Sean P Durham

Photography

Bringing Life to Your Home with Still Life Photography

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Still life photography isn’t just about snapping pictures of pretty objects—it’s an art form that can bring a cosy, stylish vibe to your home.

With its mix of light, shadow, and beautifully arranged everyday items, still life can create a calming atmosphere while adding a touch of personality to your space.

"Three Pink Ladies & Silk", Still Life Photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2024

Whether it’s a burst of colour from a fruit bowl, a delicate floral arrangement, or something sleek and modern, still life photos have a knack for fitting in anywhere—be it a chic city flat or a snug countryside retreat.

Fancy giving your walls a bit of character? Stick around, and we’ll show you how still life photography can turn your home into a gallery of charm and inspiration.

Why Still Life Photography Makes the Perfect Christmas Gift

Finding the perfect Christmas gift can often feel like an impossible task. You want something thoughtful, meaningful, and unique—something that truly speaks to the recipient. Still life photography checks all those boxes and more, making it an exceptional choice for gifting during the festive season. Here’s why:

Timeless and Personal

Still life photography is a timeless art form that appeals to a wide range of tastes. From minimalist compositions to vibrant, colourful arrangements, it offers endless variety. This means you can select a piece that resonates with the recipient’s personality or matches their home décor style.

For someone who loves nature, a still life featuring delicate flowers or rustic foliage might be perfect. For a foodie, a rich, textured image of fruit or baked goods can feel like a slice of their passion framed in art. The thoughtfulness behind tailoring the artwork to their interests adds a deeply personal touch to the gift.

"Brass & Oil" Still Life Photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2024

Adds Warmth and Character to Any Space

Still life photography has a way of bringing warmth and charm into a room. Its ability to capture the beauty of ordinary objects elevates the everyday into something extraordinary. Whether it’s hung in a cosy living room, a sleek modern kitchen, or even a tranquil bedroom, still life photography effortlessly enhances the ambience.

This versatility makes it ideal for Christmas gifting. You’re not just giving art; you’re giving the gift of a more beautiful, inviting home. Every time they glance at it, they’ll think of you—and that’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Perfect for the Festive Season

Still life photography naturally aligns with the spirit of Christmas. The season is all about appreciating simple joys—family, food, and togetherness—which are often themes in still life art. A photograph of twinkling fairy lights, a beautifully set table, or a cosy still life featuring warm drinks and candles can encapsulate the magic of the season.

If the recipient loves Christmas, you could even choose a festive-themed piece they can bring out year after year, becoming a treasured part of their holiday traditions.

Unique and Memorable

One of the greatest challenges of Christmas shopping is avoiding generic gifts. Still life photography stands out because it’s not something most people expect to receive. While others might give scented candles or scarves, your thoughtful gift of a carefully chosen art piece will feel truly one-of-a-kind.

Moreover, the artistry involved in still life photography—its play of light, shadow, and texture—means each piece has depth and character. Unlike mass-produced gifts, it carries a sense of individuality and craftsmanship that’s hard to replicate.

Easy to Gift and Display

Art can sometimes feel daunting to gift, but still life photography is accessible and easy to appreciate. It comes in a range of sizes, from small prints perfect for a desk or shelf to larger statement pieces for a gallery wall. Many photographers and retailers offer framed options, saving you the hassle of additional preparation.

Plus, it’s a gift that suits everyone, whether they own a home or rent a flat. Still life art doesn’t require a lot of space and can even be propped up on a mantelpiece if wall space is limited.

"Flower in Tall Vase with Grapes" Still Life Photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2024

A Gift with Longevity

Unlike seasonal items or trendy gadgets that might lose their charm after a year or two, still life photography is a gift built to last. Its timeless appeal ensures that it will remain a cherished part of the recipient’s home for years to come.

Additionally, the sentimental value of receiving a meaningful, personalised piece of art often makes it even more enduring. It’s a reminder of your thoughtfulness and connection, long after the Christmas decorations are packed away.

A Sustainable Choice

In today’s world, sustainability is an important consideration for many people. Still life photography can be a more eco-conscious gift option, especially when you choose pieces from independent artists or photographers who use sustainable materials and practices. By supporting small creators, you’re giving a gift that’s meaningful on multiple levels.

"Pear & Water Glass wih a single Flower" Still Life Photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2024

This Christmas, skip the usual gifts and give something truly special. A still life photograph is more than just a beautiful piece of art—it’s a heartfelt gesture, a personal connection, and a timeless treasure. Whether it’s a cosy winter scene or an elegant floral arrangement, still life photography offers a way to share beauty, warmth, and thoughtfulness with the ones you love.

Still Life Photography for Beginners

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Still Life Photography for Beginners takes us into many aspects of still life photography and how we can create beautiful still lifes to sell.

In photography, intention is always important. Knowing what you want to express as an artist is part of the mind set that leads to successful still life photography outcomes.

Still life fine art photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2023; copyrighted

The very basis of good still life photography is to develop your ability to create compositions.

A good sense of design is the first step – this can be learned through constant practice.

As you get better, you will be able to distinguish between a strong and weak composition. Balance is a key factor in still life photography composition. This develops as you experiment with how you place the objects in conjunction and in juxtaposition to each other.

The spaces between objects have a meaning, they are referred to as negative space. Which is space that allows the viewer to breath out for a moment and contemplate what they see before moving their eyes on to the next part of the composition.

This all happens rapidly, normally we view a photograph with various movements of the eyes that cause us to repeatedly scan everything, understand, digest, look again, then find a central point in the framing and contemplate that part of the photographic still life until we feel the emotional value of the piece.

Composition in a still life photo is not only the shape and form of the objects. The colours must be either harmonious or contrasting; there must be some type of schema for the viewer to enjoy.

It’s best to study colour from the colour wheel. This allows you to develop a feeling for how colours work well together. If you intend on creating classical still life photography, then harmony is most commonly used, if you want to experiment with juxtapositions of objects and colours, then take a look at modern painters and photographers to get some good ideas how they still use the principles of colour schema to create powerful compositions with colour and objects, mostly, these types of photos can be hard work and often tip you into an area of work and thought that can be edgy and difficult to get right.

The problems of working in harmonious colours and objects is that you can create a composition quickly and it looks great, but it might turn out to be a bit clichéd.

So, it’s still hard work coming up with great ideas – practise makes perfect in this case.

There are no rules about still life photography that dictates which objects are suitable for still life photography. You can use rustic objects found in the home, the kitchen, or outside in the shed or the garden. It really depends on what type of atmosphere you want to create as to which objects you use.

A still life, in history, represents an idea of decadence and wealth. Well seated houses of the 17th century and later would decorate their rooms with exotic fruits and objects that people cherished as expensive and rare. Painters were commissioned to create still lifes to decorate the walls and with this, the expression became the decadent use of wealth as a display of over abundance. To fritter your money and objects away for fun was away of sticking your nose up at the world.

In spite of the decadent history of still life fine art, still life photography has endured as an art form that brings great pleasure to viewers in most parts of the world. It has strong position in society as wall art. It is also the basis of presenting products in product photography. Sometimes very simplistic with a white background and the object simple in interesting light. But the still life photography principles are used to create commercial product photography everyday – so it’s great practice for product photographers.

You can use apples and oranges as your objects, or you can go full on modern and use mobile phones, cups of coffee, laptops, and anything from the modern 21st century world to represent a still life photography idea.

The real challenge is still life photography is to work with many different textures, colour combinations, Light modelling, and materials. You have to become a collector of shiny objects to build your box of goodies to use in still life photography.

What Makes a Good Still Life Photograph?

This is a subjective question and can’t be answered with rules or definitive answers.

There are technical aspects that can expose a still life as a glaring mistake – bad lighting effects that are not pleasing to the viewer, colours that clash unpleasantly – there’s a difference between clashing colours and contrasting colour schemes.

A good composition that makes excellent use of the space chosen, harmonious colours, texture that have been well brought out with lighting, and shadows that are not accidental all go a long way towards creating a very good photographic still life composition.

Using the rule of thirds, looking for the natural shapes that occur in our everyday lives, cones, spheres, triangles, squares, oblongs, circles, all these create the forms that are familiar to everybody. It’s about how the photographer puts it all together that makes all the difference.

Finally, the camera angles that you use create small but significant changes to the expression of your still life photography.

Lens focus, depth of field can change everything for the final outcome. Experimentation is key to becoming a great still life photographer. Try everything that comes to mind, and search for interesting objects that could challenge your present knowledge and help you to move forwards with your abilities.

Fine Art Photography Prints that Make Your home Special

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Home is where the heart is – that’s a true statement.

Fine art photography prints have a strong connection to our hearts.

Unfortunately, some people forget to pay attention to making their living space special.

Fruit still life photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2023. Fine art photography print

When we use home to simply crash, sleep, and eat, it isn’t really the home that we could enjoy living in, and experience our best moments.

We can often forget how important it is to our well-being to be creative and choose what type of fine art images we want to see on the walls of our home.

What have you done to make the experience of your living space more enjoyable? Carefully chosen some fine art photos to create a warm and relaxing space where you feel happy and safe?

It’s only when we take a little time out and begin to look and think about what we can do to improve the living space that we suddenly realise how important a well-designed home is – even when it’s a small two-room flat, or whether it’s a lovely country cottage with the sound of singing birds at the windows, it’s important that we create our own imprint on our home space.

How have you changed things to ensure that your rooms are relaxing spaces that help you feel peaceful?

If you don’t immediately relax and feel at peace when you return home after a hard day, then you need to take a look around the place.

What’s on the walls? Are they blank? Or is the wall in your home cluttered with space fillers, prints, old photos without a frame, or a poster that is way out of date and has no meaning to you.

The walls in your home are the perfect place to do simple but highly effective designs with wall art. Photo prints that reflect your own feelings – your best feelings.

We all aspire to something good. We have goals that help us to stay on track. We make plans so that we can live well, to have a beautiful home, to always know that home is the place where we can dream, plan and feel inspired to go back out into the world and fight for what is important to us.

When you look at the photos and prints on your walls do they really reflect the aspirations and loves that you are. Do you see yourself, your goals, your image on the walls of your home?

You can achieve this with fine art photography, still life photos that create colour and harmony in the living space.

I’m sure, like most people, you’d have to admit that when you’ve visited other people’s homes where they have clearly spent time and thought designing their rooms. You see good furniture, carpets, and wall art that grabs attention.

It relaxes the mind, fine art photography that guides the mind and thoughts into a peaceful and enjoyable space that allows a person to fully enjoy being at home.

That’s what most people seek, peace and harmony in the home; there is a way to achieve it without breaking the bank.

Beautiful still life photos, fine art, doesn’t cost as much as people imagine. You can simply choose a set of art prints or a single piece of fine art photography that you know will change a room from drab into colourful and relaxing.

Choose the photo prints you want. Process the sale, a printer in your own country will do the fine work of ensuring that the colours are well-balanced, and that the photographic paper that is use is of top quality.

Fine Art Photography Still Life of Bread and Pear with Tea Cup
Bread and Pear with Tea Cup

The fine art photography print will then be sent out and you’ll receive it within 3–5 days per post.

Still Life Photography Prints that will Put Colour and form into Your Life

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Still Life Photography prints are probably the most beautiful form of photography.

Still life photos put colour and form into your office space and home.

To achieve the beauty of classical still life, the photographer must work with the precision of light – working in a studio for hours, assembling and changing, testing and being very creative about to create the gorgeous tones and subtle lines of classical still life photography.

Copyright; Fine Art Still Life Photography by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2023
Fine Art Still Life Photography

The objective of these images is to grace the walls of a person’s home, to change a room into something very special. A beautiful, and gracefully adorned room attracts people into it. It’s a place to talk, to meet, to communicate in peace.

Fine art photography, such as still lifes, landscapes and cityscapes, should be selected according to first impressions on an emotional level.

The colour schemes of a room and the still life photo compliment each other to create a harmony. Contrasting colours are attractive. They’re great in office spaces where the walls are simple, the people are busy and the wall art is a reflection of the company message.

A business that wants to reflect its image and brand in every corner of its own space should think deeply about how the walls of each office will look.

Fine art photography, the city where they work, the people who work in the business, a strong message about values.

Fine art photography prints are all about beauty. The images are designed to adorn walls, and create atmospheres conducive to harmony in an office space or the home space. Even if it’s your workroom, or den, you want it to be pleasant and relaxing so you can get on with everyday life with a lower stress level.

These type of photos make for the perfect finish in any room at home or in an office space where class is needed. An image that goes beyond wall space being filled with a meaningless abstraction simply to put something on the wall.

Why not decorate your home or office with a little class?

Empty walls are a reflection of a personality, as much as is a wall that has been carefully thought out with good still life wall art created by a great photographer.

Fine Art Photography Still Life of Bread and Pear with Tea Cup
Bread and Pear with Tea Cup

I have created still life photographs which you can purchase either directly from me, talk about printing styles and forms of your choice, or simply go to my Etsy page where you can order online. Each print is on 280 gram fine Museum quality paper.

Still Lifes Photography prints of pomegranate with fig and yellow fruit Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2023

Still Lifes Photography of pomegranate with fig and yellow fruit

Fine art still life photography allows an artist to experiment with all types of materials. The important point to follow is that a still life represents an emotional idea. Not an idea that is expressed with words, but an idea that is often difficult express in words, yet it’s a powerful expression that is only understood when you stop and take time to look at the fine work of a still life photograph.

The frame is important. It separates the photograph from the rest of the world. It puts the image and its meaning into perspective, and helps to make the idea immediately accessible to any viewer.

Visit my Etsy site and take a look through the ever-increasing list of fine art photography, still lifes, and city street photos that I offer. select your image for printing, put the order through, and I will ensure that your fine art photo is printed, and sent out quickly.

If you are fussy about your photographic art, and you would like to first discuss possibilities, don’t hesitate to contact me through this site or on Etsy and I’ll reply within a few short hours, if not immediately.