what is still life?
Still life photography encompasses everything that is an inanimate object in front of a camera.Still life is a unique genre of photography. One thing that makes it so special is that often the subjects aren’t very interesting. They’re just ordinary objects that you normally wouldn’t pay much attention to.
Here are three example of still life photography. As you can see in all three images there are basic items (in these particularly food) they are infront of plain backgrounds. Most still life images have a narrow depth of field, only focusing on the objects in the image.
modernist still life
The most significant sub genre of photography that conveys inanimate subject matter—typically everyday things, whether created by nature or by man—lively and profoundly is still-life photography.
These are examples of modernist still life
contemporary still life
Contemporary still life art is defined by the representation of objects with a double characteristic. They are inanimate and they make part of daily life. Many artists seize and push this to its paroxysm, even to the point of bias.
These are examples of contemporary still life
what is Vanitas?
a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability.
what is Memento Mori?
an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull.
WHAT KIND OF METAPHORS AND SYMBOLS ARE USED IN STILL LIFE AND WHY?
some common objects used in still life that symbolize something:
Fruit/fruit bowls- symbolize variety of religious and mythical symbols.
Skulls- the certainty of morality
Candles- the passing of time
Flowers- symbolize life and growth
seashells- birth, purity and fertility
