It has been bitterly cold here in Central New York over the past few days. The snow returned, bringing howling winds and falling temperatures along with it. So, I spent the weekend looking for creative photography projects to do.
Yesterday, I thumbed through a pile of Rangefinder photography magazines. (Patz, thanks for telling me about this fantastic resource!) I found just the type of project that I was looking for in the October 2006 edition (the Fine Art issue.) This issue featured the work of photographer and artist Walter Nelson. (Here is a link to the article. http://www.rangefindermag.com/magazine/Oct06/showpage.taf?page=20]
I was fascinated by Nelson's still life photographs. He combines painting and photography to create these masterpieces.
Nelson's work inspired me to design my own still life photographs. However, I decided to work with fabric. I have done some quilting in the past, so I have a collection of hand-dyed fabrics that I thought would make colorful backgrounds. I also had fabrics in my "stash" that I thought I could use for the foregrounds or draped around the sides.
First, I attached the background fabric to foam core board. I purchased the lucky bamboo and ceramic pot at the grocery store. I worked on setting up the still life until I got it the way I liked it. I photographed the still life using window light with my camera on a tripod. I used some aluminum foil in order to bounce the light and avoid shadows. Finally, I used Paint Shop Pro to edit and create two symmetrical versions of the photo.
Walter Nelson's photos reminded me of some of the quilting techniques, so I decided to take a chance and create my own still life to photograph. The American photographer Duane Michals wrote, "Trust that little voice in your head that says "Wouldn't it be interesting if..." And then do it." More Joy of Photography
Now I have more ideas for still life photos that I would like to try using fabric and other objects. There are so many possibilities!
5 comments:
I love the symmetrical photos - very effective. The fabrics have made wonderful backgrounds and foregrounds, too.
Your writing about your photographic thought processes is really inspiring; I think I'm going to have to put a bit more thought and creativity into my still lifes! Thank you for the inspiration!
x
It's interesting how the two photographs look different despite being the same!
i wish we had snow...
Hi Kaycee, I would have like to have seen a bit more sharpness on the leaves but this is a great shot for its textures etc. Very nice effort.
I love Rangefinder magazine (it is free for anyone interested especially those who are into portraiture and weddings etc.) it has some amazing articles and I never get the time to read all it has to offer. This month's issue is tremendous so if you take some inspiration from it I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
So happy you're enjoying that magazine, Kathy. Looks as if this will be the last year for me to get it as they don't seem to be letting Canadians renew this year. I expect that they were finding the postage too high.
I enjoyed your entry today, Kathy. Really interesting.
Thanks for all of your helpful comments and suggestions! I am going to do more of these still life photos. It was fun!
Lori, I am going to try and sharpen the leaves. Thanks for pointing that out.
AB, I really enjoy writing about the photographic process. It allows me to rethink what I did.
CG, I can arrange to send some of our snow your way! (And some snow for you, Anna!)
Pat, you may want to see if you can read some of the Rangefinder articles online.
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