> > From: Achal Pashine [mailto:achal@stanford.edu] > > > > Hi Greg, > > I feel awkward about the arrangement of the bottles too, and > > most of my > > still life attempts suck! (thanks for being open about it). Greggie concurs--- >My own attempts at arranging still lifes have led me to the conclusion >that it far, far easier to spot a good arrangement than to make one. >I've never been able to make one. Hey maybe that's the way its done. >You take a bunch of crap and repeatedly throw it on a table until you >come up with a good arrangement. <snipped insanities> It is difficult, and Greggie is right: It often helps to introduce an element of chance in your composition. It also helps if you feel something about the objects being photographed. For example, Achal's bottles....I just didn't see anything that spoke to me of feeling or passion there. It was like a technical exercise. Now, make one of those bottles one you consumed on your wedding night, another the one drank the last time you saw a friend, or the day you went sober (rhetorically speaking) and I think you'll see the bottles differently. If you picked them up in the alley, then think DESIGN. Study design. Look at Carl Chiarenza's paper constructions, Bauhaus designs, any design magazine, etc. This is what happens when you attempt to become a stylist and art director all at once. It's a new hat, and if you suck at it, dig in for the learning curve. --- Luis
