Still life in photography derives from the traditional concept of photographing objects organised in such a way that orchestrates a narrative, forming complex compositions that communicate varied allegorical meanings. In its early days, still life photography took the initial meanings and ideas behind still life used in painting, and implemented it into photography, slowly becoming less and less definable over time, to where – in the modern day – still life pieces are able to take any form or definition; from concerns surrounding the environment

The use of still life was very prominent in photography inventors Jacques-Louis-Mandé Daguerre and William Talbot’s work dating back as early as the 1830s. Still life itself originated within painting in the Netherlands during the 17th Century, representing wealth of the upper classes, religion, morality, colonialism, and various other themes within literature – the phrase ‘still life’ forming from the Dutch word ‘stilleven’.

The ‘first’ still life painting ever created was created by artist Jacopo De’Barbari, although still life didn’t rise to popularity until later on up north. It depicts a deceased grey partridge, with two iron gauntlets, and a bolt from a crossbow passed through each object against a wooden table or wall.`

A vanitas is a piece of artwork that typically symbolises the transience of time and life, the idea of death being absolute, and the futility of pleasure. In its prime, vanitas paintings were produced primarily from the mid-16th-mid-17th Centuries, being another key genre during the Dutch Golden Age. The paintings contrast ideas of wealth and death, ‘vanitas’ deriving from Latin – meaning vanity – which links to Christian beliefs in the sense that material objects have no meaning, as they can’t be carried to the next life with us.

“Memento Mori” – remember death – is also another key theme presented throughout still life, vanitas works in particular, the theme that all living things must die at some point or another, and that nothing is forever.

The common themes and symbols – death, wealth, vanity, time, beauty, nature, etc. – used in still life are used to enforce a clear and concise message, and almost provide a comfort about the terrifying uncertainties that are experienced throughout a lifetime.

What is still life:

Still life photography is a from of photography that focuses on everyday objects and captures them in a unique way to make the images more interesting and engaging to the viewer. It defines detail within the objects and brings it out showing the greater depth, making them something more that just a flower or piece of fruit for example. It started in the 17th century when photos and painting of still life objects became very popular, the names ‘still life photography’ comes from the Dutch word stilleven which directly translates.

Examples of still life photography:

Types of still life photography:

There are two main types still life photography, found still life photography and created still life photography.

Found still life photography:

This type of still life photography is when you have randomly or naturally find anything life flowers or fallen fruit etc, without any help e.g. not adding or moving anything around to make the ‘perfect’ image.

Created still life photography:

Whereas created still life photography is when is when you have set up objects life fruits, flowers or food purposely to take an image. The objects are very often simple objects that are placed to make them more interesting and engaging.

What is vanitas ?

Vanitas is a symbolic style of art which shows the certainty of death and purity of pleasure. The Dutch painting was first used in the 17th century and contains anything from books, fruit, cards, jewellery, wilting flowers, hourglasses, skulls, wine and many more objects like that. Giacomo Carissimi was one of the first people to make a Vanitas painting, he made his painting between 1604 and 1605.

what is Memento Mori ?

A memento mori is an object or item that reminds us of the inevitability of death such as a skull. These items are used widely in Vanitas as it matches the structure of the piece.

What kind of metaphors and symbols are used in still life and why?

There are many different objects that are used within Vanitas such as candles, cards, wine, dead flowers, skulls, jewellery, hourglasses, fruit, bubbles and more.

What do they represent:

candles – the human soul

cards – faulty of life goals

wine – pleasure of goods

dead flowers – beauty and death

jewellery – nature of beauty and sin of narcissism

hourglasses – the brevity of life and ephemeral nature of life

skulls – certainty of death

fruit – youth and beauty

bubbles – suddenness of death

For my first selection process on Lightroom I clicked file and then import photos and videos. I then went to my drive and selected the images that I wanted to use and then imported them.

I then flagged my images with either ‘x’ to reject them, or ‘p’ to select them.

I have filtered out my rejects to only see the images that I wish to use to make it easier to work with them.

You can compare two images using the compare view and can zoom in using the magnified glass, this allows you to choose with image is of better quality.

I have now switched my image from library to develop to edit the image. I have cropped my image down to focus on the objects in the image.

To edit the image I used the auto button on the right hand side to create better lighting on my image.

I added a shadow by using present on the left hand side, as well as vignetting and I used the level medium to give the image a slight shadow.

To export my images I pressed file export and the adjusted the filters:

For the blog:

To print:

My final image:

What is aperture:

Aperture is the adjustable lens opening that lets light into the camera when taking and image. It is important to know how to use the aperture as it determines the depth of field which controls the sharpness of the image.

A higher depth of field would allow for the whole image to be in focus with a sharp finish, and vice versa, a lower depth of field would only have a certain object in focus with the background blurry.

My examples of aperture:

What is shutter speed?:

In photography shutter speed effects the sharpness of an image, it is the speed at which the shutter within the camera closes. A higher shutter speed will allow a low amount of light in to the camera. Therefore a low shutter speed will allow a high amount of light in to the camera.

Considering this we know that by using a high shutter speed you will produce a sharp high quality image, and vice versa, by using a low shutter speed you will produce a lower quality and blurry image.

John Baldessari:

For this photoshoot I was inspired by John Baldessari. He was an American conceptual artist and was knows greatly for his photography which he blended with his art. He combined the two he created some very unique images which engaged lots of viewers.

He created a range of images using just three balls. He threw the balls into the air and tried to capture them all in a row before they fell back to the ground. he also created images of people as they tried to dodge him and he tried to follow them using different shutter speeds.

Some examples of his work:

My photos:

A leap into the Void

Yves Klein was born on April 28th 1928 in France. He was a member of a group of painters, but he was also one of the most well-known. He trained in judo and earned a black belt at age 25. He later taught the sport for a while and even wrote a book about it.

A small group of people worked together to create the image. While seven other people held a tarpaulin for Klein to land in, he asked photographers Harry Shunk and Jean Kender to take a series of photos documenting his jump.

What is photography?

The practice of capturing light to produce images is known as photography. Photography, which is the process of capturing an image on light-sensitive film, literally means “drawing with light.”

Photography is frequently used to document the viewpoint of the photographer, who is usually using it to share their ideas and raise awareness of particular issues. Through the images they produce, one can also express themselves.

David Campany

David Campany is a British author, artist, and photographer. He was born in London in 1967 and has won numerous writing awards in addition to his PhD. He has also penned about 20 books, one of which is titled “On Photographs” and discusses the purpose of photography as well as his own viewpoint on the subject.

He saw photographs as ways to pause time and give us the freedom to revisit those moments whenever we like. He adds that while the images themselves never change, the meaning behind them does and most likely always will. He also discusses how different viewpoints and meanings can be depicted in photographs. His well-known quote, ‘Photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.’ Since everyone interprets what they see differently and sees a different side to the image than another, I think he is trying to say that there will always be two sides to every picture.

Continuous Lighting vs Flash lighting.

Continuous lighting: Continuous lighting is when they lights stay constantly light almost acting as a torch.

Flash lighting: Flash lighting is intermittent light. The light flashes when the shutter is pressed and lights up the objects your photographing.

Example of a continuous lighting image I took:

Example a of flash lighting image I took:

To me photography is a way of representing issues, beauty, nature, life and more in a way that holds emotions and meaning whilst also creating something eye capturing. I believe photography should not only focus on taking and editing an image to make a creative piece, but should be able to give the viewer their own way of interpreting what it symbolises.

On Photographs by David Campany

David’s text holds many metaphors and symbolises a lot about photography. He describes how one photo can have an incessant number of meanings and connotations. He explains how words and denotations can change an images meaning in many ways. Words can ‘direct and oversee’ the images, and when strategically placed next to the photo, can make the reader focus on one interpretation of the photo. On the other hand, he says you can place random texts next to an image and let the reader create their own correlation between the words and the photo. This is a way of explaining how photography has endless ways of being interpreted and impacting the viewer.

The word ‘still’ is said to describe the feeling a photograph gives. You can stand whilst time passes, but be looking at something frozen in time, in that exact moment. He then goes on to say that nothing else about photography is ‘still’. The rapid movement and development of cameras, and the use of them has changed quickly over time. They are not just used to capture well composed images, but quick, unprepared moments passing by. The history of photography is being changed swiftly in time.

Contrasts in words are used by David to depict how photos can be seen. He writes confusing but structured sentences to show how photography can mean two things at once, it just depends how you look at it. The main quote he states is ‘photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.’

‘Photographs confuse as much as fascinate’ suggests that depending on an images composition and contents, it can draw in the viewer in so that they are captivated by what they are seeing. However at the same time maybe not fully understanding what they are looking at. Whether it’s an abstract image that can’t be recognised, or an image with a deeper meaning that can’t be found. This part of the quote tell us that no matter what the undiscovered meaning is, photographs can captivate an audience.

‘Photographs conceal as much as reveal’ can imply that as the audiences view is subjective towards the same photo with a different perspective. One person may view an image as beautiful, and the next person may say it hides darkening thoughts. How photographs are perceived is based on a persons perspective on life, and possible experiences. on the other hand, an image might disclose a new thought or idea to whoever views it, while on the other hand another person may not even notice this aspect. David has a way of explaining how ambiguous photography can be.

Finally ‘distract as much as compel’ may infer that a photograph can on one hand leave someone thinking about it, the meaning of it, and how it affected them, distracting them from the world. Whilst on the other hand a photo could possibly make someone realise a situation, or focus on something on the image, redirecting them to be more aware in the and forcing them into the real world.

What shapes a response to a photo? I would say that each individual will create their own response. It may from life experiences, thoughts and opinions. My initial thought about this image is that it could be an abstract photo representing fire or night time darkness and capturing something such as a street lamp or candle. However the meaning drastically changed when I found out it was taken from a war zone. Suddenly the photographs colours represent death, darkness and fear. This is a clear example of how images can have many meanings and emotions that may be completely different from its real one.

This image links with the fact that ‘Photographs confuse as much as fascinate’ due to the fact that the though of this man jumping off the building builds confusion as to why he may be doing this. Other questions may be how did he land, or even is he flying? The fascination from this image makes people wonder how it was created, and was it edited? After finding out that two images were merged together, the photograph finally makes sense and the confusion is solved.

Photography is the art of taking and processing photographs. The word photography literally means ‘drawing with light’ which I think is quite poetic and portrays the creativity of photography and how you can manipulate factors to make your photographs look even better.

There are 3 main elements of photography; aperture, shutter, and ISO. The aperture is what controls the amount of light being allowed into the camera. The shutter is the device that which the lens aperture is opened admit light, which exposes the film. The ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the film/sensor is to light.

David Campany talks about how much of an impact photography has. They allow people to look at fixed appearances. Photographs can capture special moments people want to keep forever, or they could simply be to document something. Photography allows us to see things we may have never noticed otherwise. There are no limits to photography. As photographs are highly mobile, it’s easy to share art with other people who may even be across the world. This means more people can appreciate the art being created and interpret its meanings. Even if a photographer takes a photo trying to express a certain meaning, it can lose that meaning or perhaps other people can interpret their own meanings from it. Everyone has different perspectives.

“photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.”

David Campany

I agree with this statement as it expresses how photography is limitless and is open for interpretation. It tells how photography can affect people in many different ways and how photographs can serve different purposes. ‘distract as much as compel’ this shows that people can be drawn to photographs for different reasons and have different to reactions to them.

photography is the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.

many factors may shape our response to photography this could include past experience and beliefs of our own which others may not share.

the meaning we ascribe to an image may come from how we are feeling or what type of mindset or past experiences we have since everyone lives a different life and may not a feel a certain way about an image due to not experiencing the same experiences as you. for example a war photo will give a greater effect to a veteran over a child’s which may be naive and unmoved.

the photographers intentions may not effect how we view pieces of photography since we may not know the artists true intentions when creating the piece or even the photographer might not know there own intensions and may be leaving it to the viewer.

Where did it start?

The world’s first permanent photograph was taken in 1827 and was titled View from the Window at Le Gras. The first photo in the world was created by an inventor from France named Nicéphore Niépce.

The world’s first colour photo was produced in 1861 by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. He believed any colour could be made by the correct mixture of red, yellow and blue. Maxwell made three lantern slides of a tartan ribbon through red, green and blue filters. He then projected them onto a screen, they combined to make a full-colour image which was a recognisable reproduction of the original.