Symbolism in Still Life Photography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_ftM0ZXy8


Still life - traditional form of artistic representation
Long before photography appeared, 16th, 17th, 18th century, artists made paintings of various fruit, flowers, various objects. There were conventions, specific meanings. On surface, image is decorative, no deep meanings at all. Actually, the artist was trying to say? E.g a knife balanced on the edge of an orange that, life is almost about to drop, about to be at an end. 

Photographers began to use the same format in the 19th century in its birth. The next time you at a photograph of some flowers/fruit, take some time to think about it further. Flowers will fade, fruit will decay, short life and gone before you realise.

Diagram of Doom, c. 1922
Edward Steichen

End of day, butterfly casts long shadow. He was not a young man when taken, probably thinking about his own mortality. The composition is simple and beautiful, but the photograph is heavy with hidden meanings. 




It is of importance to hold depth within a still life image, for symbolism is its nature. But I don't aim to keep to all of its stiff conventions. Fruit won't necessarily mean luxury, the colour red won't necessarily lead to anger or passion. In fact I aim to challenge conventional use within parts of my experiments. 

Edits (mould)

A continuation with experimental play with typical still-life objects. I took note of previous use of the wilting flower and continued with 'wilting' fruit. I carry on to mis-use the candle-stick holder, becoming almost a plinth to hold up each subject. 

The below images are appearing to be more successful, the banana(s) act in place of the candle, but dying/dead, hunched in defeat - comparative to a half-melted candle. They become animated, whilst slightly humorous. 

Another composition that worked well with the bananas, they compliment each other in opposite reflection - one flopped and one upright (just about!). Just looking at the lineal form they create is stimulating on its own, and paired with its humorous nature I feel this idea works very well as an image. 

Contact sheet (mould)

Interim Presentation

This presentation was an overlook on all the work we've done so far, but to concentrate on our current work in progress. I included an explanation to my changing ideas throughout the project. The luxury of freedom to change my ideas is given by the broadness of the competition brief - Conceptual work. The competitions are opened to artists after all! 

To recap - my starting idea was to work with landscapes - researching the likes of Paul Gaffney sparked my interest. But, it didn't cover/contain much depth. Nor is it as easy to create conceptual images out of landscapes alone. So I went back to researching competitions and past winners, finding a pattern that they tend to follow a documentative series.

This led me to a new idea, to follow a series, yet specified, and following a slightly different visual aesthetic - abstract (cut off forms in frame, lack of visual context - to specify). I went on to show several artists that sparked inspiration for what to specify my series in - visual interior spaces of my past homes and how the spaces correlate with each other. 

My next issues were maintaining contact and trust with the homeowners, as well as my test shoot not turning out quite as I had hoped. It was still first stages, but my tutor was put off the idea on the fact it still didn't include much depth. I was wanting to carry on with the idea, but I agreed with the point that the images/idea was still lacking something. 

So my next step was going back to research. I wasn't throwing away the whole idea, I wanted to concentrate on the aspect of objects - mundane/household - their use and relationship between another. My research led me to several areas, in both modern and traditional senses - traditional still life painting, and the works of Sarah Palmer and Linus Lohoff. This led me to the idea of mixing both together, traditional and modern renditions of still life artwork. 

I started in the studio, but stated in the presentation the images did not work at all. The harsh studio lights with traditional objects did not mix as I had hoped, so I had to find another way for the traditional and modern to mix. Only a few images worked, but they weren't exactly working towards the direction I was going in. Visually, however, they work very well.

I go on to show examples of what I had tried next, using natural light as the traditional paintings had. The photographs were now becoming something, aesthetically. I was aiming for visual simplicity whilst experimenting with set-ups. A simple backdrop so the viewer can concentrate on the objects.

My issues here is now I need to dig deeper and research the theory behind it. I am creating these images for a reason, I just need to understand them and myself more. 

I asked my peers which images they preferred, those I had shown in the studio, or those taken in natural light. Their response? The studio images were much more impactive, the overall consensus was very much positive with these images, they are bold, the images look as if the fruit is floating, they are very clean. But, as I had thought myself, their beliefs were that the natural-light images had more to say. 

Selected edits

I wasn't happy with the lighting in the studio, it was flat or simply looked unusual pairing still life and "man-made" lighting, and not in a good way. Therefore I moved forward to natural light. Researching traditional Still Life paintings, the tonality and lighting is soft. The lighting is mostly one-directional, with a subtle highlight from another direction. 

The set-up: Main source of light from large window to the right, subtle highlight with reflector (home-made) to the left. 

The reflective surface has several purposes: to reflect more light and to reflect the objects shape, literally doubling the form within the frame. 

Again I continued to use the "typical" still-life objects. 

In this first image I played with irony, a wilting-flowers' impending doom. It lays slumped, its body language saying it's almost given up. The irony comes from its bed, the vase of potpourri is its future. The flower appears to be looking upon its reflection, in deflated thought about its future.

The below image has two potential meanings. The stalk is a depleting timeline, the flower slowly lowering to its grave, the pit of dead beneath it. That - or the flower is defiant, standing strong and tall against its nature that eventually, it too will die in a dry, crisp state.

It is here where I start to play with an objects use/nature. Replace or wrongly use. Confuse use. Misunderstand or not know at all.

Visually, these images work well. Minimal, but stimulating. The minimalism leaves more to be read/thought about the image and the objects. Focus is also brought to the shape and form of them. The stalk towers and the flower head looms above, lamp-like. Held within a candle-stick holder. The golden-brass is bold, yet still soft thanks to the use of natural light. 

Below is another visually strong image. To start with, the background is two-tone and (almost) 50/50 to frame. The objects stand two-tone also, bowl and fruit stand side-by-side, typically 'brothers' in Still Life format but this time they stand separate in some sort of stand-off. Our eyes place the orange in the bowl but it is not what we're shown.

The below images were from a previous shoot, but stood out to be selected. The illusion is simple, but the image is bold. Upon showing the image to peers the impact of these images were obvious, and I asked them their preference between the above style and the below. They seemed to agree with me that the above had more to say, holding much more depth and meaning, but the below appealed to them on an aesthetic level. Bold colours, humorous style and intriguing illusion. 

Contact sheets

Studio set

Being unsuccessful in finding access to homes previously lived in, my aim has moved to look into objects, their relationship within each other and on their own. Therefore Still Life is the basic theme, currently. I thought I should start with a test shoot with some starting objects in the studio. I wanted the objects to follow a visual aesthetic, what you would typically find in a 17th century Still Life painting - fruit, vases, glass, scarves, old objects. But I wanted the set-up modern, skewed and unusual to play around with different composition/different visuals.

I initially started with small selection, playing with set-up and finding abstract frames within. I attempted getting in close to the objects for the abstract framing, and standing further away to see how the objects worked together but neither worked and it was all too messy and mixed. The objects didn't compliment each other and I could find no relation between them.

Upon reviewing Linus Lohoff's work I recalled how he had presented some objects as if sliced in half, emerging from nothing. I had coloured reflective perspex at had and arranged the fruit available at the time, as if sliced but emerging out of water (blue). The use of minimal composition works well drawing full attention to the "illusion".

• I also took use of the infinity curve for a modern backdrop with typical still life objects to try a different outcome. 
• I played with the reflections/refractions with the decanter, the distortion is somewhat intriguing at first glance but no more so, and I ask myself what else is there to this set-up? Not much! I need to give reason to why I am photographing these objects. What illusion is there, what am I trying to say?

There were further experiments with different objects. An antler I had found was an obscure object (obscure shape, unusual setting) I hoped to involve. The visual composition is interesting here, one meandering linear object situated next to several simple 'blobs' of orange, dotted across the frame. The objects are an interesting comparison, ignoring their practical/literal use but concentrating on their visual form. - Much more suited to my own style and a different approach to the typical Still Life symbolism, which was the very aim of this shoot - to experiment/play around with approaches to Still Life art/photography. 

Overall I found from this shoot:

• Some interesting techniques when it comes to what I do with/how I arrange the objects - cut in half, obscure shape and use illusion. 
• An idea to follow, concentrate on shape and form rather than symbolic meaning.