Assignment 1 - Applications of Photography: The Context of still Life Photography

There are different contexts for still life photography. For example, it is often used for advertisements. Still life is popular in advertising photography as it can show the product clearly and creatively. Below are some examples of still life photography in the context of advertising.

This photograph was taken by Japanese photographer Nori Inoguchi for Tom Ford. The bottle is surrounded by fur, giving a sense of luxury to the product. Both the fur and the contents of the bottle have a similar golden colour which adds to the sense of luxury, as well as giving a certain atmospheric feel to the photograph.

This photograph for Darphin was taken by Atinan Nitisunthonkul. This is more of a traditional still life photograph as it fits with the "small grouping of objects" definition. The flower buds are strewn around the tub giving a sense of nature to the product being advertised. Also, the focus is specifically on the product its self, rather than the flowers, which are blurred in the background.










Another context in which still life can be used is in science. In history, photographs were often taken of objects with scientific significance to document them and to show them to the masses. This still happens now, and these images are now considered to be still life photographs as well as just scientific ones due to their arrangement and artistic merit.

Assignment 1 - Applications of Photography: The History of Still Life Photography

Still life photography has been popular among photographers since the early 19th century, and still is today. Early photographers adopted the still life genre from the painters at the time. Around this time, painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Francisco Goya and Paul Cézanne were painting their famous still life paintings, which inspired the photographers of the day.

In the early years of photography, still life was a practical choice as well as a creative one. In the 19th century, exposure times were measured in minutes rather than seconds, so it would be difficult to attempt to photograph landscapes or people; anything that moves would be very difficult to photograph.

Below is "A Hunting Scene," an early still life photograph by Adolphe Braun, 1867.

This "Still Life with Fruit and Decanter," taken by Roger Fenton circa 1860 is another example of classic still life photography. Paul Martineau, curator of Getty Museum's Still Life exhibition, said about this photograph "Diagonal axes created by the pineapple and drape, and by the gourd and berry basket, help to add dynamism and depth to this lavish composition." Roger Fenton was a pioneer of photography and was the first official war photographer. He was certainly one of the best photographers of his time, although his career only lasted around 10 years. Below are some more of his still life works.

"Still Life with Ivory Tankard and Fruit" circa 1860.

"Still Life with Fruit"circa 1860.

"Still Life of Fruit with Mirror and Figurines" circa 1860.

As said above, Fenton introduced a sense of movement to still life photography and this was taken to more of an extreme in the 20th century. The parameters of the term "still life" changed in the 20th century, too, creating a broader spectrum of photographs which could be defined as still life.

Below is "Stopping Time" by scientist and photographer Harold Edgerton. This is an example of still life in a broader, redefined sense. The image captures a bullet piercing fruit at high speed, showing the "fragility of life" and a sense of "nature morte," the French term for still life which is more precise, and in which this photograph can be argued to be a "classic" still life.

Much of the research for this post I found here.

Assignment 1 - Applications of Photography: Still Life

Still life photography is described as "the depiction of inanimate subject matter, most typically a small grouping of objects." A main advantage of this type of photography is that photographers often have more freedom as they can place the objects as they wish, not having to work with unchangeable subjects such as landscapes, and as a result of this they can often be more creative. Below are some examples of this type of photography.

This photograph is by a photographer called Gordana AM. I like this photograph as the red of the pomegranate is vibrant and contrasts brilliantly the dark background. This picture is very sharp in the foreground, but quite blurred in the background. This, as well as the light and colours, gives the photograph a warm, autumn feel.

I also like this piece by Gordana AM. I like the light in the picture and the focus on the leaves in the foreground, and how their colours stand out. The foreground of this picture, as well as the last, is very sharp. The background is slightly blurred giving a nice effect and making the forground stand out even more.

This is a piece by Steve Stanger. I like the use of light in this photograph. The bottles are on a windowsill or table with natural light behind them and as they are all different colours, they all illuminate the light differently, which gives the sense of a bright, warm day.

This photograph was taken by a photographer named Mike Narciso. I think that this photograph is interesting due to the amount of detail visible. Also, I like the bronze colour that the picture has. It makes the picture more intriguing and enhances the old feel of the watches in the photograph.

This is by a photographer called Shoayb Khattab. I like this picture as it captures the water droplets in detail, which I find interesting. I also like the contrast of the bright yellow of the lemon against the black background. It makes the subject stand out and it adds more drama to the water droplets. The aperture used for this shot (shown right, along with other statistics for this photograph) was 16, which allowed enough light in to catch the falling lemon in such detail.

This "Autumnal Still Life" photograph was taken by David Blackwell. The colours in this picture are warming due to the lighting, which also adds depth and creates different layers of the photograph. The wall, particularly, has a tactile feel which carries on throughout the other elements of the photo. All these things, together with the composition of the elements, makes an interesting example of still life photography.