Brief 2 – Process

Following our lecture on the Still Life: Found Object brief I began to look into the idea of cataloguing natural objects with interesting shapes and textures in a similar manner to Charles Aubry at the very beginnings of photography and popularity of Daguerreotypes. To create these images the exposure of the camera would have been set to around 40 minutes to create a great sense of depth and detail for technology of the time.  He made around one hundred-fifty negatives of plant still-lifes his first year and became a master of the botanical still life.

I loved the idea of arranging simple objects to create an aesthetically pleasing composition even just using very common items such as plants, leaves and stones.  I looked at some more modern examples of similar still life such as the work of Stella Alesi who often works with fruit and plants to give a beautiful colour scheme to her photos. She will usually chose one bold or bright colour that appears two or more times in her still life arrangement to give it some formality throughout her series of photographs. I had a go during our workshop with some jewels and some flowers using a directional light and a reflector.

I think it turned out really well and this session gave me a lot of time to experiment with how lighting techniques can really enhance an image. The contrast between the jewels and the flower has a really beautiful effect and I liked having the use of only one bright coloured object on a fairly contrasting background. If I were to do this again I’d maybe chose a backdrop that is directly opposite on the colour wheel such as a dark purple or even a black backdrop that the yellow flowers could really stand out against.

Whilst researching still-lifes consisting of the elements I wished to use in my own work including flowers, branches and seeds I stumbled upon photographer Mary Jo Hoffman. At a first glance many of her images would appear to be pressed flowers and feathers, until you look at the process in which she uses a tripod to create perfectly straight and consistent images from a top down view and surrounded by natural lighting to create some really beautiful images; artfully arranged and photographed against a super white background, familiar objects like twigs and blossoms take on an otherworldly feeling; deceased birds and delicately woven nests serve as poignant and beautiful reminders of time’s passing.
I was extremely inspired in the way in which she lays these items out and wish to do the same, perhaps in patterns that could be symbolic to the items used in these images.