assignment 8. still life

description

For this assignment I chose to create a still life of something significant in my life -- a favorite memory from when I was a teenager. Sometimes on Saturday mornings, my mom would make biscuits from scratch. My dad and I would sit at the kitchen counter and the three of us would read the newspaper, talk, and eat biscuits with butter and jam as they came out of the oven in batches. My mom would always say that Grandpa Shepherd (her father-in-law) called biscuits and jam “poor man’s pie.” My grandpa had a lazy southern Kansas accent, and to this day I hear those words in his voice.

My mom passed away many years ago, so although this is a happy memory overall, there is a touch of sadness when I think of it and I wanted to subtly capture that in the still life. I chose props that were both literal and symbolic representations of my memory.

symbolism

Color: I chose yellow accents in the butter, bowl, and napkin because it evokes the warmth and happiness of this memory and because our kitchen was yellow. The deep purple color of the calla lilies helps balance out the jam in the lower left hand corner of the image, and also represents sorrow and loss, indicating that the memory is bittersweet. I used a white background and some white props because I like the visual impact of high key images and the overall brightness of the scene matches the predominant mood I wanted to capture. 

Eggs: There are three eggs to represent my mom, dad, and me. One of the eggs is cracked because my mom is now gone. Eggs are a symbol of life in many cultures. 

Calla lilies: White lilies are a symbol for the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church, and I associate them with motherhood so I included one as an additional symbol for my mom. I chose a single white calla lily instead of the traditional Easter lily because her Catholic faith was strong, but she was also an independent thinker.  

Other props: The pitcher, ceramic bowl, cloth napkin, and burlap aren’t specifically symbolic, but together they create a homey, comforting feeling that echoes the memory.

composition

I created an overall triangular shape for the composition, with the lilies, the jar of jam, and the eggs at the three corners. The butter is angled in such a way to “stop” the eye from sliding off of the image to the right. To get some height variation the bowl of biscuits is on a little riser made out of the lid of a box, and the jam jar is on a folded paper towel hidden under the burlap runner. These changes added more interest to the composition and help keep the eye moving, making it more dynamic.

lighting

The main light source is sunshine falling from a window on the left. I also used a broad beamed, diffuse flashlight from behind my right shoulder and a white plastic dinner tray as a reflector (off camera to the right) to keep the right side of the image from having too much shadow. A silver reflector is propped up on the right side as well, to bounce additional light back on the white pitcher, which I wanted to pop a little. I used a small piece of foil to reflect extra light back onto the eggs so they would stand out, since they are a key aspect of the photo’s symbolism.