dying shes been washed with paint to make her look pure but she will never be pure. She has been illustrated with her hopes and dreams masking her true identity. As I examined the photo I found myself being drawn to the birds that cover her, I feel the birds signify her loss of freedom and how she wishes should had the ability to take flight and escape the body she is trapped in.
The emotional effect this photo has is interesting, she is plain and confident looking yet her face shows a deep sadness, the happy brightly coloured images show something she wishes and hopes for. She is just as white as her background showing she feels she is invisible which is why she has bright colours on her so that she feels she stands out and is unique and beautiful.
The use of an extended depth of field shows how she fits into the background and how unimportant and insignificant she feels.
STILL LIFE RESPONSE
In photography we had to choose a still life photographer to analyse and choose a photo of theirs that we would respond to. The photographer I chose to respond to was Jenny Van Sommers who took this image of a whitewashed statue portrait of a woman with paint on her face.
To respond to this photo I took a lot of Images of Venetian pot masks against a white backdrop and these below are some of them.
To respond to this photo I took a lot of Images of Venetian pot masks against a white backdrop and these below are some of them.
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