Still Life

Submit a photograph of a small constructed scene. Submit a strongly-composed photograph of a collection of small inanimate ordinary objects, such as flowers, fruit, household items, things found in a business or trade, items you might have in your pocket, rocks, sea-shells, or food and drink. ---- Still life painting has a long history, going back thousands of years, and has often been an immensely popular subject, if not always respected by the art academies. While still life images are usually intended to be decorative and beautiful, keep in mind that these often had significant allegorical, religious, or moral symbolism. The genre of "vanitas" paintings had reminders of the shortness of life, such as an hourglass. Others were primarily of scientific interest, showing botanical specimens while still being artfully done. More recently, still life images were experiments in pure form, color, line, and composition.