My Visual Logbook

Benoit Pailley lives and works New York and Paris. He is inspired by contemporary art and his passion is reflected in his elegant still life and installation photography.
The objects become “works of art” in an environment that recreates gallery spaces. When conceptually appropriate, he builds installations that frame the objects in unique and stunning ways.
His first solo exhibition, Passport, was presented at the Flux Foundation in Geneva in March 2008. He is a regular contributor to Sleek and Double magazines and won German’s Lead Award in 2006 for best photographer in Still Life/Architecture category. I really like the simplicity of his images and the continuity within the colour palette throughout and the soft lighting, but still using light shadows within the composition.

In our group crit today Matt asked that for next time, we produce a presentation with our images side by side of our research, to illustrate how we are researching and drawing inspiration from, and whether it is informing our practice. After putting my work next to relevant research I am happy with the quality of my research in comparison with my overall images and am pleased with direction my work is taking so far.

Today in my one to one with Katie she suggested I look into Aleksandra Kingo. I immediately saw her work as something which I can take inspiration from for tonights still life shoot, where I plan to photograph handbags with matching backgrounds, with some bolder colours, similar to the palette Kingo uses here.

My first experiment with seeing how a set of three images could work together as a set, to show in my group crit tomorrow.

I like how the colours work together however I am unsure on the styling in the first image, also how digitally manipulated the second two look, which is not a characteristic I want my images to have.

This is only a rough cut together, but I would ensure my blues match together and that the two pink backgrounds either side match perfectly also.

Final Outcomes

Katie showed us Alexander Kent's work in our still life lecture this week. I found his work simple, minimalistic and colourful, three characteristics I am hoping to include in my own work.

The following short bio is from Alexander Kent's website:

Alexander was born in Yorkshire, 1980. He grew up in Devon. Previous jobs have included: Victorian sailor boy at the age of 15, 27ft Bandsaw operative at 16, Theatre Usher at 19, and Bookseller at 20. He began his apprenticeship in photography aged 21, and feels privileged that his childhood hobby has become his career. Alexander took up the role of photographer aged 26.
"With each image, I like to make objects appear more interesting than we imagine them. By firstly considering the materials that make up an object or scene, I then craft the lighting to make use of the features that really help the subject look its best. The constant challenges and unusual situations I find myself in are part of the reason I feel so lucky to be a photographer; having hired tube stations and London busses; found my self dangling at dizzying heights over beaches and cars; and making impossibly wrong rainbows and black light appear possible.


As well as including a model in my still life images and my plan to experiment with different crops, I plan to shoot still life on its own too so I have a good idea of lighting and colour. I like the flat lighting and pastel tones of his images.

I created two still life boards in preparation for my still life shoot this upcoming week. I want to experiment with both using a model within still life and creating a set within the composition to create a more interesting image.

I created two still life boards in preparation for my still life shoot this upcoming week. I want to experiment with both using a model within still life and creating a set within the composition to create a more interesting image.

I am familiar with Carl Kleiner's work from studying him briefly last year when looking at his 'Homemade is best' series for IKEA. Today in our group crit Matt mentioned him again to look into for inspiration for the still life aspect of my new work. I really like the bright colours and the way he almost has created a set for the bags featured in the wall street journal. I want to step up my still life game and try and create a kind of set around my pieces, and I like the possibility of including parts of a model in the shot too.

Kleiner's work is never too complicated; either his compositions are usually very simple, but it is the subject matter which is incredibly clever, or the other way round where he creates large scale sets with simple subject matter very effectively.

Ella Singer is a Berlin based photographer and architecture student. I found her instagram where she showcases her work. I really like the composition of her landscapes, she is using a similar tight crop as I am. I shot mine using a 50mm lens, and want to carry on with a similar crop with my portraits and still life, to maintain consistency.  Her architectural landscapes always use lines and shapes in the buildings.

The last two images I really like the composition of, however I plan to hopefully take my landscapes when there is blue sky as I prefer the contrast of the pink to blue rather than a white, overcast sky.

Today in our group crit Matt showed us a good example of consistency across the subject matters. There is clear consistency between these three images; flat lighting, muted colour palette, not very contrasted, lack of context within portrait and still life.

This was a good starting point to see how it is possible to achieve a coherent set of images and that visually, anything can be consistent regardless of subject.

Since I plan to produce work similar to that which I created for my exploration and investigation brief last year I am already familiar with some practitioners which relate to the portrait and still life aspects of my current work. Below are my favourite images from my research last year.