1. Introduction: 

For my final inspired project I am choosing to follow the work and inspiration of the great photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Being a German photographer born in 1968 he has produced and created many prestigious collections of pieces winning the Turner Prize in 2000 and being displayed at many museums globally such as the MOMA, The Art Institute of Chicago , The Museum of Modern Art in New York , The Kunstmuseum Basel and The Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Tillmans work stems from contemporary ideas and tends to break the box of what you usually expect from photography being more emotion and moment driven, treating his work like a visual scrapbook with many complex techniques and forms. However, the photo collection I decided to dive into for my inspiration project was his Still Life series and specifically his 1991 piece Still Life Talbot Road. Being a series of work that varies throughout Tillmans career this piece in particular stands out due to its unique framing and candid like feel which represents much of Tillmans work even outside of this collection. The inspiration for this piece seems to  derive from Tillmans older still life shoots and his infatuation with the beauty of still life works from the paintings of Zurbaran and Caravaggio. Tillmans uses his unique color popping vision of the world mixed with the complexity and explorative nature of still life imagery creates a heavy sense of intrigue and encapsulation even with basic displays of common life.   

2. Technique/Form: 

Looking off of Fig. 1 it is very key to note the key technical and formal aspects of Tillmans photography. Tillmans seem to shoot at an angle similar to a birds-eye-view whilst also using filtered or overexposed settings on the work to give it a more warm and soft feel that encapsulates the feeling of a home in a way. Tillmans seem to capture his work in a very “on a whim” manner capturing lived in spaces during their time of usage, truly capturing a moment in his life. Whilst potentially a dull moment his use of warm colors, soft imagery and moderately transformative lighting makes his imagery pop and really stand out to the viewer. Tillmans Still Life Talbot Road piece (fig. 1) was printed as a C-Print and utilizes a very loose yet effective style of framing and cropping conveying that the counter top is indeed filled with more items and is messy but due to the composition of the piece leaves an intriguing sense of implied uncertainty where although not present the viewer is still able to visualize the scene without needing more content placed. Tillmans piece also seems to use a relatively extended depth of field to further encapsulate the full imagery with the content flowing together allowing the audience to be able to intake the whole image without feeling overwhelmed by the amount of subject. 

3. Concept:

Tillman’s Still Life Talbot Road seems to be conceptualized through a very long extended deep dive into the art of Still lifes where he would study the beauty of static art. Within the article “What is Wolfgang Tillmans’ still life series about?” Martin Schulze goes on to say “His attraction to objects was manifested since he began his career, but his Still Life works didn’t appear in most of his publications. In the mid-1990s, he chose to retrieve and print his early Still Life photos. In the same decade, he continued to dig deeper to the extent that he was already an icon in this genre by the 21st century. He continued to dig deeper, seeking out the paintings of Zurbaran and Caravaggio.” Speaking on Tillmans continuous growing exploration into the ideation of still lifes as he aims to take the traditional style and add his own unique flare to the form. Tillmans seems to display a sense of explorative behavior using creative angle and composition to make even a simple static still life emulate life and emotion with careful color technique and exposure. The goal of Tillmans still life work is to encapsulate life as a whole yet enhance the visual appeal to truly display his personal vision of the world and the beauty found within basic imagery. 

4. Inspiration and Concept: 

After exploring the unique and brilliant ideology and technique behind Wolfgang Tillmans still life pieces such as Still Life Talbot Road I plan on utilizing Tillmans conceptual ideology of taking lived in scenes and adding a sense of warm color and soft exposure to create my final inspired piece. I want to create a scene that feels homey and lively like Still Life Talbot Road yet spin the work to A. fit my identity and personality encapsulating the items used in my everyday life and B. encapsulate a harder more transformative use of lighting to ensure originality and preference to what I find to be visually appealing. I plan on using Tillmans technical skills such as extended depth of field, warm color adjustments and birds-eye-view angling as inspiration for my piece and his unique style of framing to encapsulate a piece that has implied meaning based on the subjects used. Whilst being suggested to use similar organic subjects such as vegetables and old appliances to follow the theme of Still Life Talbot Road I'm planning to potentially explore still life with more modern objects considered essential to me to follow the concept of bringing beauty to common life yet keep it accurate to my personal identity. I'm going to explore with hard light mixed with my personal coffee appliances and unprocessed food items as well as completely shifting

from food and encapsulating a lived in scenario with clothing items of my own such as my early ideated piece of my shoes and from there i'll decide which works best in the conceptual matter of emulating inspiration from the great Wolfgang Tillmans. I heavily look forward to this explorative opportunity and ideation and hope to come out of this with a new found knowledge on photography and the beauty of still life as a whole 

Work Cited 

Schjeldahl, Peter. “The Polymorphous Genius of Wolfgang Tillmans.” The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022,www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/10/the-polymorphous-genius-of-wolfgang-tillmans. 

“Wolfgang Tillmans’ Ways of Seeing.” W Magazine, 31 Aug. 2022, 

www.wmagazine.com/life/wolfgang-tillmans-photography-moma-retrospective. 

Wolfgang Tillmans | Moma,www.moma.org/artists/8044-wolfgang-tillmans. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025. 

Kainer, Renate. “Wolfgang Tillmans, Still Life Talbot Road.” Meyer*Kainer, 

meyerkainer.com/artworks/wolfgang-tillmans-still-life-talbot-road/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025. 

Schulze, Martin. “What Is Wolfgang Tillmans’ Still Life Series All About?” Public Delivery – Art Non-Profit, Public Delivery, 16 Apr. 2025,publicdelivery.org/wolfgang-tillmans-still-life/.