"Attic Treasures" by Eric Rennie

A still life is normally thought of as a work of art depicting inanimate objects that are carefully arranged and lighted in a studio for pleasing aesthetic effect.  I am not a studio photographer, and I tend to shoot things as I find them.  Consequently, my still lifes are more “found objects” rather than something artfully premeditated.  For me, the process is always a bit of a mystery.  I have a strong sense that my photographs, no matter what the subject matter, are not just what I have seen but what I have been shown.  

My photograph "Attic Treasures" is one of 36 works of art selected by a panel of jurors for an all-media exhibtion called Still Life: Past, Present and Future at the UBE Gallery in Berkeley, CA.  The show runs from September 9, 2016 to October 29, 2016.  I shot the scene as I found it in the attic of a century-old farmhouse in Blackstone, MA that my aunt had been living in.  A black-and-white version had been exhibited last year at a juried competition at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, TX (where it was awarded an honorable mention) and at the Peter Miller Fine Arts Gallery in Providence, RI.