What is still life?

Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. The English term ‘still life’ is derived from the Dutch word stilleven, in the 17th century when still-life art was at the height of European popularity.

Timeline

What is Vanitas?

A still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures. Vanitas are closely related to memento mori still lifes.

What is Memento Mori?

Memento mori still lifes are artworks that remind the viewer of the shortness and fragility of life (memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’) and include symbols such as skulls and extinguished candles.

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

1633 – Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598-1664)

The objects portrayed here contained significant religious meaning, the measured placement of the three motifs, for example, would have been instantly understood as an allusion to the Holy Trinity. The painting has been interpreted as an homage to the Virgin, with the oranges, their blossoms, and the cup of water symbolizing her purity, and the thorn less rose referring to her Immaculate Conception.

Common symbols in still life

Fruit

Not only does a basket of fruit offer the artist a variety of colours and textures to utilize, but it also offers a variety of religious and mythical symbols. For example, in Christianity, apples signify temptation and knowledge in reference to the Old Testament account of Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Skulls

One of the more heavy-handed symbols that appears in vanitas still life paintings is the skull, which is a striking reminder of the certainty of death. Such a symbol is called a Memento Mori, a Latin phrase meaning “Remember that you will die.”

Candles

Candles represent the inevitability of the passing of time—the longer they burn, the smaller they get until there is nothing left. A lit candle symbolizes light, truth, and knowledge. An extinguished candle symbolizes loss and death. In Christianity, a brightly burning candle indicates faith in God or the light of Christ.

What is still life photography?

Still life photography is a form photography that shows life less objects. Still life photography originated from still life paintings as they were immensely popular throughout Europe. When taking still life photos you have to find a way to make your images interesting and unique. This could be done by changing the lighting, background or the arrangement of the objects your photographing.

Examples of still life photography:

These examples show how still photography can vary from simple images with little props in the photo or to a complicated image with quite a lot to focus on in the image. They also show how different lighting and backgrounds can be used to bring out different elements in the image such as how dramatic the image is.

Examples of still life paintings:

Still life Photography Timeline:

What is Vanitas?

Vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the short lasting of life, the pointlessness of pleasure, and the certainty of death. Vanitas often contrasts symbols of wealth and symbols of and death.

What is Memento Mori?

Memento mori is an artistic or symbolic expression acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. Memento mori originated from the philosophers of classical antiquity and Christianity and mainly appeared in art.

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

The top 5 symbols used in still life were:

Fruits– Varying Symbolism In Still Life Paintings

Skulls–  The Certainty Of Mortality 

Candles–  The Passing Of Time

Flowers– Symbols Of Life And Growth 

Seashells– Birth, Purity, And Fertility

still life is a painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects, typically including fruit and flowers and objects contrasting with these in texture, such as bowls and glassware.

There are multiple different types of still life which are: Flowers which symbolises life and growth, Banquet or Fruit which can symbolise religion e.g. Adam and Eve, Animals or skulls which symbolises mortality and other symbolic items

Still life started in the 17th century when paintings of objects developed a great popularity in Europe. The momentum for this term came as artists created compositions with greater complexity, whilst bringing together a wider variety of objects to communicate symbolic meanings.

Vanitas

Vanitas is A still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures.

The term “vanitas” originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’

Vanitas are closely related to still life which is artworks that remind the viewer of the shortness and fragility of life and include symbols such as skulls and extinguished candles. However vanitas still life’s also include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the worldly pleasures and goods.

(memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’)

Memento mori is Latin for ‘remember that you must die’. This is an artistic symbol and has appeared in funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onwards.

The most common motif of this is a skull, often accompanied by multiple bones, coffins, an hourglass and flowers to symbolise the impermanence of human life.

Adobe Lightroom is a creative image organization and image manipulation software developed by Adobe Inc. Lightroom helps you import, organize, manage, and find your images. Lightroom is also a photo management and photo editor, combined into a single tool.

The term still life refers to a work of art that presents inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world, such as fruit, flowers, and/or objects such as baskets or bowls.

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TIMELINE

Still life started in the 17th century when paintings of objects became popular throughout Europe. Artists would arrange and paint the objects in a way that was visually appealing

Still-life photography’s started in the early 20th century. Art photographers emerged such as Baron Adolf de Meyer.

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VANITAS

DEFINITION: a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability.

A vanitas painting contains objects that are meant to symbolise the inevitability of death to show the ways in which objects, achievements and pleasures are transient and vain. it exhorts the viewer to consider mortality and to repent.

Although some vanitas pictures include figures, the majority are pure still lifes.

MOMENTO MORI

DEFINITION: an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull.

The Latin phrase memento mori literally means, “Remember that you must die.”

The vanitas and memento mori picture became popular in the seventeenth century, almost everyone believed that life on earth was merely a preparation for an afterlife. However, modern artists have continued to explore this genre.

SYMBOLS AND MEANINGS

still life can be interpretted in many different ways

some of the common symbols are:

fruit- can symbolise religion such as the apple from the story of Adam and Eve.

skulls- symbolise morality

Candles- passing of time

flowers- symbolise life and growth

WHAT IS PHOTOGRAPHY?

1822 is when photography was invented. However it was only in 1826 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first photo even though it got lost it still holds the title for the oldest photo.

Photography is the art of light, it is how the use of light can form an image. It can be taken digitally with a sensor or chemically – which would be developed in a darkroom.

In 1844 Henry William Fox Talbot published the first instalment of The pencil of Nature, he wrote short texts to accompany his pictures. At first glance the arrangement seemed straightforward as if he was trying to tell a story to the audience however he has grasped that photographs are complicated.

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

Photography has hugely developed and has become mobile, which means you can take photos at any time and get your photograph instantly. Each different photograph can have a different meaning and concept, people can also interpret photographs in their own way. Each person can view the same photograph but perhaps have a different meaning.

Photography is unpredictable, and each photo can represent different things. With photography you will never know the outcome until you take it. Lighting, mise-en-scene, colour are elements can affect how a photograph is represented; if the lighting is dark it could connote darkness however are brighter photograph could connote hope.

Photography may have different meanings to different people, however all photographs tell a moment in time of someones story. Photographers usually take picture to relate to themselves however people can also relate to them or manipulate the meaning to fit their own interpretation to their story. Photography can be used to guide us and communicate between each other in a form of art, in photography there is no wrong image or a bad image however there can be room for improvements.

Each photograph is different which makes it unique. An image can be fascinating and unusual which can cause confusion to people of the actual meaning, however this is what may intrigue people to the photograph and become interested. Images can reveal many secrets but can also keep them the photographer has the power what to show the audience, however there could be hidden meanings concealed into the photograph for people to discover. This is why photography can be confusing which therefore reinforces the quote “photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators” but there is beauty within each photograph.

PHOTOGRAPHY EXAMPLES:

This image is fascinating yet confusing, the illusion of the falling man creates a sense of fear to the audience but also a sense of curiosity. Yves Klein was interested by the idea of levitation which I think is what inspired him to take this image. Klein took this image by taking two separate images which he then printed out together to create a seamless documentary photography. I believe the title also has a significance to this photograph “leap into the void” as the man may be leaping into the ‘void’. Furthermore I believe this image has a dark connotation as void usually is interpreted by dark, mysterious and dangerous.

The aperture controls the amount of light coming through the lens. It expands or shrinks in order to allow more or less light through the camera sensor.

The larger the aperture, the more light that will pass through. This results in a brighter photo. With a smaller aperture, less light will pass through the lens. Therefore the photo will be darker.

In simpler words, the aperture basically controls the brightness of a photograph. It is written as an f-number, these are called f-stops. The ‘f’ in f-stop stands for the focal length of the lens.

• Larger (wide) apertures correspond with smaller f-numbers. E.g. f/4

• Smaller (narrow) apertures correspond with larger f-numbers. E.g. f/16 or f/22

Larger f-stops create a narrow opening to let the light through. The camera needs to make up for the lack of light through this narrow opening by slowing the shutter to result in a well-exposed photograph.

Depth of field, also referred to as DOF, is the distance between the nearest and furthest parts of the photo that are in sharp focus.

A shallow depth of field means that only part of the image is in focus. Therefore, the background or foreground may be blurry. Shallow depth of field may be good for when capturing portraits, nature, or travel photography.

A deep depth of field means that a larger area of the photo is in focus so that more of the photo is sharp and clear. Deep depth of field may be good for when capturing landscapes.

The aperture can affect depth of field. A wider aperture means you will capture less depth of field (shallow depth of field). Which means only the foreground will be sharp and clear. A smaller aperture will capture a deeper depth of field. Which means everything in the photo will be sharp.

What is Still Life?

Still life is a form of photography used for the description of inanimate small group of objects, in front of a camera. This genre gives the photographer more ideas in the arrangement of design elements within a composition compared to other photographic genres, such as landscape or portrait photography. The photographer has more control over the lighting and composition of the image.

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Here are some examples of still life photography, in these images you can see the background of most of the images are dark creating a narrow depth of field focusing on the objects carefully arranged.

History of 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.

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Some of the standard elements in vanitas paintings, usually reflecting wealth and death, include books, playing cards, maps, wilting flowers, fruit, goblets of wine, jewellery, hourglasses, skulls, and recently extinguished candles. The way the objects are placed create an ominous feel to the photographs.

What is Memento Mori?

Memento Mori is an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull. A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers. These kinds of images are said to breath more life into our lives.

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

Fruit : Varying Symbolism in still life paintings

Skulls : The Certainty of Mortality

Candles : The passing of time

Flowers : Symbols of Life and Growth

Seashells : Birth, Purity and Fertility