![]() ![]() Backgrounds and lightingįor me, especially in still-life photography, the acronym KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid – is all-important. The rich and varied history of still life as a genre should inspire you. The composition of a still-life image is a discipline and has rules, so study the greats and aim high. We can incorporate a lot of his influence into our photography. His mastery of composition and light and remarkable ability to convey the volume and texture of individual objects enabled him to transform the most mundane of kitchen fare into powerful images. Even though his work received little recognition when he was alive, he is considered the greatest Spanish still-life painter of the 18th century. For me the king of them all is the Spanish painter Luis Meléndez (1716-1780). It is all about composition, and for inspiration we must not only look at photographers, but also at some of the great painters. Credit: Tim Clinch Draw inspiration from the greatsĪs a discipline, still life has an amazing history. I shoot a lot of still lifes at home in Bulgaria, it’s like therapy for me. It is all about you, your eye and your skill. ![]() Or in ‘street’ photography, for instance, no punk rocker with a scarlet mohican is going to wander into your shot to enliven an otherwise dull image. ![]() Unlike say, landscape photography, no spectacular sunset is going to miraculously happen to save your bacon. You choose the subjects, background and lighting. This genre of photography is 100% down to you – your eye and your skill as a photographer. But above all, it’s the discipline involved that gives me such satisfaction. Some of my all-time favourite images are still lifes.Įdward Weston’s photographs of peppers the wonderful imagery by my photographic hero, Irving Penn Tina Modotti’s beautiful peaceful pictures and the quite perfect images shot by Charles Jones in the late 1890’s (who was not a photographer at all, but a gardener!) come to mind. So what is it about still life that I like so much? First of all, obviously, it’s the pictures. The true skill lies in the ability to take something mundane and everyday out of its normal habitat and transform it into something of beauty by using our skills as photographers. ‘The depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects.’ This encompasses several photographic disciplines, but sums it up pretty well. The client wanted to use lots of colours and details. Taken during a hotel shoot in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ![]()
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