Weekly #552 - Still life with bottles Competition

Three photos in, and all three do not fit the description in one way or another....
I drew attention to this and it would appear that the concept of a "still life" is not as clearly understood as I had assumed.
Sorry...

ePhotozine has a very clear article in the January 24th Newsletter.
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/basic-still-life-photography-tips-17747

The first picture in that article is a very nice "still life"...
despite the intruding "part glove" and something reflective part-way up the left side...
personally, I don't regard the second picture as a proper "still life" as there is too much vanishing off the sides.
If you compare the two pictures in that article, the first has a clear border around the the main objects...
the second has not... so rather than an arrangement, it looks more like a photo of part of a workbench.
The main subject of the photos is clearly the book with someone's engineering drawings inserted next to a relevant article/paragraph.... but in the second, the composition doesn't link with the "keep it simple" statement of the article. There is nothing creating a composition.

With regard to the three photos so far...
the first has movement in the spinning glass... there should be NO movement in a still life.
the second is an arrangement that has a row of bottles behind the major item, the glasses and jugs...
the third [and the clear winner so far] is just the bottle tops in a row... there isn't a complete bottle there.
Had there not been a spinning glass in the first, that would be ahead of the bottle tops.

Cheers for the clarification. Seems how we all perceive 'still life photography' that varies somewhat. Frankly, I have never heard the theory that that would forbid movement.

In fact, a quick Google renders multiple example of dynamic still life photos such as these:

http://www.fubiz.net/en/2016/09/17/still-life-photography-of-food-in-motion/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/507710557976623348/?autologin=true
https://www.google.com.kw/search?q=still+life+photography&source=lnms&tbm=isch&s...

I think the general consensus is that they are objects, inanimate on their own. Technology nowadays allows us to capture those objects in a variety of creative, dynamic ways. That said, the privilege of the judge is to set the rules as they want so may be just a further clarification in the competition description would be a good idea?

Thank you for the clarification Tim. Hopefully it helps others avoid the errors us first three have made.

A "still life" is just that! Still, motionless.... no bleedin' movement whatsoever!! [To paraphrase John Cleese!]
Not one of the pictures you linked to, would I consider a "still life"... I am an old, analogue photographer and artist who grew up on "still life" art... please refer to the link above for a real description of the technique... even if the examples are to be honest... abysmal... Stan's much simpler picture last week is far, far better... but he's an oldie like me!!

To err is human.... bla, bla, bluurb!

No, being serious, as I replied to Magdalena.... us oldies have been tutored, guided, mentored... to us a still life is "still"... no sign of movement.
I started my art training painting "still life" pictures.,.. until I discovered that i could use my camera , with which I had, until that awakening, been doing what iPhone [and allegedly other forms of portable communication] does today... that is, take pictures to bore the pants off people...
"Won't you come and dine... and be bored to tears as we show you our holiday in Ibiza... via our super new slide projector!!".... not after the first, and last, experience... NO!!

So, to me, a "still life".... is still!!

Apologies, Magdalena...
Your last link has now actually opened....
The early ones are what I would consider "still life"... to me, the "frozen action" pictures... some of which are links back to the first two links art... are frozen moments in time....not an arrangement of objects against a background...
those photos are to me "wow! Wish I'd thought of that.... taken that!"....
BUT, they ain't not still life!!
Not to someone of my age and training, anyway!!
Those trapped in time food ones are something else, though..... phwaorrrr!!
Possibly those need a new description... they aren't still life in the classical sense.... but they do not, by any means, fit into the true, sports mainly, frozen moment photos.... especially when you just know that the camera was on burst... and that was THE pic!

Haha, no worries. In art, there are little to no rules. Rules that have become a cannon, are alive...change, evolve into classics. They don't slow down with our life time. Just like anything. Hence the suggestion to modify the description as in this case there is no right or wrong. Just personal perception and since you are the boss here, it's YOUR rules, as long as they are unambiguous. Cheers!

We are straying a bit from the umbrella rules here - that is, the judge sets the brief and then once entries are in retires from threads and further comment until it's time for the judging. We also don't comment in the actual competition thread until the judging is done, instead using threads like this one. Unfortunately we have in effect three images judged before the competition is over.

It's a bit late to worry about that now, but in future competitions we should go back to the basic principles, otherwise we'll end up with shifting sands each time.

John, I have to disagree with you there... part of the ethos of the competitions is to learn from others....
and when I, as the setter and judge, see such basic errors occuring it needed comment.... and not in a discussion thread!
I started this discussion thread because there was too much response to my initial comment.
And yes, those three pictures have been judged... I judge as the pictures come in... as do others.
But when people don't understand the simple concept of "still life"... (an artistic arrangement of objects to a brief, which can be tight... or as I gave here, loose) then I feel the need to say something.
Sorry, but in future, if such a major, basic error appears.... I will do it again.

Please don't, just follow the competition rules.

Have not the three of us been knocked about sufficiently yet?

I'm glad I'm not a still life photographer, I'm sure I would break rules all the time.
David

Well so far you're all on the podium!

If you think those break the rules of 'Still Life', you should see some of the stuff that was put forward on another site's theme pictures thread!

Oh, and as a matter of interest, what IS the plural of 'Still Life'?

It doesn't have one. You can have 'still life pictures' or similar if a plural is needed.