Aesthetics in Still Life

I have been following photographer Brooke Shaden's work and how she has documented her current work on Instagram. I am drawn to the use of her aesthetics to create a painterly look to her work.

In the video below, she explains and shows how she edits her work to create the painterly effect. Although I do not use these exact techniques, I have created a slight effect using in camera techniques and a single LED light, Shaden's work in these pieces have a soft muted colour to them, similar to that of my images taken in still life, but also a crispness to the forms and structures of the objects in shot, including herself. The quality of my own work is not as clear as that of Shaden's work, but the techniques used by Shaden are those I could explore in the future if I chose to create this effect again to create the aesthetic I feel would suit my work, using limited editing techniques to retain the natural appearance of the structures I capture.

Although Shaden's work is magical and has the feel of fantasy, there is an element of personal relationship to her work, with herself in each image, acting out a story, feeling, with themes such as death, rebirth, beauty and decay

In her about section on her website, it is stated that Shaden's aim is to show others part of themselves in her work (Shaden: About, 2021) and that "Art is a mirror for the creator and the observer" (Shaden: About, 2021). Something I feel I can relate to in terms of my own work, mirroring how I feel and experience inside in physical form within the natural objects I shoot and in the photograph itself.

Brooke Shaden's Instagram: @brookeshaden

References:

Websites:

Brookeshaden.com. 2021. Shaden: About. [online] Available at: <https://brookeshaden.com/about/> [Accessed 14 April 2021].

Video:

Shaden, Brooke. “Conceptual Painterly Still Life Edit - Explained.” Www.youtube.com, 1 Mar. 2021, youtu.be/AK7FRzLfzvw. Accessed 18 Mar. 2021.