Celebrated photographer Robert Tardio has once again captured the imagination of the creative world with his stunning still life projects, “Wired Flowers” (left) and “Wired Cosmetics” (right). Winning Gold at the Photography Awards 2024, Robert’s work showcases his unique ability to transform everyday elements into extraordinary compositions. By incorporating armature wire as a sculptural feature, Robert, in collaboration with stylist Linden Elstran, masterfully highlights the unseen structures that bring these vibrant images to life. These award-winning pieces demonstrate the innovative spirit and artistic excellence that define Robert’s career.
By: Robert Tardio, Photographer, Robert Tardio Photography
It’s an honor to be highlighted on the Graphis blog. For my entire career, Graphis has been a consistent source of creative inspiration that I return to time and again. As a still life photographer, one of the themes I come back to from time to time in my work is utilizing the elements that are usually behind the scenes or removed from a final image and highlighting them as part of the composition itself. Wire, specifically armature wire, is something we use routinely to build arrangements of objects and animate them in ways that make them appear precarious and able to defy gravity. The wire is usually hidden behind the subject or removed in post-production.
In both the “Wired Flower” and “Wired Cosmetic” series, I’ve worked with longtime stylist/friend Linden Elstran to sculpturally craft the wire and actually highlight it in the compositions. Over the years, I have worked with Linden on many projects involving botanical elements. Linden has a wonderful way of using natural elements, and I’ve always enjoyed photographing her floral creations. For “Wired Flowers,” we collaborated to choose the proper gauge of wire and craft armatures to best present the branch or flower without overpowering the composition. One of the things I love about this type of work is the combination of both the physical process of bending and twisting the wire to accommodate the subject and the aesthetic process of composing and lighting the creation until it fulfills my vision.
For “Wired Cosmetic,” we simply took the “wired” concept and applied it to a more commercial application. I wanted to explore two approaches: one in which the wire was crafted to simply hold the products and a second in which the objects were wrapped entirely in the wire and emerged from their wire cocoons. In both series, we kept the backgrounds simple, with gradated colors that complimented the subject colors without adding visual complications to the images.
