Antique Pharmacy Bottles and Remedies Sepia Still Life Photography
Glass Bottles and Faded Labels in a Crowded Cabinet
Old medicine bottles stand among boxes, tins, and jars in this sepia-toned pharmacy photograph. I found the arrangement already in place and photographed it closely, letting the varied containers fill the frame. Their labels and glass surfaces offered a still life with its own order: small items in front, taller bottles behind, and shelves extending into a softer background.
The light catches the necks and shoulders of the bottles, giving their shapes a clear outline within the darker cabinet. Some containers are rounded, others narrow and straight-sided, and their different heights create a changing rhythm across the image. I like how the transparent glass holds small highlights while the paper labels provide flatter, more textured areas.
Lettering becomes another kind of detail. Faded names and blocks of print remain visible on several packages, with a larger ointment box near the lower edge and smaller labelled containers beside it. Those marks give the objects a particular identity without requiring every word to be read. The photograph records what remains on the surfaces, including their uneven condition.
The warm sepia treatment connects the different materials within a restrained range of tones. It keeps attention on shape, light, and typography, while the shallow focus gives the nearer objects more presence than the shelves behind them. I wanted to preserve the cabinet as an observed collection of old pharmacy supplies, with its close-packed arrangement and small differences intact. The image rewards the kind of slow looking that these detailed, ordinary objects can invite.
© Dan Kosmayer, 2013
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About My Fine Art Photography
Every photograph in my collection comes from my own travels, explorations, and years behind the camera.
I create my work as photographic art rather than mass-produced decoration. From street portraits and abandoned places to landscapes, architecture, and the unusual subjects I discover along the way, each image begins with something that made me stop and look.
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