Shooting assignment

 Jewarly  - Mirrored Value

1. Concept development - my project theme is “Value of Objecthood”. This focus is on the difference between an object's aesthetic presence and its monetary value. Jewarly is a super important aspect of my life. In my cultural Jewarly such as gold or silver represent wealth and love in families. It shows how much parents provide for their children through the amount of jewelry they are gifted. In India, if you see people wearing gold it represents status and family relationships. For this project, I chose bright colored Jewarly of different metals and stones. These were gifted to me by my mom, aunt, and grandma. I photographed these items to showcase the identity each piece holds. I chose an ornate emerald and sapphire jewelry set and paired it with a decorative silver mirror to explore how reflection alters our perception of value. The mirror introduced the idea of worth and constructs how it is framed and displayed, I intended to create still lives where Jewarly feels precious and ordinary, like a part of everyday life to highlight the tension between galore and objecthood.

2. Visual research 

First I examined Jan Davidsz. De Heem’s 17th-century Dutch still life. These layers represent objects such as vessels, silverware, fruit, and silks to show wealth and transience. The dramatic lighting she uses controls the reflections influenced by the objects. It helped me pick out a mirror to heighten the jewels' shimmering textures. 

Second, I researched Laura Letinsky, who used minimalist arrangements of domestic objects to show consumption and value. She uses negative space and soft lighting to isolate and highlight objects. This inspired me to isolate the Jewarly on a single surface to avoid clutter and create significance. 

Third I reference Pieter Claesz, who was a Dutch still life painter. He used monochrome palettes and symbolic reflective surfaces. His quiet controlled pieces inspired me to emphasize the calm and muted tones in my room to allow the gemstones to stand out in contrast.

3. Object curation 

I chose seven objects; two emerald necklaces, matching earrings, a sapphire bracelet, a sapphire ring, a silver hand mirror, and neutral grey fabric in my room as a surface. The emerald Jewarly has a dramatic scale and ornate metal work with deep green stones which shine in the light. It shows luxury and excess. The spahirre bracelet and ring are a blue tone which contrasts with the green to create visual tension between the two sets. It suggests diversity in aesthetic value. The mirror bevuad the structure, a center which was a reflective surface that doubles the object and transforms it into a higher lexary, the balance of color, texture, and narrative explores different dimensions of value. 

4-6 Composition and lighting, photographing series, editing, presentation (see final 5 images above)

7. Write a reflection 

My still life project was about the value and objecthood of Jewarly. I intended to understand what makes an object feel precious. Jewarly was the foundation of my exploration because it is special and important in my culture. It symbolizes culture and material worth. By removing these pieces from their usual contexts such as special occasions or outfits, I was to observe how the perceived value shifts. Photographing these pieces in a crafted form allows me to see each object intimately and analytically. The structure of my photos was a silver hand mirror. This mirror heightens the richness of each gemstone through reflection and shapes the way objects are contracted or doubled by perception. My use of a mirror was inspired by Jan Davisdsz who takes luxury objects and places them on reflective surfaces to empathize beauty and excess. Studying his work helped me add reflection to my project and create that connection between objects and viewers. I found that lighting was a big challenge when creating my project, as it was very reflective as is, and using a mirror created more of a challenge, it was hard to eliminate harsh highlights and overpower the gemstones, but through trial and error, I was able to produce soft artificial light which crafted depth. Controlling shadows and other reflections such as my phone when taking the photos was not easy. It took may shots and repositioning to get the best compositions. Overall, thailronect taught me how formal decisions such as angle, lighting, arrangement, and background form preceptions on object worth, when islsoated into formed surfaces, the jewelry shines differently, each intricate details is represented form metal, color, to patterns. Each part is highlighted and shown, this project ending up diving deeper into reflection of how each value of a object is created, what makes an object valuable is the memories and how we perceive it in different lights.