Presentation in this series is all about the formal tradition of the still life image combined with an academic photo making process. The roots of still life painting and how that has influenced contemporary american still life photography leading to my work.

The roots of the still life as a genre reach far back in the western tradition. The earliest examples of what would become still life painting come from the funerary documents of Egypt. Shown as illustrations on papyrus scrolls of the Book of the Dead, relief sculpture and wall paintings in tombs the earliest still life images depicted offerings of to gods. The diagrams would illuminate the offerings that were mummified with the deceased to help the spirit transition to the afterlife.

In french the word for the dead is morte, the still life is known as a Nature Morte.

Still life painting as we know it began in the 16th century in the Netherlands. The painters of that time began to experiment with early camera technology, the camera obscura, which enabled stunning levels detail to be rendered. A distinctive characteristic of paintings from this period thought to be from the camera obscuras fixed point of view would define the compositional foundations of the still life genre and influence it to this day.