Things Aflame and Things Burned
A series of traditional still lifes... on fire.

I originally started this project simply to do a photographic study of fire. It acts as it's own light source. It moves in interesting and unpredictable ways. It's highly organic and elusive nature makes for a uniquely challenging photographic work. Coupling the fire with organic material just added a layer of color and depth.

As the shooting progressed, I became more and more interested in the fires aftermath. The burned and discolored flowers, the gooey mess of vegetables and excellerants became beautiful pitcures onto themselves.

While shooting this project, I kept thinking back to Irving Penn's still life work. I've always appreciated his simple compositions that somehow transform the ugly into the beautiful. So as an homage to Penn, I set aflame my own take on his famous work, "Frozen Foods."