A Little Mid-Week Still Life Magic
Flowers, cookies, cloudy water, a little smoke and even a skull. Our recent Mid-Week Still Life class certainly had plenty of variety!
I welcomed a small group into my home studio in Narre Warren for an extended three-hour session, and we covered so much. With several setups to explore and room to experiment, it was a lovely opportunity to put everyday distractions aside and spend a morning being creative.
That’s something I really enjoy about these smaller classes. There’s time for questions, individual help and following an idea to see where it might lead.
From tea and cake to cookies for Santa
Food makes such a wonderful still life subject, particularly when you start bringing in different textures and a little storytelling.
Our mini carrot cakes became part of a cosy morning tea scene, complete with a teacup, linen and vintage cutlery. The styling gave us plenty to work with, from the swirls of icing to the folds in the fabric and the way the light caught the cup.
And yes, I have it on good authority that the cakes were delicious. Some props have a very short working life!
We also got a little festive with cookies for Santa, a Christmas jug and a rather cheeky-looking gnome. Using different props around the food gave us quite different stories to photograph. A plate of cookies can be the starting point for several images once you begin changing the arrangement, camera angle and supporting details.
Flowers with a twist
Cloudy underwater flowers were one of the requests for this class, so naturally we had to give them a go.
With flowers submerged in a tall glass vase, we added milk to the water and photographed the drifting clouds as they moved around the petals and stems. This is such an absorbing technique because the scene keeps changing. One moment you have delicate wisps, and the next the flowers are partly hidden behind a soft veil.
It’s a lovely exercise in watching, waiting and knowing when to press the shutter.
We also explored roses in vintage teacups and tulips arranged with soft fabric and pearls. These quieter setups offered a completely different feel, with opportunities to concentrate on colour, texture, depth of field and those beautiful little water droplets.
Glass, droplets and a different way of seeing
Our glass setup took things in a more graphic direction. A simple glass of water against a split light and dark background created a striking refraction effect.
It’s a great reminder of how much there is to photograph in an ordinary object. The interest comes from looking closely at what happens to the lines, shapes and tones through the water.
Photographing through water-speckled glass gave another familiar scene a different mood. The droplets became part of the picture, turning our festive still life into something that felt a little like looking through a rain-covered window.
A little atmosphere
Of course, there was room for something darker too.
A skull, dried roses, textured fabric and drifting smoke brought a touch of Halloween to the morning. Alongside the flowers and food, it showed just how varied still life photography can be. There’s room for pretty, playful, mysterious and slightly spooky, sometimes all on the same table.
Small group, plenty to explore
We packed a lot into our three hours, but the small group meant we could keep things relaxed and hands-on. Everyone had the opportunity to explore the setups, ask questions and try different approaches.
For me, that’s the value of making time to play with your photography. You can try something unfamiliar, make adjustments and discover an idea you’d like to explore further at home.
Would a mid-week daytime still life class suit you?
I’d love to know whether you’d be interested in another small-group session at my Narre Warren studio. Leave a comment or send me a message with the weekday that generally works best for you, and anything you’d particularly like to try.
Flowers, food, product photography or something a little more experimental? Let’s see what we can create.
