To link in with the carnival portraits I have been doing I wanted to include some still life images to make the overall body of work more interesting. As I have been researching into the flower Birds of Paradise and using the theory of freedom and happiness based around that flower I thought it would make sense to photograph the flower as it is. I think this would tie in all the loose ends of my project and make the work flow almost as if it’s a story.
When creating my images I tried several different things including scanning the flower in on different backgrounds, moving the flower around whilst scanning it in to create movement, photographing the flower from different angles, photographing it with a short depth of field and finally I included glitter into the mix so that it fit more consistently with my portrait as I have kept the running theme of glitter throughout. I think that these images have turned out very successfully. I love the intensity of the colours and the use of glitter just pushes the ideas even further. I would have to say my favourite images out of the collection are the ones you see below.
This image works successfully in my opinion because of the extremely small focal point. The silhouette of the flower is included so it is still obvious what it is however, the mixture of colours and the blurred out effect makes the flower resemble a models form so I think that it will fit in with the rest of my images easily. The intensity of the colours draws the viewers eyes immediately.
With this image it is the unusual angle at which I shot the flower that makes it successful. I love the bright vibrant oranges contrasting with the purples and black and the tiny fraction of the spathe that is showing at the bottom of the photograph hints at what the image could be, leaving the rest up to the viewers imagination.
Natasha Young 