Object Photography

For my brief I have been asked to look into object photography, its purpose and the reasons as to why it is one of the most commons forms of professional photography. Two photographers that compliment object photography are “Martin Parr” and “Keith Arnatt” both have a very different style when it comes to shooting objects but both achieve what they set out to do and show through the use of every day objects.

Martin Parr

The first image I will be looking at is by Martin Parr; the image is a simple breakfast cereal with a twist. Titled, Obama O’s the cereal is a clever way to get the main audience of whoever eat this particular cereal, to be aware of the political debates happening in America and to draw the youth of America more to the side of barrack Obama. Although this cereal could also be used as satire and could also be used to humiliate Obama’s followers.

With a clean, crisp white background to highlight and contrast with the bright blue of the box the eye is directly drawn to it. With simple and minimalistic compositional techniques such as this, advertisers allow themselves to create obvious and striking campaigns for their products.

Keith Arnatt

The second image I will be looking at is by Keith Arnatt.  The image depicts a pig on its back with its legs in the air. This may represent a struggling amongst the animal.  The object in question is also very dirty and grimy and looks abused further adding to the struggle of the animal.

With a complete opposite to Martin Parr the background of the image is black and this also draws the viewer to the pig and also it highlights the dirty, rustic coverings of the object. The composition of the image allows for a large part of the black background to come into focus and cover the image and also add tone. With the pig being at the bottom and with the viewer being un-able to see its face it further adds to the question of the suffering of the animal yet again.

Petals 

After researching these photographers and looking at their object work I was able to go into the studio and start photographing my own objects bearing in mind what I have learnt and seen from both Martin Parr, Keith Arnatt and many other examples of object photography.

Lego 

What I have chosen to show is a culmination of techniques and styles of the two photographers I decided to look at. I chose to use a bright light to make the crisp, white background stand out and give the objects I have photographed a bold, simple look that is effective for what I wanted to achieve. On the petals the exotic red color immediately jumps out amongst the white background and the soft reflection adds a sense of serenity to the image. As with the Lego man I have chosen to crop his face and highlight his facial features, this means that the viewer does not necessarily need to see the face just the expression and clothes to know what the character is about.