What is Still Life?

The above image is from a Still Life campaign for The Nines - Bengel

Settle in with your morning coffee because we’re about to dive into one of my favourite topics and favourite things to create; Still Life! So let’s begin with a little context; By definition a ‘Still Life’ is most commonly an artistic portrayal of inanimate objects of the every-day variety. Still Life imagery traditionally contains a mix of man-made things (like utensils, bowls, books, glassware, jewellery, coins, gloves etc) and mother nature (think flowers, branches, food, fruits, rocks, shells and more).

You are probably most familiar with Still Life in the form of dimly lit oil paintings tethered to gallery walls in their permanent exhibits that you only seem to look round when there’s nothing else on. This is as close to the inception of Still Life as you are likely to get as it originated in the form of a painting genre in the Middle Ages and has remained a popular art form ever since, spilling into lots of other mediums along the way.

I think that it is really important to mention here that there is an element of curation that is critical for something to be christened a ‘Still Life’. These works weren’t just handfuls of meadow flowers strewn down and then painted, the objects were all chosen, placed and painted with utmost precision and with all manner of symbology and meaning inferred into every decision within the artists remit. For example peeled lemons were a popular item in traditional Still Life paintings for both their beautiful, translucent flesh and their bitter taste and thus were used to represent the deceptive duality of earthly beauty.

I would refer to an image as ‘Still Life’ in the context of photography when it captures something beyond just the commerciality of an object. Perhaps an atmosphere, a meaning, or the hint of a narrative is also projected onto the photo. A Still Life is quite literally meant to be a ‘slice of life’ so organic lighting and rich textures are key. Soft shadows, crumpled cloth and matte porcelain immediately come to mind but there are endless possibilities when designing the set of a still life photograph.

Since honing in on the jewellery photography niche almost two years ago I have really fallen in love with Still Life as a photography genre. There is something so soothing about arranging and rearranging all of your props until you land upon that perfect composition. Like toying with the pieces of a jigsaw until suddenly everything slots into place. I have worked on campaigns which involved cracking eggs and crumbling toast onto earrings or making a gazillion attempts at the perfect ‘just-cast-off-my-coat’ shot with a crumpled jacket laying on a chair. Sometimes the best kind of Still Life composition can boil down to just being patient with your surroundings and being present enough to capture that tiny moment when the light hits an object just right.