Still life photographer Sam Nicklin loves vintage adverts, colour coordination and eBay

If you’ve recently encountered the work of Sam Nicklin, there’s a good chance it’s been his colour coordination series, Colours, which has been receiving much fanfare online. The personal project arose from one of Sam’s core hobbies – collecting. “My flat is full to the brim with weird pieces that I’ve collected from all over the world,” he says, “everywhere from markets to eBay – you can find a gem anywhere.” The series sees Sam curate this mass of “unlikely” objects into colour coordinated collections, which are then photographed individually before being stitched together to create one very satisfying artwork. He’s done orange, mint green, red, green and pink, but it’s not just about the colour – it’s about bringing out the unique characteristics and charm of each of the everyday objects. “Honestly I just love looking at objects and capturing how I see them as more than just a ‘thing’,” Sam says.

This personal passion bleeds into Sam’s commissioned still life work, where his favourite part of the process is prop-sourcing, slipping those everyday objects in amongst high-fashion wares, like watches (see a Dior watch paired with a crispy stack of onion rings). Tonally, Sam is drawn to vintage print advertising from a bygone era. “The fonts, the colours and the layouts inspire me, and I feel it’s something modern advertisement doesn’t get quite the same.” Safe to say, Sam’s work certainly wouldn’t be out of place in a double spread of a 70s magazine you’ve just nabbed off eBay.