Post Yer Still Lifes take 2

[cjbroadbent]

Jim, Nice pears, lovely tones. See what a lot more happens when you put a few things together.

...create a well-balanced image, by simply placing objects within a scene. To me, that is a gift from above...

No gift, hard won with lots of practice. My particular way is to sit in front of the set at arms length and move things around until they fit, light parts on dark parts (& vice-versa).
The camera has no role in this business. When the structure is done, I stick the camera in front of the set (at arms length), focus, fiddle with steam, crumbs and the odd leaf and shoot.
Like piano playing, it's easy to get out of practice.
I mean, Lf is more like an instrument than a gramophone.

[Richard M. Coda]

Beautiful photo of the pears, Jim. I look forward to your film testing results.

[jim kitchen]

Dear Christopher,

Thank you for your kind comments…

As I mentioned earlier, I do not understand still life settings nor have I ever thought about doing this, but as fate would have it, I used this avenue to pursue a static testing method with my new film supply. So, I decided to chisel away at it.

That said, I strongly believe that several folks within this group continuously demonstrate their natural born artistic talents, which I admire when I see their work, and I believe that you do have a gift, as I also mentioned earlier that demonstrates your inherent ability to present objects that are well balanced, presented artistically with a soft wonderful light, and your technical skill sets effectively balance your craft to perfection. The camera does happen to be the tool that captures that event.

You may practice more than most, because your passion for the subject at hand is continuously demonstrated in your images, but your natural talent is simply and overwhelmingly exemplified in your artwork's structure.

I remember, while studying Architecture as a young student, watching other students pour over their creations using great technical abilities, producing images that only a technician would love, and I also remember the other students with fabulous ideas that required coaching to demonstrate their ideas more effectively. The latter group of students were more successful because they could see artistically, compared to simply pushing a technical pen across the paper in an exacting stoic manner. The technical students could see an image, produce an image, mimic an image, but they could not create an image. Coaching someone with an artistic skill set such as yours can be tedious or arduous if they decide to push back, but when a person with an artistic and imaginary mindset demonstrates a passion for a subject, and happens to be open to coaching, that task becomes very fluid with immediate effect.

As a side note, any visiting professor, especially from the Bauhaus, would immediately identify and hover over the student with the artistic ability, compared to the technically inclined student that usually received a stern huff from the professor, or a puff of smoke into their face from their pipe. The technically inclined student's drawing was immediately and summarily crumpled by the professor and thrown into the trash with great dramatic vigour. The student's subsequent expression was priceless. The days of brutal honesty seem to be a very distant historical event, where instructors could be brutally honest with a young student directing them down a more artistic path, and with great contrast today we must handle or we are instructed by the colleges to handle young artistic minds with a set of kid gloves and fragility, even when their ability happens to be suspicious, but as my nature dictates, I tend to soil the gloves very quickly.

I do admire your work, and your artistic ability, as many others do within this group, and I must again thank you for your comments…

jim k

[Jim Galli]

Jim tests film, I test lenses......

3 mack trucks

front group from a little projector petzval.

[jim kitchen]

Dear Jim,

And, you are good at it...

jim k

[gregblue]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and very inspired by some of the work that I have seen here! This is a wonderful forum - I have attached a still life sample to add to the mix. Shot on a Cambo 8X10 with a Schneider 210mm lens on Kodak Ektachrome. This was shot a few years ago in response to my stock agency asking for images that represent evolution - got rejected for being too demonic looking (grin).

Best

Greg

[Vaughn]

I do not do many still lifes, and it probably shows.

I meant for the background to be black, but too much light spilled on to the black paper. However, the gray actually did not turn out too bad.

Artichoke flowers
8x10 w/ Fuji W 300mm
Tri-X
f90 at 2 minutes
December 4, 2009

Developed in Ilford PQ Universal Developer
1:9, 70F for 9 minutes in Jobo Expert Drum

Single 750W tota light with umbrella and a foamcore white board as a reflector.

Fairly straight negative scan

[cjbroadbent]

A 4x5 with one umbrella spilling onto the background. Still pushing the camera in between the top plane and the base plane.

[Zzzzur]

new here, first post.

these are pretty straight forward negative scans, some minor adjustments to level/curves/sharpness.
any comments?

[Jay Decker]

new here, first post.

these are pretty straight forward negative scans, some minor adjustments to level/curves/sharpness.
any comments?

Got love stillborn still lifes?