Chalk Flower by Stephanie Gillis
Chalk Flower captures a whimsical still life created for a high school photography project, reflecting the photographer's fascination with rainbows and floral imagery. Inspired by childhood memories of storms giving way to vibrant blooms, the composition serves as a nostalgic tribute to the photographer's May birthday. The image stands out for its evocative, personal narrative and the creative use of simple, colorful elements to construct a scene that feels both innocent and intentional. By transforming everyday materials into a symbolic arrangement, the work demonstrates a promising eye for thematic storytelling and artistic expression.
Nathan Simko
Nathan Simko was born in the US, residing in Pittsburgh, PA. He travels Westmoreland, Allegheny, and the Indiana County mostly visiting small towns and villages reminiscent of his childhood, photographing the places he has seen all his life and those little spaces that seemed to have escaped his view. He has been in photography for 5 years, making mistakes and learning what he can along the way, one more frequently than the other. Current Location Pittsburgh, USA Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nssimko/ Best Achievements & Exhibitions None Award Winner Photo of the Day Camera Canon Rebel Xt Lenses and Gears 8mm 1:3.5 Fish-Eye CS, Meyer-Optik Görlitz Domiplan 2.8/50, Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6, XIT Pro series 0.43x HD AF Wide Angle lens 58mm, Canon Zoom Lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6, Rokinon Mirror Lens 500mm 1:6.3 DX Tripod: AGFAPHOTO
Resonance Score Breakdown
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Expert Photography Reviews · 3
The Dust of Yesterday
I remember my grandmother’s kitchen table, covered in a fine, white dusting of flour that always seemed to linger long after the bread was in the oven. She used to say that the mess was the best part of the memory.
Read the reflection →The Dust of Yesterday
I keep a small, wooden box filled with the broken ends of colored chalk, worn down to nubs by years of use. They are dusty, fragile things, stained with the residue of lessons long forgotten and drawings that were washed away by the first heavy rain.
Read the reflection →Reviews & Comments
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It’s a curious echo of the early color experiments by Outerbridge, yet stripped of his clinical precision. Gillis uses chalk to mimic the ephemeral nature of floral form, a nod to the botanical cyanotypes of Atkins, though far more playful. I’m genuinely charmed by how she subverts the rigid, high-school still life genre. It doesn’t reinvent the medium, but it’s a refreshing, tactile departure from the digital sterility we’ve grown so accustomed to seeing lately.
A Kodak DX6490 in a high school classroom isn’t exactly the gear one associates with the rigors of the field. It’s a modest start, certainly. One suspects the chalk dust settled long before the shutter clicked. It’s whimsical, yes, but I’ve spent enough decades shivering on ridgelines to find this sort of deliberate, indoor patience rather charming. It’s a quiet, intentional little bloom. I’d have liked to see her brave a real storm, though.
The shutter drags at a tenth of a second, blurring the edges like a soft focus lens on a dream sequence. It’s a quiet, rhythmic frame. I love the way those chalk colors bleed into the dark, mimicking the aftermath of a storm. It’s nostalgic, sure, but it’s the intentionality that hits me. The cut would’ve been a mistake here; the stillness is exactly where the story lives. It’s a beautiful, fleeting moment captured perfectly.