Still-Life Photography: Vision & Craft

Still life becomes a space for constructing meaning, where objects, light, and symbolism come together to form something more emotive and cinematic. This new online workshop invites us to expand the boundaries of still life through a deeply personal and concept-driven approach. Working alongside multidisciplinary artist Tara Sellios, we move beyond traditional interpretations of the genre and into a practice rooted in mood, symbolism, and visual storytelling.

Over six sessions, we explore how still life can be built from personal history, collected materials, and layered symbolic references. We begin by looking at historical and contemporary artists who use still life as a vehicle for emotional intensity, considering how meaning is constructed through objects, composition, and atmosphere. From there, we develop individual concepts through writing, sketching, and visual planning exercises that help translate ideas into physical form.

Light plays a central role throughout the workshop, used not just to illuminate but to shape tension, mystery, and emotional tone. We explore how it interacts with texture, surface, and arrangement to build scenes that feel intentional and charged. 

Through demonstrations, assignments, and student image reviews, we focus on constructing still-life tableaux drawn from personal symbolism and lived experience. We consider how objects carry narrative weight, and how careful staging can transform familiar materials into something layered and evocative.

By the end of the workshop, there is a deeper understanding of still life as a tool for visual storytelling, along with a more intentional and expressive approach to building images that merge concept, material, and light.