Stanko Abadžić

Abadžić is a Croatian photographer who has produced many projects in many cities across Europe such as Paris. I, however became inspired by his still life images in his project 'Marginalia' I enjoyed his use of defined shadows from the objects he chose to photography. For example the image below 'Fork and Plate'  the shadow of the fork dominates the image and is the main focal point, this has been created by using a sharp light coming from the top of the image, rather than using natural light which he has used in other projects. I also enjoyed the positioning of the camera and the angle it captures the plate at, as it is looking down at the objects from a higher angle. In this way the shadows become even more enhanced and gives the overall image a harsh and defined feel. The added effect of the black and white edit, also shows the real detail and simplicity of the overall image which I also found interesting; especially because I haven't found many other black and white still-life photographs. http://sabadzic.net.amis.hr/portfolio-marginalia.html 

I tried to re-create my own black and white shadowed piece using straws which i found along the streets in a gutter. I positioned them in a way which created a cross and therefore an interesting shadow. I then set up the lighting; in which pointed directly at the straws so the shadow was behind them, however I wanted the shadow to be quite small and thick so the it was easily recognisable and the viwee had no trouble noticing it, like in  Abadžić's piece. This is my attempt:

I liked this photograph due to the success of the shadow, however I dislike it as the object itself is slanted and therefore the overall composition of the piece does not work well. I also feel the shot is overexposed as the shot is rather dark, I did want this shot to be dark to create the shadow but I should've changed the aperture

 to get the right exposure