Multiple points

6 photographs - Set up your own still life with a background that is unfussy but not entirely plain.  Use between 6/10 objects, each compact in shape.  You should fix the camera firmly in one position, aimed down at the background (ideally use a tripod)  The idea is to control the composition by rearrangement, not by changing the framing with the camera.

"'The most revolutionary of Arp's collages were those made 'according to the laws of chance'"
Dada and Surrealism on Hans Arp's use of chance to create collages and also poetry.
Page 63, Matthew Gale, Phaidon, 1997

I have to say when it come sot still life I have no idea how some people can get some truly amazing images by placing objects so strategically.  It must come from a great deal of trial and error and/or innate talent because I think it's a pretty hard thing to do.

Anyway, I am inadvertently continuing with the theme of death although hopefully not in a morbid way.  The objects I have chosen to photograph are some art materials that belonged to a woman who died over two years ago.  She was very old and I never knew her. 

The woman lived off the Kings Rd in Chelsea in a tiny flat and apparently lived and long and very rich (not necessarily rich in the material sense, although I don't think she was destitute by any stretch) and full life.  She didn't have any family.

There are two sets of photographs here.  The first where I didn't follow the instructions fully.  The objects are not compact in shape nor are they of regular size.  But I liked the photos so I have included them - and I was attempting to create a satisfactory shape and arrangement nevertheless.  I also like that the objects mirror some scratches on the table.

The second set are pastels from a set the women had used a little.  Initially I placed a couple of the pastels in specific places.  But I found this quite stifling and ended up tossing them gently onto the table rather than strategically moving them about - allowing them to land according to the 'laws of chance'.  I did however alter them a little after that to create more balance, in particular I noticed that there were quite dark colours in the shadows so changed them for lighter ones.  So - chance gave me something to work with but I played with that was given.

All the objects are placed on a table that belonged to the dead woman too.  It is a good table but very used and scratched.  It has been polished now so in better condition than it was but the table retains all the scars and scratches from it's long useful life.  See after the final images from each set for a description of what I hope the photos communicate, or at least what I see in them myself.

To complete the picture I listened to Antony and the Johnson's I am a Bird Now whilst editing. 

The photos are taken at f2.8, 70mm, 400ISO. I wanted them to be soft and I used the light from an overcast rainy day through a window to cast gentle shadows and highlight.

Set 1  - a dead woman's painting materials

I quite like the single paintbrush here.  And when looking on the back of the camera immediately noticed the scratches.

The texture of the large brush appealed to me and I placed it at an opposing angle to highlight it.

The lines here are quite random but the shadows and highlight create something interesting for me. 

I got bored of the paint brushes and tried something else instead although still planned to include the bushes.  The scratches become part of the object or at any rate support it in some way.

I like all the diagonals and how the paintbrush and extended scratch line just below cut through it.

As above

For me these photos are somewhat celebratory about the dead woman's life.  The brushes and the tin are well used.  To me a great deal of living and enjoyment seem associated with these objects. The marks on the table seem to suggest the woman wasn't afraid to live and made mistakes but that didn't matter in the end - her life, like the table, was well used by her.  A pristine sterile table would fail to communicate how much life there is here.  The light seems uplifting too - it brings the objects to life and gives the whole picture a kind of relief.  There is warmth in the colour of the wood, again life.  I think this is a celebratory image all in all but tinged with something of loss - the absence of the artist is quite resonant.

 Set 2 - Pastels

It is quite hard to place such a small object in a large space and make it seem interesting.  I have seen some great images where much has been made of negative space.  Perhaps I should have tried something along those lines here.

These shapes almost look like letters - signs.

I had started placing things randomly here to see what happened.

By now I was pacing some of the randomly placed objects in more strategic positions.  I placed lighter colours in the dark right hand bottom corner. I also altered the white balance at the end of editing to match the blue pastel.

Here I altered the green and blue and adjacent pink and red to make more the overall space and create a more dynamic impression.  I also seem to have removed another dark pastel from the dark corner.  This second set of photographs is more abstract than the first and it does what was required in the exercise.  When I look at it here I see them as little mouth pieces trying to say something.  The lines are quite angular and strong.  There is a series of pastels across the top, starting in the top right hand corner and each pair becomes progressively more separate as you march across the image.  Looks like they are shouting, becoming more insistent.  They are coloured pastels but the impression I have is of soldiers, loudness and aggression, maybe even war.  Maybe no-one else will see that at all.  In the first set of photos the light was open ended at the top but here the vignetting completes the frame and gives a very different sense.  I wish I had used a higher f stop here now actually as it would have been even harder then.  But perhaps the softening makes it more real, my sort of war - more than a bit fuzzy at the the edges.  I don't know...