Brief 2: Found Object – callum.moon

Artist Research

Niko Vass is an amazing still life photographer, his photos are surreal and often fantasy related, he photographs antique watches, keys, camera cases in a way that draws heavy focus onto the details in the objects colour and shadows. He photographs in environments that seem to match the aesthetic of the object too creating scenes that would fit into a fantasy novel or fairy tale with heavy realism and detail but with other worldly qualities about them that make them stand out as more than just objects through the lens.

525295_363228897117006_214818250_n — This is a good example of how he creates an other worldly atmosphere around the simplest of objects, they key in the image is clearly ornate and looks like something out of a fair tale but the way its hung on the tree and how the light hits it perfectly to emphasise the contours with with shadow makes it stand out even more than just an object. the brilliant vibrance of the tree in the background is an interesting choice as most of the time you’d blur the background to obscure it but in this case it stands to support the key while still being colourful and bright in itself.

My Found Object

For my found object photos I decided to set the objects up in a studio type environment, using a blank white background to begin with to bring more attention to the objects themselves. The objects I used where generally small random bits of metal all with varying levels of rust, shape and shine to them with the initial idea being to contrast them against one another. I essentially ended up just using the flash on my camera mixed with the light on my phone in some photos to control the shadows better, which was another thing I wanted to focus on in particular as the shape of the objects where the thing I found most interesting and wanted to capture the most.

Screen Shot 2017-03-31 at 01.55.12 — found object shoot