Still Life Images

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About Still Life Images

I’m starting this group on a beta-test basis for people interested in still life photography.

By "still life" photography I mean carefully composed and creatively lit images of thoughtfully chosen subject matter. And I don’t necessarily mean macro photography. Just as not all still life photography is done using macro techniques, not all macro images have the subject matter, lighting and compositional elements that "define" still life photography (at least for me).

I’m also proposing that this group be actively "curated" in that members can and should expect the admin(s) to delete images that don’t meet certain (fairly explicit) standards for posting and content.

This group is a concept-in-progress. The first two discussion threads ("Define This" and "Admin This") are for your thoughts on what still life photography is or what it should be, and on how this group ought to be administered. All input is welcome and appreciated.

BEING STILL: AN UPDATE ON MEANING

The sine qua non of still life photography, the very crux of the still life biscuit, its heart 'n' soul and ne plus ultra, is artificiality. The still life photographer chooses, arranges, composes, constructs or otherwise sets up the subject matter to be photographed. Nothing is left to chance, at least not deliberately, and the photographer can in theory reproduce the same scene later with the same subject matter elements.

This means: No landscapes. No architectural photography. Certainly no portraiture. No shots of plants in the ground or animals on the hoof, paw, foot or fin. (This does not rule out a still life with a living or near-living thing like a potted plant or, I daresay, an unconscious nude, if placed there by the photographer.) None of these natural, in situ or similarly "nonartificial" things fit the definition of still life, in my opinion, no matter how nicely lit.

BEING STILL: RULES OF CONDUCT

1. No more than three images on the day a member first joins the group and, thereafter, no more than one image (or one series of three or fewer related images) per day.

2. A member should comment on at least one image in the group pool for every image that the member posts to the group.

3. Deletions will be noted in the "Deleted Images" thread with a very short but intelligible (as possible) explanation of why the image was deleted.