My Images - in the style of ...

... in the style of Picasso

A still life that has a Picasso feel to it - before his cubist days.

My Images - Lightbox and Fuchsia

EXPLORING STILL LIFE

Still Life with Lightbox and Fuchsia
Decided to try some macro still life phtography using the Canon 300D and 50mm macro lens and a lightbox as a source of light.
Contact Sheet

Decided 0259 was the nicest image - however there is very little depth of field as I could not reduce the shutter speed any lower. I would like to try this again using a tripod for the camera so I can use a longer shutter speed and a clamp so that I can keep the flower still. The camera was handheld and I was holding the flower between my fingers!

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My Images - in the style of ...

... in the style of Cezanne

Research - Paul Cezanne

Cezanne
1839-1906
One of the greatest artists of our age. He painted many still life's with classical motifs.

Woman with Coffee Pot
This is a small detail of the whole image and shows how Cezannes images were becoming more abstract - in this detail we can see violets and complementary yellows and blue shadows - not realistic but as a whole they are very effective. The ellipses in this are not in perspective.

Still Life with Plate of Cherries
Here the plate of cherries are not in perspective with the other items on the table unless there is a block under the table cloth tipping the cherries forward so we can see them in full. As Cezanne worked his paintings became more and more abstract. What are the marks he makes depicting? Are they real items or creative abstract images?

Still Life with Basket of Apples
Big, bold brush strokes. The perspective is disjointed; the right side of the table top is not on the same plane as the left - but evocative none-the-less.

Apples and Plate of Biscuits
The items are placed on a box with a hinge fastening. The similar colours for the surface facing side of the box are the same which at first confuses, particularly as the motif on the box is similar to that on the wallpaper.

Tureen, Bottle and Basket of Apples
Table top composition with all items on the table and in a clearly distinguishable room.

Vessels, Cloth and Pot-Plant in Flower
This is a messy composition and unusually green is the predominant colour.

Vessels, Fruit and Cloth in Front of Chest
This image is compact and dense and the composition is a triangle. Without this the image would have been dull, the chest in the background acts as a balance to the verticals and horizontals in front of it. Perspective seems to be a little odd in this painting as the items in the foreground have depth and feel 3 dimensional but the background seems flat and 2 dimensional. The screen and the chest merge into one. The colours in the apples appear in the chest and this leads the eye around the painting.

My Images - Spiral Staircase

EXPLORING STILL LIFE
Spiral Staircase at Warwick Castle

Found this spiral staircase very exciting and it reminded me of a Henri Cartier Bresson image. I was using Canon 300D with 18-200mm zoom lens.
0201 has my feet, the camera strap and another person in the image and it is poorly composed as you can see the window ledge.
0202 the composition is much better but the full sweep of the staircase has been cut on the left of the image.
0203 this is much better with the stairs visible all the way until they are hidden behind the top of the stairs.
I decided to process these to see if I could tidy them up - the wood on the handrail nearest to the camera was too bright so I burned that part of the image so that the wood was a similar shade to the stairs. I converted to black and white but not quite because I wanted to keep the almost metallic Green on the main handrail. The results can be seen below.

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The spiral staircase was inspired by this image by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

My Images - Window

EXPLORING STILL LIFE
Warwick Castle - Window Stays and Handles

On a recent trip to Warwick Castle I became fascinated by the window mechanisms. Above is the contact sheet of the digital images I took using Canon 300D 18-200mm zoom lens. I did not have the Macro lens with me and rather wished I had.
After showing the images to Steve he suggested converting them to black and white.
Below are the images processed. I have converted them to black and white, adjusted the contrast, cropped and cloned to tidy up one of them.

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My Images - in the style of ...

... in the style of James Welling

Research - James Welling

James Welling
1951-
An artist of singular accomplishment Welling is always experimenting within the medium of photography. He deconstructs photography developing his photogram techniques; taking abstract images of everyday objects and using light as his paintbrush.

31 - 1999
One of my favourite Welling photographs. He likes to move away from representing items accurately, These architectural forms are viewed close up so all idea of scale or form is lost and the result enters into the realms of abstraction.

H3 - 2006
Flowers are transitory. In this image which is taken from a high viewpoint the leaves become a mass in the dark and other forms begin to emerge. The light shining through coloured glass onto thee leaves mutate the them into something other worldly.

002 - 2006
This image has movememnt. The gels that are placed on the negative introduce a blurriness and movement. The image starts out as a photogram and printed onto Kodak Endura Metallic paper.

James - 2007
This image has stillness and movement at the same time with the fabric crumpled in a heap at the foot of the photograph.

In search of ... - 1981
Abstract or real? The composition is delicate and the folds in the fabric encourage you to look at the white items at the bottom. We need to make up our mind what we are viewing? What the cloth is covering? What the white items are and why they are there?

Still Life Photographers

Still life photography is often associated with complex lighting and elaborate flash set-ups. However window light can sometimes be enough. Different weather will produce different types of light entering through the window. This can be controlled with net curtains or taping coloured gels to the window. It is easy to use on translucent items which can be back lit.

Medieval painters and artists mostly adopted 'God's eye' as a viewpoint and used multiple and contradictory perspectives ignoring the relative scale of objects. The Renaissance artists put the work at 'man's height' and built images according to the rules of geometric perspective with a horizon and a single vanishing point.

A photographer using a high viewpoint avoids the jumble of planes and makes an image more legible. A high viewpoint shows the photographer to be a witness rather than a participant and removed from the world with a chance to be better able to interpret its meanings. A photographer can sometimes have an aloof presence.

Images in half shadow half light exaggerate their mordant character and suggest something from Satan.

Research - Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz
1894-1985

Mondrian's Studio, Paris 1926
I love this image because of the subtlety of light and shadow; dark and light. The door frame encourages you to look through and the stairs make you want to follow them as well.

Melancholy Tulip, New York 1939
Table top still life. The light in this image is beautiful and possibly just daylight but it gives depth and meaning to this unusual view of a flower. There is something odd about the perspective as the top of the vase is ellipsed but the bottom of the vase is not on a similar plane as the top.

In the Basement, Williamsburg 1948
The viewpoint is of 'man's height' but the interesting lines created by the tiles lead the eye into the picture and straight to the couch which is placed high up in the frame.

Intersection Blois, France 1930
Another high viewpoint which makes this image so interesting.

Eiffel Tower, Paris 1929
The high viewpoint from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower makes people beneath look like ants - but this viewpoint gives an idea of scale as we recognise that we are looking at people.

United States 1953
This is a very busy image but the washing line leads the eye to the vanishing point at the top.

Tokyo 1968
A very amusing image as if the white arrow is helping guide the men with umbrellas. This high viewpoint is improved by positioning the umbrellas off-centre. The high viewpint gives no clues to where we are with landscape or buildings which makes this image timeless and of any place and of any time.

Winter Garden, New York 1970
Reminiscent of James Welling images and an unusual viewpoint giving the final image an abstract feeling although we know exactly what we are looking at.

Martinique 1972
Wonderful use of space and light - whistful, peaceful and full of freedom.

My Images - in the style of ...

... in the style of Karl Blossfeldt