Olivia Parker
- Personal Background
2. Style
In Parkers still life work she takes pictures of a range of objects from flowers to seashells to papers. A lot of her photographs almost have this fantasy, magical feeling to them, especially the ones of flowers and mushrooms. She uses a lot of focusing on her still lifes to direct the viewers eye to what she wants them to see. She also uses a mix of plain natural backgrounds and there are a couple where the backgrounds are more busy. It looks like in her work she also uses some of the rules of photography such as the rule of thirds and so on.
3. Philosophy
A lot of this photographers philosophy surrounds the idea of how people think about things such as the unknown and how ideas new and old can appear and disappear. She also has personal philosophies that influence her work though. Foe example, in one of her newest projects she is working on are photographs that are her speculations on what it was like for her husband as he was taken over by dementia. Her ideas are just to represent how people think and how things such as uncertainty and change can be more similar than you think. “I am interested in the way people think about the unknown… New ideas form, the old are shattered, and sometimes old ideas pop up again among the new like graffiti on a wall. All is uncertainty and change, but optimists and bingo players are on the lookout for moments of perfect knowledge and perfect cards.”, Parker states.
4. Influences
Olivia Parker has influenced me to keep more focus when I take my pictures and to really take a moment and question what my photographs mean to me. Sometimes we just take picture to take picture with no real meaning. However, in order to have a truly beautiful photograph there needs to be some sort of meaning or reason for taking it. And I think Parker does a stunning job at this. She has a perfect blend of normal still lifes and some not so normal ones. She takes pictures of things you would never think of and she gives them meaning with her soft touch she has on her photos. She takes pictures to tell stories, such as her project on her husband, which is exactly what photography is for.
Compare and Contrast
In my first piece I positioned it very similarly to the original with the only difference being the type of flower I used. In my second piece I took the same idea with three balls of crumpled paper but only changed the color of the paper and the surface it was placed on. My last photo I think is the most contrasted to the original since I was not able to use pomegranates I changed the material I used completely but still tried to maintain consistency by setting it up in a similar manner.
Artist Statement
Similarly to Parker, I try to have meaning behind the photos I take. In these photos I try to not only mimic the feeling she gave her photographs, but I try to ad my own twist to it. For example the rose being put in place of the tulip could symbolize a feeling of love. The change in color of the paper could simply mean it is a more modern time where white paper is used more often than yellow now. The complete change of the object from pomegranates to beads can symbolize a completely different nostalgic feeling about childhood. While they might be similar composition wise, the meaning can be taken in a totally different way than what the original was trying to say.
Resources
1. https://www.oliviaparker.com/
2. https://expertphotography.com/still-life-photographers/
3. https://iphf.org/inductees/olivia-parker/
2. https://expertphotography.com/still-life-photographers/
3. https://iphf.org/inductees/olivia-parker/