The desert is is full of inspiration for desert still life photography!
Traversing the desert, we tend to collect little treasures/objects: a unique rock, a distinctive piece of wood, flowers, flowers, and more flowers. Desert Still Life 001 features some of these found desert objects: a dried Bougainvillea flower, a broken Creosote branch, and a fresh juniper berry.
Desert Still Life 001 — Details
Bougainvillea flowers are an abundant ornamental that add a splash of color to the desert landscape. They come in many shades: white, pale pink, a rosy peach, fuchsia, and a deep, royal purple. And, the coolest thing about them, they bloom year round here.
The other plant that is prevalent here in the Colorado Desert is the creosote bush, or chaparral, (Larrea tridentata). Prevalent may be an understatement as the term usually associated with creosote bush is ubiquitous. Creosote is old. As a matter of fact, a ring of creosote in California is recognized as the oldest living organism on earth at 11,700 years old.It is also highly prized by the Cahuilla Indians for its many medicinal and non-medicinal uses.
As you move up higher elevations in the desert, the landscape changes. There, you find manzanitas, cedars, pines, and junipers. Some junipers are full of juniper berries! We couldn’t resist and picked some juniper berries with their powdery blue skin. The junipers we found are of the California Juniper (Juniperus californica) variety.
Desert still life 001 is part of a series of modern art still life photography. Taken with a macro lens to capture the exquisite detail of the wood and the veins in the Bougainvillea flower.
Desert Still Life 001 — Prints
When we printed Desert still life 001, we printed it on two types of paper: photo paper and matte cotton rag paper. As a photograph, we knew it would look great on Epson’s Exhibition Fiber paper, which has a gorgeous texture (not entirely smooth, but not really textured). The Epson’s Hot Press smooth cotton rag paper was the unknown factor. It has a warmer tone and the colors are more muted (because the paper is completely matte). While both papers are gorgeous and each has its charm, we decided on the photo paper with its slight sheen.
Desert Still Life 001 is available in our Etsy shop.
This effect is also ,of course, more pronounced when the resolution is a little higher. The proximity and gradient of the yellow in contrast to the oranges really make it look like gold. This would be amazing printed with gold accent ink!
