“This chameleonic backdrop lends itself to presenting an image of flatness… isolating the aforementioned ‘exciting’ facet of every bottle and jug”
“This chameleonic backdrop lends itself to presenting an image of flatness… isolating the aforementioned ‘exciting’ facet of every bottle and jug”
“Through his manipulation of position and light, Joel shows us how to animate the inanimate, bringing life to each still life.”
In a time where travelling to exotic locales to photograph nature in all its glory or engaging with strangers for classic street photography are uncertain opportunities, still life is the perfect outlet for any photographer yearning to create – the natural pandemic-era genre. Even if you’re sheltering at home, there is no shortage of subjects for your photography, no matter how ‘boring’ they may initially seem.
Though the personal effects of Cézanne and Morandi possess a certain rustic charm that our own junk may lack, it must be remembered that most of the objects, at the time of their painting, were every bit as banal as our own. Some might assume that ‘legitimate’ photography must have, as its subject matter, things of enormous natural or political significance, but still life is the art of mining such significance from everyday objects, extracting the sublime from the mundane. Through Joel’s tutelage, we learn that nothing can be called boring under the gaze of the photographer, junk is never merely junk and grey is never merely grey.
Click below to find out more about Joel’s online photography course and see how he can teach and inspire you.