#phoshow

Names: Chloe Ballard

Age: 17

Still life is the term we use to refer to the photography of things and objects. Many photographers engage with still life photography as a means of documenting the unrecognised or remembered parts of our lives, but it gives us a real sense of how things have changed in terms of design and fashion. Still life photography can also lead to simply stunning pictures too. For instance, Edward Weston's Pepper No. 30. Weston was an American photographer, this photograph of the pepper is one of his most iconic pictures; "It is classic, completely satisfying - a pepper - but more than a pepper". 

French photographer Sophie Calle who is renowned for her photobooks (I recommend checking them out) documented things and objects for her projected titled 'Venetian Suite'. She worked as a chambermaid for a short period of time, and during this time she would document the hotel rooms, trying to piece together the lives of the guests who stayed there previously using the objects they left behind. 

Stephen Shore, American photographer, also documented hotel/motel rooms during his project Uncommon Places,often focusing on his breakfast. Perhaps it was Shore that started the trend of photographing food way back in the 70's.

A more modern example of photographing objects are German photographers Thomas Demand & Andreas Gursky. These two photographers make image based on large scale displays of objects. Demand constructs his own images making sculptures of paper, at first glimpse you may not see the difference between the construction and your preconceptions for what these places should look like. Gurksy's project 99 Cent documents large American department stores, putting all the objects together which results in a spectacular blast of colour and confusion.