Themed Competition – Still Life

Judge: Julie Bidwell

Website: https://www.juliebidwell.com/

Bio: Julie Bidwell is a Connecticut based commercial and editorial photographer shooting food, interiors, and portraits. Working with a wide range of clients in the Northeast and beyond. As an art major at Syracuse University she picked up a

camera for the first time and has been obsessed with photography ever since. She loves the history, the humble beginnings and the amazing technology we have today. An active member of the photo community and mentor to young photographers, Julie serves on the board of ASMP CT, currently as President. When not shooting you’ll find her on a kayak from May to November, picking up ephemera on walks, browsing junk stores or making stuff in the pottery studio. Clients include: AT&T, All You, Black Enterprise, Calabro Cheese, CT Tourism, Delamar Hotels, Striebe Design, Family Fun Magazine, Farmer’s Cow Dairy CoOp, FHLB Boston, FireOx Foods, Food Arts, Garden & Gun, Getty Images, GIE Media, Harper Collins, HGTV Magazine, Hotel Marcel, INSA Cannabis, Intercontinental Hotels, Jovial Foods, Le Monde, Moffly Media, NE Home, Popular Mechanics, Prevention, Ragazzino Foods, Random House, Sterling Publishing, Storey Publishing, Travel Holiday, True Residential, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Weston Vermont, Wine Spectator and Yankee Magazine.

Artist Statement: My photography mantra is Subject + Composition + Light. If you hit all three you’ve got it. The technical must support the creative and vice-versa. Is your subject in focus? Is your exposure good? Did you choose the right lens, aperture, shutter speed? The subject matter doesn’t matter, if you see beauty in a piece of crumbled paper or a vase of flowers it’s all equal. I’m looking for thoughtful photos, interesting photos, complicated photos, fun lighting. Be careful of over processing your photos in post! If you think you’ve gone too far pull way back. If you have the trifecta above you shouldn’t need to do a lot of processing. Good luck!

Theme Definition:

A still life photograph is a collection of inanimate objects arranged as the subject of a composition using light and presentation to create a compelling photo of those objects. The photographer controls the scene, which allows for the space to experiment with camera angles, lighting, materials, textures, and placement of objects or the subject matter.  While created still life photography involves arranging objects in a specific way for the purpose of taking a photograph, found still life photography is capturing objects just as they are found, such as shells on the beach.  Click here for examples of Still Life.

The following links provide more information on still life photography.

https://zenfolio.com/still-life-photography/photography-tips/

https://digital-photography-school.com/tips-for-getting-started-with-still-life-photography/

https://www.thephotoargus.com/35-superb-examples-of-still-life-photography/

https://www.adorama.com/alc/still-life-photography-guide/

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/still-life-photography.html

https://www.arteverywhereus.org/still-life-photography/

https://www.thephotoargus.com/35-superb-examples-of-still-life-photography/