Still life photography may just be my favorite form of photography. I started practicing this form of art in 2019 when I was experiencing a severe flare-up from Crohn’s disease and I couldn’t get outdoors to take photos.
During the proceeding years I lost several family members in succession and was experiencing a lot of grief in a short period of time. You can read about that and see some of my favorite still life flower photos in Still Life and Expelling Grief. I started to find that doing still life photos with their possessions was helping me shed some of that grief. The whole exercise was becoming therapeutic and honestly a little addicting.
Still Life as a Practice
It also was a great way for a beginner, like me at the time, to practice my photography skills in a controlled environment. I could control the subjects position, the lighting, and plan my exposure with as much time as I needed.
Still Life on T-Max
I’ve used many different cameras and film stocks to shoot these still life photos, but none look quite the same as they do on T-Max.
The deep blacks and contrast in this film helps to bring the subject out from the dark background, in this case a prayer plant in front of a black velvet blanket.
I prefer to use only natural lighting if i can, and in this case a window on the left side. Below is my wife’s wedding bouquet dried out and deconstructed to create other subjects.
I’ve shot these still life photos on many different subjects with all different forms of Kodak T-Max. Below is Tmax P3200 shot at 1600 and then at the far right is 400 pushed to 1600.
Final Thought’s
What do you think? Do you like the deep black stillness of Kodak T-Max for this type of photo, or is color the way to go? Do you shoot still life? If so, what’s your methods? Chat with me in the comments.
If you have found this article or any of my articles helpful, please consider supporting my work by clicking any of the links below. Purchasing a zine or even just subscribing to get my articles in your email helps me keep this going. Either way, thank you so much for reading.
Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.
To Shop for 35mm format film camera on KEH – CLICK HERE
Shop for 35mm format film camera on Ebay – CLICK HERE
To Shop for Medium Format film camera on KEH – CLICK HERE
Shop for Medium Format film camera on Ebay – CLICK HERE
These are affiliate links to KEH Camera, Ebay, and Amazon. Simply purchasing through these links, you’re supporting my work with no additional cost to your purchase. It’s greatly appreciated.
These are great – enough black and white for good contrast with beautiful greys. Well done . . . I wonder if I have any of this film lying around to try . . .
Thanks so much. Yea give it a try.
Interesting. I have been thinking on trying still life as well.
Keep at it with T-Max 100! These look terrific.
Thanks Jim!