The Emotional and Existential Themes of Still lifes

The still life photographs in this portfolio are more than just about picturing objects. They draw upon the works of the old masters, in that they are meditations on the same timeless themes of life and death, wealth, time and beauty. They can show us the difference between merely seeing and representing. They make apparent our relationship to objects and mortality, the passing of time and the beauty of the everyday. Both mediums use still life to slow down time and the stillness invites viewers to reflect. My composition and lighting is based largely on the works of Caravaggio, Chardin, Zurbaran, Cezanne and the Dutch Age artists and their use of certain symbolic objects: flowers = mortality and the passage of time, fruit= abundance, books=wisdom and knowledge, the cross= religion and belief, fine china, gold and silver objects = vanity, (vanitas) and wealth, light from a candle = spirituality and the afterlife. My still life photography is also a comment on the history of art itself, by re-interpreting and re-creating the old styles of the past, bringing the aesthetics of hundreds of years ago into the modern world.

Harold Naideau 2026