I appreciate discussions about photography that give me something to build on.
I’ve never been drawn to still life. But the exhibition Marvelous Things: The Art of Still Life curated by Aline Smithson (author/publisher of LensScratch) expanded my concept of still life. I realized still life encompassed a broad range of objects and could be a found scene. Thanks to Mark Hobson for bringing it to my attention. Mark has a piece in that exhibition and is an accomplished practitioner of the art of still life.
I mostly photograph scenes that are bigger than me. If I walked into the scene my entire body could be included in the frame. I think of these as landscapes. Sometimes I photograph scenes that are smaller than me. I’ve never been sure what to make of these photographs. I’ve started to think of them as found still lifes. I’m not sure why it makes a difference to think of them that way, but it does. It’s provided a context for me to explore more of them.
Having another path to explore, helps get me out the door to make photographs. Once I’m out the door, I’ll photograph not only still lifes but other things that present themselves to me.
Consistent with my recent resolution to slow the sharing pace, I’m not going to share any new work to illustrate the point. We’ll revisit in the future to so if the inspiration yielded fruit. But here’s an older example of the sort of thing I have in mind.
(The new ones have a slightly different feel because I've been composing them for the square.)
Urban Still Life, Vancouver, 2014