This week it’s Patti’s turn to challenge us with a classic photographic genre, Still Life images. She allowed those of us with few traditional examples to expand upon the style. She writes, “We invite you to join us this week for the Still Life challenge. Feel free to include “created” and “found” still life scenes–which you might find in your archives, create for this challenge, and/or discover near or far.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

It’s a good thing she gave us some leeway as I can now include some images that I wouldn’t have normally thought would fit the category. The example above is one. These rams make it look like I was in the Rocky Mountains’ wilds doing real wildlife photography. This image, however, was captured at Denver’s Nature and Science Museum. These taxidermied rams were posed in a diorama with those beautiful Rockies in the painted background.

One could argue that model trains in motion aren’t “still life” but they are if not moving. >grin< That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Though I prefer full-size trains that I can ride in, I can’t help but marvel at the artistic displays that model railroaders create.

In the days before General Custer’s 7th Calvary headed west to meet their fate, the General lived with his wife at Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck, North Dakota. His working desk was small and visitors can see some of the original artifacts that were in the house when they lived there. Hanging under the shelf on the wall is a wedding sketch of his bride, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site near Deer Lodge, Montana features 88 historic buildings on about 1600 acres (6.5 sq km). The site commemorates the history of the cattle industry. The still life in the photo above features a rolling kitchen used by the cook who traveled the range with the working cattlemen.

At West Fargo, only a few miles from our home, a museum complex operated by the Cass County Historical Society features about forty buildings and many exhibits focusing on the life and times of the early Bonanza Farmers in North Dakota and Minnesota. These large commercial farms grew thousands of acres of wheat and other crops on the vast, treeless plains in the fertile Red River Valley. Among the displays in Bonanzaville, I discovered this collection of antique typewriters.

While walking through a Mercado in Mazatlan, Mexico, I was taken by this large vegetable stand. I was struck by the amount of work that went into stacking these vegetables to make an attractive display.

At the Mystery Castle in Phoenix, Arizona, the table in the dining area was set for a meal service. The story behind the castle is fascinating. I have a blog post that tells the story if you are interested. In any case, when I saw the out-of-camera image in Lightroom, I felt this photo would best tell its story in black and white.

This image has been shared before, but I felt the need to have something in this gallery that is a specifically staged still life and that focuses on one of our favorite travel modes, ocean cruising.

One morning in 2018, somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, I was up early working with photos from the previous day on my computer. I was enjoying a hot cup of coffee while waiting for Lynn to meet me for breakfast. It was then that I got the idea to create a still-life image. I grabbed another cup from the coffee bar and set the two cups on the table.

Thanks to Patti for creating a broad challenge topic that allows those who, like me, don’t create many “true” still life images. I hope that I have met the spirit of the challenge in this gallery. I spent some extra time on most of these images this week in that I went back to the original unprocessed photos and revisited the editing sequence using my latest editing tools. While I was at it, they were given a 2K HD treatment and can be viewed thusly on my Flickr site here.

Next week, it’s Ann-Christine’s turn to challenge us. Look for her challenge at noon Eastern time on Saturday. If you’d like to join in the fun with the weekly challenges, but would like a few more details, check out this page here.

John Steiner

I don’t do much experimentation with still life images, but regular readers may recall this image from my review of the Samsung S20 Ultra cell phone. The image was the result of a test of low-light capabilities of the camera. A couple of books, two wine glasses filled with water, and an old pair of glasses were the only props.

About the photo: I used a tripod with a cell phone/tablet mount to hold the camera for the 1 second, f/1.8, 1000 ISO image. It was shot in pro mode creating a DNG file. The lighting was simple. I darkened the room and lit the subject with two LED holiday candles. I used a coffee table to hold the subject and covered the sofa in the background with a fitted green sheet.

One of the problems with longer exposures is camera movement during the exposure, especially when one manually presses the shutter button. To keep the camera from shaking, I didn’t press the shutter button. I could have used the delay timer built into the camera, but I turned on the voice control option. All I had to do was say the word, “Shoot” to trip the shutter. The camera also understands the command “timer” and will activate a 10-second timer delay before shooting.

I used Adobe Lightroom to process the image, cropping the image from 4×3 format to square. No other edits were made to the image. As I noted in my earlier review, at f/1.8, the focus is really tight. Adjusting focus manually, the camera puts a green outline around the objects in focus. I focused on the books, and as a result, the two wine glasses are outside of the plane of focus, therefore slightly “fuzzy.” If your browser allows it, you can click on the image for a closer look. I also happen to have this photo in original resolution posted on my Flickr page. You can see a detailed image at the original crop size of 2908×2908 pixels here.

John Steiner