First Shoot Plan

Well this is it first shoot! Studio is all booked for tomorrow and I've got my help organised now all I need to do is make a plan! 

Having researched some still life photographers I've found inspiration from their work. Flowers will be the subject of some of my photo's. I've been inspired by Tina Modotti's work particularly Calla Lilies 1925 and Calla Lily 1924 -1926. Calla Lilies is interesting in that the main subject matter of the photograph is in the very top third of the image. It breaks the rules of photography but this is in part the beauty of it. One of the dark stems points straight upwards through the image while the other curves slightly to the left. The light at the bottom right corner  guides us up those dark stems to the beautiful flowers at the top. The varying tones of the backdrop really add to the composition of the image. I'm going to try a similar concept tomorrow during my shoot. I'm using different flowers but will try a few shots with the flowers in the top third of the image. I'm shooting on medium format with a square 6 x6 frame so my shots will have a different feel to them. I will also try to recreate this lighting for some of my shots but possibly with differing compositions. The single Calla Lily shot is simple yet stunning. I love how the flower head takes up the whole frame and the curves of the flower aide the composition so brilliantly. The lighting in this shot is perfect. Again it appears to be coming in from the bottom right hand corner. Shining up and emphasising the downward curl at that point whilst casting all but the very tip of the stamen in shadow. There is another shadow cast just under where the petal curls into the center of the lily which shows the beauty of the flower perfectly. I love how you can see the subtle but different tones of the flower head itself and also the fine details and lines. We are drawn to the center by the curve of that petal leading us inwards. I also feel like that speck of light on the stamen also draws us into the image. I would love to shoot something this beautiful it has such depth and detail. All my still life photography of flowers so far has been in colour and I have some beautiful photographs I now want to achieve even better but this time in black and white.

Calla Lilies Tina Modotti

Calla Lily Tina Modotti

Other sources of information with regard to flowers as subjects are Irving Penn and also the brilliant Art Forms in the Plant World by Karl Blossfeldt. His black and white images of plant forms are so beautiful. The composition is quite simple in appearance with just the plants against a plain background but it is the lighting which brings them to life. While light and shadow gives depth and interest to images the contrast of the dark plant against a light background (or vice versa) emphasises the beauty of the plants. For the contrast of dark against light I particularly like Cornus Florida Boxwood of N. America. and also Adiantum Pedatum Maidenhair Fern shown below.

Cornus Florida Karl Blossfeldt

Adiantum Pedatum Karl Blossfeldt

In terms of his flowers one of my favourites is Parnassia Palustris I love the lighting which is probably raised up above the flower but not by a great deal and positioned so it's hitting the flower from the top right hand corner. I like how the shadow is cast to the bottom left of the flower. This is a beautiful image. Another favourite of mine is Tellima Grandiflora the lighting on this shot is fantastic. It's shining mostly from above and obviously to the left and I love how the whole of the right hand side apart from the delicate fringes of the flower  is in the dark. This lighting perfectly emphasises the beauty of this flower as you will see below.

Parnassia Palustris Karl Blossfeldt

Tellima Grandiflora Karl Blossfeldt

From my research for my initial project I found a few still life shots by Maholy-Nagy. One of which was a cabbage. His cabbage was imperfect, eaten by caterpillars or something and probably picked from a farm or someones garden. I love the image though and it's probably the imperfect nature of it that made the image so beautiful. It was this image that first gave me the idea of photographing vegetables. I did also go on to study Edward Weston's work as well and loved his Cabbage Leaf and his Pepper. Inspired by their work I've also bought some vegetables. I bought a cabbage although mine was neatly wrapped and looks almost perfect as it came from the supermarket! I really wanted to find a pepper to photograph and experiment with but they were also all perfect which was a real shame. I don't think there is nearly as much beauty in a perfect pepper. For a future shoot I will visit the market in town or a farmers market and see if I can find some more interesting specimens for my work. However, I did find one beautiful vegetable, a butternut squash. It has a simply beautiful shape, fantastic detail and best of all I love the colouring of it. I can't wait to see how this looks in black and white. 

Pepper Edward Weston

Cabbage Leaf Edward Weston