March Project: Found Still Life

March Project: Found Still Life

I wanted to choose a subject that allows us to show our eye for composition as we walk through our daily life. I also want to propose a topic that we can work on this month as an assignment (if we so choose to).

Any pleasing arrangements of "found" objects that have not been put together or posed specifically are the March subject. It is our challenge to use available light, framing, viewpoint, and so on to capture what we found to be artful.

Show us what you find!
:^)
Tim

Great idea Tim :) I think I have just the shot for this theme. Stumbled across something cool the other morning at the beach. Still have to develop the roll tonight. Hopefully it came out alright :o

I always had a hard time understanding what "still life" meant. Is it an animate subject not moving or an inanimate subject being, well, inanimate?

Does it require a human component? Otherwise, it sounds a lot like nature/wildlife shooting to me :p :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loupey

I always had a hard time understanding what "still life" meant. Is it an animate subject not moving or an inanimate subject being, well, inanimate?

Does it require a human component? Otherwise, it sounds a lot like nature/wildlife shooting to me :p :thumbsup:

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Hey Loupy,

Not that Wikipedia is the authority on everything, but...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_life_photography

I got the idea of "As Found Still Life" from John Hedgecoe's book "The Book of Photography" (DK Publishing) -- a beautiful book BTW. He spends a couple pages on this variation.

The thing that I like about As Found Still Life is that one doesn't need a studio type setup with controlled lighting. John Hedgeceo does recommend bringing a reflector along though.

Anyway, there is always artistic interpretation, eh? I've always liked your work. I am sure that you will post some nice stuff.

Cheers,
Tim


[Edit... Doh! I get it. Loupey is having fun with words. Oldschool is a little slow here...]

I'm not sure if this fits? I happened upon this flower just hanging on a wall.

Liz

http://mariaimage.smugmug.com/photos...61_iZVND-M.jpg

I think I need an explanation for dummies. :rolleyes: Not sure about this one either. I can't get the usual cup/bowl/apple/flower image out of my head.

Liz

http://mariaimage.smugmug.com/photos...10_SBKJz-M.jpg

"The still life photographer makes pictures rather than takes them."-wikipedia

so back to loupeys question
so if we have to find the subject as is, how is this different from nature photography ( just not animals?)

This is a great idea for a project. Here's one, I shot almost a year ago, but it's never been shown to anyone before. I'll be working on more this month.

Paul

found in the desert

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dylan8i

"The still life photographer makes pictures rather than takes them."-wikipedia

so back to loupeys question
so if we have to find the subject as is, how is this different from nature photography ( just not animals?)

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Hi Dylan,

I think the difference is that instead of the photographer MAKES the picture, the photographer FINDS an arrangement of objects that mother nature and/or mankind has left behind.

I'll post some examples below.
Cheers,
Tim

Nice one Paul.

Hi all,

I'm on the road. So, I can only pull images from my on-line galleries (and previously presented on PR.com). I *think* they fit this months theme. And if they don't, that's Ok. Everything is open to interpretation, eh?

I'll grab my camera when I get back home.

BR,
Tim

3 valves...

Looking down...

Some may question whether this is out of theme. However, I do not think I arranged this (It was a while back). As I recall, I woke early one morning and was greeted by this presentation. I grabbed my camera and tripod. If I did move a candlestick... hey rules are to be bent. :^)

Thanks for looking,
Tim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Liz

I think I need an explanation for dummies. :rolleyes: Not sure about this one either. I can't get the usual cup/bowl/apple/flower image out of my head.

Liz

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Nice Liz.
Tim

Love the 3 Valves, OldSchool!

Can you imagine this shot if you could get all three members of the Blue Man Group to man the valves!

I agree with Liz I cant get the image of flowers/fruit and a bowl out of my head but hey still life is anything you make it.
army

Tough assignment, OldSchool - at least it is for me. Went out this morning looking for something that might fit. IMO "still life" means it ought to have a significant human element. Too strong and it seems to become an abstract, industrial, editorial. Too weak and it seems to become a nature image (which I tend to shoot :p ).

As Liz mentioned, I too can't seem to break the mental image of a bowl-of-fruit-on-a-table or a nude-silhouette-lying-next-to-a-bowl-of-fruit-near-a-table type image.


Anyway, I took a few more but these seem to almost fit. Interesting - thanks for the thought.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by armywife1984

I agree with Liz I cant get the image of flowers/fruit and a bowl out of my head but hey still life is anything you make it.
army

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Hmmm...I don't think photos of animals, birds, fish, insects snakes, etc., and shots of primarily flowers, trees, water are still life though. Otherwise, landscape shots are still life, too :) :)

This's my idea of a still life shot:

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...Still_Life.jpg

Something found:


http://gallery.photographyreview.com...etal_Paper.jpg

Found these, too:

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...en-_-Close.jpg


I didn't put them there.

Loupey - that 3rd shot caught my eye. I viewed it a couple of times - it's interesting and I really like it! It's certainly a "find" and seems to fit the found still image as I'm beginning to "get-it."

Cool! :thumbsup:

Liz

As found, complete with morning dew. Beautiful!

http://alisongreenwoodphotography.co...g/IMG_0421.jpg

One daffodil in my garden, (I'm NOT a gardener lol).

http://alisongreenwoodphotography.co...2940_500_c.jpg

Not taken today, but, on this particular day, the sky at the back of our house resembled feathers. I couldn't resist grabbing my camera :D

http://alisongreenwoodphotography.co...9-01_500_c.jpg