This was a challenging assignment that really made me look and think about the images I was trying to create. It was also a task that I particularly enjoyed. I think some images are better than others but overall I was very pleased with what emerged.

As with the last assignment I was fascinated to experience how one idea sparked something else, how simply playing with the different foodstuffs showed what might work and what didn’t. So, for example, I thought that working with sweet peppers would be very straightforward but I just couldn’t find the shapes and angles I was looking for. I did produce a few that made some peppers almost look like a coral reef but I didn’t think they were interesting enough compared to the other images.

I took the images over a two-week period, allowing time for ideas to germinate and to study what I had already produced. Several times I awoke with a new idea forming that I then tried out. Before I took any photographs I did some sketches in my notebook, working through various ideas for each of the themes before I even put eye to viewfinder. That way I felt I had some sense of what I was looking for when I started to lay out the foodstuffs. The first five or six ideas flowed fairly freely and then things slowed down and I felt I had to work harder to create some new approaches, I felt I was in danger of repeating the same sorts of images just using different foodstuffs. The one that eluded me for most of the time was verticals and horizontals.

I also started to introduce some quirks, things you might not expect to be there like the screw in the cabbage and the pins in the kiwi, things designed to make the viewer do a double take. During this time I came across the still life work of Olivia Parker, which has no doubt served as a source of inspiration and influence, not to claim that my photographs are anything like the quality of hers but they gave me an added sense of enthusiasm and showed that approaches to still life could be surreal and non-traditional.

In terms of the course criteria I worked hard on the design elements of this exercise trying to go with and respond to the characteristics of the foodstuffs I was using and thinking about them in different ways. I used a wide variety of materials from silicon baking sheets to dress-making pins and from raw prawns to turmeric. I would like to think my visual awareness is quite good in terms of framing and thinking about composition, although I am aware some images are stronger than others.

I think the quality of the outcome from this assignment is relatively consistent, I am still working hard on building my technical knowledge but definitely felt more confident in working with the camera this time. I bracketed a number of shots and used a fully manual setting for much of the time. As Autumn rolls in I was very conscious of the quality of the light changing; many of the shots for the exercises to date have been taken at my dining table with good availability of natural light but this light is becoming more unreliable and is available for a shorter timespan. There were various ideas included in my approach this time with influences from still life painting and photography, fashion photography, surrealism and just the plain quirky. At times I felt a bit constrained by the need to work with specific shapes and forms but I hope there is a clear sense of intention behind the various images I have produced.

There is no doubt that as I worked on the assignment my imagination expanded and I was trying to be more playful with the objects. Not least because of my own desire to keep things fresh and interesting. Perhaps this could have been taken further if I were more confident technically. I do feel my voice is developing and my style is emerging but I also want to make the most of this opportunity to experiment and not become too predictable too quickly.

As mentioned before I have done background research into the different approaches to still life from possible Japanese influences in utilising a few elements in a very clean form through to the odd juxtaposition of cauliflower and cross head screw. The use of the screw and the pins in the kiwi were in part intended to be playful but were also prompted by my response to Susan Sontag’s comment about photography being an act of aggression, I think she was primarily referring to the objectification of people but it got me thinking about how this might appear when shooting non-human subjects. Was it possible to show a sense of aggression or to have the capacity to disturb when working with foodstuffs?

It feels like this is was an assignment I could have spent months even years producing and I do want to make sure I take its influences forward.

Pattern: Red Scales & Leeks

These two images were both examples of pattern and as a result also implied triangles. I was intrigued by the effect created by the moisture on the strawberries and that it made them almost seem ‘fleshy.’ This inspired later ideas in this assignment about presenting the food stuffs not quite as they are usually seen and juxtaposing unlikely combinations.

2 points: Salt & Pepper and Eggs & Flour

The salt & pepper and the eggs are obviously both examples of using two elements within a frame. The eggs were particularly difficult to work with because once they were dropped in the flour there was little I could change. As well as the focal points I was interested in exploring texture with both images. I was really pleased with the contrast of the glossy egg yolks against the powdery flour.

Curves and Rhythm:  Egg Cup and Spoons

The spoons were another attempt at creating a sense of rhythm in the frame.  I wanted to focus in on a detail of food preparation i.e. the herbs and spices but present them in such a way that they created an overall pattern. I also wanted to utilise the different textures and colours. The egg in the egg cup arose out of thinking about curves and I had sketched some thoughts around eggs and egg shells early on. The morning I took this photo there was very strong natural sunlight that I exploited to get strong contrast and emphasise the various curves present.

Single Points: Cauliflowers

Working with the cauliflowers was one of the ways I was thinking of creating a single point of focus that confused or played with expectations. Firstly by placing a piece of broccoli within the head of the cauliflower and then trying out something completely alien like adding the screw. With both approaches I wanted to use the different textures and shapes to highlight the contradictory points.

Diagonals and multiple points: Mushroom and Kiwi Beetles

The idea for using large mushrooms came to me early on in undertaking the assignment but I wasn’t sure how I was going to include them. Initially, I tried a number together to create a pattern but I didn’t feel the images worked particularly well. I then focussed in on a single mushroom and the diagonal emerged. With the judicious use of some dressmaking pins I pulled the two pieces together to accentuate the diagonal across the frame. I really wanted to capture the detail of the veins as they could be seen as diagonals in their own right.

The Kiwi Beetles were in part inspired by playing with the cauliflower. Again I had tried various configurations and when I looked at the early shots the hairs on the outside of the fruit intrigued me. They put me in mind of large spiders or beetles. So I thought I would play with that notion and used the pins to act as ‘legs.’

Distinctive shapes, horizontals & verticals: Pepper ribs and Pasta Sea

The pepper ribs were another attempt at creating some optical confusion and contradiction. Initially I was thinking about using the peppers to create a sort of topographical landscape but once I had sliced them up I couldn’t achieve what I had in mind. As I moved them to rethink the approach the slices fell in such a way that they looked like a rib cage. I then started to play with this idea and added the raw bacon to accentuate the illusion and move towards something slightly more grotesque than some of the other shots.

The horizontals and verticals had eluded me for most of the process but when I was working with the bacon it reminded me of the pancetta with its stripes of white fat so I decided to use this with the leeks. Thinking about these as ingredients for a pasta dish the pasta quills were then added. They looked to me like water lapping at the base of cliffs or around an island.

Several points in a deliberate shape: Prawns and Tomato Flower

Prawns was perhaps a more formalised composition compared to some of the others but I wanted to experiment with using just a few items to create a striking composition. I initially thought of the noodle nest and then the other elements followed. As a result of these ingredients I was partly inspired by the apparent simplicity of some Japanese graphics or paintings. As in one of the earlier exercises I added various items and moved them around until I felt I had found something that worked.

Tomato Flower was another approach to making the elements appear something they are not. The little Gem lettuce suggested an opening flower so I then used the parsley, carrot gratings and tomato to build the illusion of the stamens of a flower. I was particularly mindful of using the shapes and the colour to try and heighten the illusion.