Still Life

I am working through the idea that I should incorporate still life as a mode of photography. I have no doubt made every serious artist that works in this vein run in horror. Why you ask? OK, maybe you don't but I'll tell you anyway. I can't seem to take "the Perfect" representational photograph and leave it at that.

Here, I am using long shadows to create deeper shadows. Also the idea of still life set-ups is not engaging enough to me. It's been done folks! So I dug a little deeper. What would I do if I could set up the perfect still life? I went to the basement and found several dolls and other things that were going to be thrown away. I actually called the bowling alley and asked for any old pins they were going to throw out. So hopefully you will find a little humor in these pieces. I'm working on more. I've toned them for various reasons which I'll explain in a bit.

The first one I did I distorted the perspective of the birdcage. I didn't create an interior/exterior boundary such as in the images of Mary Cassatt. I don't always place myself in the domestic spaces intentionally but I think it comes from my interest of things particular to me. I have an association to childhood items as nostalgia, memory, and comfort. In some more than others you might notice that the dolls are less than perfect. They have been chewed (by puppies and kids!), very messy hair, even some dirt. All this is meant to foreground the concept of beauty as well as keeping precious objects safe and unused.

 This one gives a more representational feel but I toned it in sepia and did not distort the perspective. I really did not get the same visceral reaction from it. It is conceptually complete but to me is lacking in an emotive aspect that would wow the viewer. I chose the sepia for the warmth and aged look.

I started with this as the original photo. Even though it is carefully shot for sharpness, color, and lights, I just don't find it as appealing as the other toned versions.
In these several photos, I thought about the perspective of the female towards and with her subject/viewer and the spaces she has traditionally used or reflected on. I'm glad that we have had a small improvement in that we can now go out in public un-escorted without loss of reputation (but the threat of violence remains.)

This one (and notice the symbolism here - I want to encourage a feminist reading of the role and spheres of women) I did a blue tone with a split perspective. Again to purposely focus on the doll in the birdcage. I really like the cool tone and although many photographers tend to keep everything sharp in the field of view, I chose to blur the foreground to lead to the doll. It is still more "realistic" than I tend to think but I like the overall outcome.

In this one you can see the original perspective, without cropping, and notice still that the foreground is slightly out of focus.

How will you the viewer see these? Will you read them as a comment of some large issues or just ho-hum your way through? I can't tell but then I can only produce, give information, and present. So after I live with these for awhile I'll decide how to best continue on in the still life vein.
Well that's all for now. I've got more reading to do and get ready for the meeting with my mentor.