Challenge Winners Video Included

To get ON1 Plus 2017 off to a fun start, Blake and I decided to set this challenge for you guys. Each Plus community member was invited to prepare one new still life image to submit. We went through them and selected a winner, runner up and honorable mentions. First place won  $350. Second place received $150.

Blake and I had such hard time selecting these winners. Thanks to everyone for such a great set of submissions.

Here were the rules:

  1. The scene can be indoor or outdoor, meticulously arranged or carefully composed of elements you find in your journeys, just be sure to take your time artistically using the light and composition in order to convey the mood you are after.
  2. Edit to your heart’s content. From natural reproduction in good light to highly processed. No holds barred.
  3. One entry per Plus member.

Still life images present us with a chance to really obsess over elements, composition and light endlessly until we get just the image we are after. This is a challenge to look at the ordinary in an extraordinary way and then to convey that vision through a single image.
My own still life experience comes mainly through commercial work for wine distributors and travel assignments. I really enjoy the intense focus and creative thinking it requires to get every detail just right in the frame. For example to capture the Naked Earth wine photo below I poured a bag of potting soil on a trash bag covered little table that I set up on the shoulder of a busy road alongside a vineyard and lit the scene with two small strobes. I then spent hours getting every detail just right as people gawked at me on their evening commute.
Hudson Wine Work  Hudson Commercial Wine Work
Hudson J.W. Ihilani's Rooms Hudson Commercial Wine Work Hudson Food: Mixed grill
I highly suggest everyone look to some of the great still life photographers for inspiration before creating your images for submission. Two of my favorites are Andre Kertesz and Edward Weston.
Blake recommended looking at Marcel DuChamp’s Readymades (photographed sculptures of things in his studio) and the works of great still life painters like Luis Melendez.
Blake also had this to say about his own still life work:

“I have done a lot of these in the past.  I called them “Elementographs” and would collect things on my travels to the beach and bring them back to my apartment and photograph them.  I learned a lot about constructing my own compositions instead of shooting things that were in front of me (like landscapes).
The practice adds a whole different element to photography.  Not only are you composing with the camera, but in a way making uninteresting things interesting with your choice of light, design, and post processing techniques.”

blake2 
  blake1
How cool are those?
So there you have it: The Plus Still Life Challenge. Take your time, craft your image, get it ready to submit, and above all have fun.