Why Art prints?
Since I started my career in product photography, I’ve had a longstanding relationship with creating my own work. I do this to satisfy my creative needs, to generate my own ideas and show others how I see things outside of a commercial brief.
Creating personal photography work involves a process; I have to find something of interest. This may be a particular direction that I am working towards that needs a new subject, or it could be something that I’ve seen along the way that inspires me to create my own version. Whatever it is, the trigger is varied and quite hard to pin down.
When I create a piece of personal work and I’ve got it right, it’s a fantastic feeling. It’s what makes me tick as a creator. While I’ve been working in the photographic industry, I have built up an amazing treasure trove of Phil Sills personal work. However, so much of this work has not been seen! This has mostly to do with my personal work not being tied into the fashionable trend of that moment, so it didn’t fit the mould. This is the contradiction of being a creative photographer in a commercial world. I create my own work to be intentionally different! For me that is the whole point! I believe Artists are meant to discard other opinions and be true to themselves. And so it came to pass, that many personal projects created, got discarded into my creative ‘vault’. Hidden away, but not forgotten.
This is why I find myself here now, discussing Photography and Art Prints. This is my way of celebrating my personal achievements, as a photographer and an artist.
Photography
Accenting the word Photography is a very important distinction for me to make when talking about Art Prints. Disregarding the new conversations surrounding the world of AI, the word Photography is crucial because I want you to view my work with this in mind. It is my medium of choice. When you are judging my images against what you like, what makes you excited visually, I feel it is important to frame the discussion with a backdrop of Photography. This immediately starts to filter out anyone interested in painting or drawing for instance. I do not want to waste anyone’s valuable time. I want to focus my communication specifically to the medium that I have worked in all my life.
Style
An interested viewer will be assessing my photographic style.
We all have an inherent style. It is the thing that threads its way through our lives and work. It defines us, separates us and ensures that we are individual and original.
What is my photography style? Others have described it as clean and graphic. I will look at it and say I can see that my work is very singular in focus; I like to isolate and define an object. I sometimes use enhanced colours and shapes. Compositionally my work tends to be very strong whether centred and stable, or angled and obscure.
This is my style…my photographic style. This is the part of me that gets embedded into my work, particularly into my own personal photography. And it is this style that I want to share in my Photography and Art Prints. You can see my shooting style in The Gallery
The Essence of an Object
The one thing that encapsulates all of the above is my search for the very ‘essence’ of an object. I’ve spoken about this in my photography training. It is a very important part of what I do. When I look at a product, I do not see just the object. It is much more than that. I don’t just see a cabbage, a scalpel, or a glass. I see a brain, a towering shining blade or an impossible upside-down illusion. I’m always thinking what else can this object be? What do I perceive it to be about, and then how do I communicate this?
For me, product photography is so much more than just an observation. It is my interpretation of that physical form. Sometimes I create an absurd image. How do I get there? It’s hard to tell sometimes. There is a creative leap in my mind that transports the object into another state. And in that state, that object takes on another existence. Something I can make real in my photography.
‘I love my work and I think you will too…’
Going full circle, I come back to my Photography and Art Prints. I have shared in this article why I believe my personal work is the best creative work I have ever produced. The process of making this work is my juice in life. Enough said. I just want to enable you to have this work and enjoy it.
Should this intrigue you, have a look at the Art Print gallery. This is where I have started to show some of my personal images. Of the work I can share, I’ve still got more of that treasure hidden away!
I just need to find the key and go and unlock the ‘vault’.
Seek, and ye shall find! Happy hunting.
Cheers for now, Phil.
