Bruce_Peterson_98099 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98041 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

With a careful eye for detail and form, Boston-based still life photographer Bruce Peterson composes magnetic black and white images from trash. Configuring plastic shopping bags, bubble wrap, and bottle caps into stark, silhouetted figures, he transforms the debris of our consumerist culture into something elegant and hypnotic.

In real life, coveted objects are often contained in the inexpensive packaging equipment Peterson shoots, but under his gaze, the disposable containers themselves become beautiful commodities, celebrated for their sleek lines and cast shadows. Peterson’s images emerge like pop art with an austere twist, incorporating the items of daily life and elevating them to the realm of fine art. Here, discarded papers and plastics become imbued with a mysterious power, shifting between a diaphanous transparency and a forbidding opacity.

Bruce_Peterson_98077 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98042 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98043 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98051 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98064 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

Bruce_Peterson_98078 © Bruce Peterson / Offset

All photos featured in this post can be found on Offset, a new curated collection of high-end commercial and editorial photography and illustration from award-winning artists around the world. Offset is an exclusive category channel partner on Feature Shoot.

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