Experiments & Cigarettes

So, I've been wanting to share with you all what's been going on with my University work at the moment. I have been working on a few different projects here & there. Strangely enough the one I found myself most interested in doing was the one that I was feeling a 'crash & burn' scenario looming. It was so much fun and such a learning curve.

So anyone that knows me well knows that still life isn't exactly my strong suit, however it is a genre that I have wanted to develop on for a while now. I wanted to try something a little bit different with this project and experiment with new approaches to the idea of my 'studio.' I always think it's so much fun to try new things with my photography so here's what I did to achieve this image above:

I started off by making an executive decision to not use a professional photography studio, nor a still life table, (a decision which was very questionable but taught me a thing or two.)
I went to my local B&M Bargains (don't judge, there are some amazing finds there,) where I bought a very cheap roll of £2.99 wallpaper. I thought the Green colour was really odd but had some potential as far as an interesting backdrop was concerned, I loved the texture which looks pretty cool in my final prints; not to mention that there isn't anything I find more boring than a dull white backdrop in still life images.

(Stay with me, I'm nearly finished.)

I used some regular Blu-Tack to stick the wallpaper to the top of my bedroom wall and let it roll down to my chest of drawers below (which I decided to use as my still life table.) I also stuck the wallpaper to the surface of my drawers just so it didn't roll too much & rip.

For the lighting of this image I used regular table lamps (all in the name of experimental art, yeah?) something that my room seems to have in abundance! It was a real struggle at first simple because, as we all know, table lamps aren't all that adjustable but many chairs & suitcases & empty boxes, used as portable light stands later, I was actually really happy with how the images turned out.

Did I forget to mention that I didn't actually have subjects in mind so I went into my living room, picked up whatever was on the floor, & used it to photograph in my new make-shift studio! 

M.