Component 1 evaluation
In this component, I looked at a number of ways to take photographs within the darkroom. I experimented with processes like pinhole photography, chemigrams, cyanotypes, rayograms and light painting. In this unit I researched a number of photographers, photographers such as Man Ray, Pierre Cordien and Gjon Mili. These photographers showed me that there are many ways to take photographs using light in a different way than with a digital camera. Starting with Techniques & Processes my attitude towards it was not very good, I thought I would find it very boring and too time consuming. But after trying to use the darkroom processes in my photography I found it quite educational because I learnt a lot about photographic paper. My experience in the darkroom is very positive. I had never been in there before and did not expect for it to have so many uses. I learnt from using the enlarger that light could be captured in multiple ways which I enjoyed experimenting with.
For rayograms, I found Man Ray very inspiring. His work included toys placed onto his photogram. I thought it looked out of the ordinary compared to the other photogram photographs I researched. In this topic I tried making my own ray grams/photograms using objects like hair and leaves which turned out very clear which was surprising. I ended up cutting up one of my rayograms because I thought it might add an interesting aspect to the outcome.
Within chemigrams I researched a photographer named Pierre Cordien. I found his work work interesting as it gave off quite an eery feeling. I created one of my own chemigrams which turned out different to my researched photographer which I was dissapionted with. The experience of creating my own chemigram using the developer and fix from the darkroom really opened my eyes to the many ways chemicals can be used to create an image. I left my chemigram in the sunlight which ended up making my final product brown.
A cyanotype photographer which I researched was known as Anna Atkins. Her cyanotypes end up with very detailed outlines of plants and a very strong colour of blue as the background. When studying her work I did not realise the amount of effort which is needed to make such stunning end results until after being taught the process. When learning about cyantotypes and how they are made I was hoping once I create my won it will turn out similar.
I had the most positive experience in the darkroom with light painting. The outcomes overall looked good as the strokes of light came out very well. I found and studied a light painting photographer called Gjon Mili. I discovered him while scrolling through pinterest as one of his light painting pieces caught my eye. An interesting photograph of a girl figure skating with strokes of light all around her. I chose to take pictures of light using penlights and the schools digital camera using a tripod to take a well focused photograph. Flash was on because the room was too dark for the camera to pick up the model without it. After we used the flash it was too bright so I then ended up standing far away while using the flash so only a little bit of light managed to reach the subject. We all figured out that the best settings were; 10 seconds (but it depends on how much you want to paint), F-Stop 8 and 100 ISO. During this experiment I found it hard to create good looking stokes of light and using the flash. My groups final photographs (second set of studio images) turned out well as the green penlight turned out very clear and bright.
I had a negative experience with pinhole photography. Justin Quinnell was the pinhole photographer I decided to look at. His very odd photograph showed me that pinhole photographs can actually come out much more detailed than i initially thought. His photograph also showed me that pinhole cameras can capture much more interesting scenes than a building or grass.To take a photograph using a pinhole camera you first put the container on something that can not easily be moved (e.g. bench), next you remove the shutter from the pinhole for 10-30 seconds (depending on the container you are using) after you have timed the amount of time you have exposed the paper you have to quickly put the shutter back over the pinhole before you overexpose it. I made my own camera using an old metal coffee container, I sprayed the inside of the container black and blocked any holed so that once photographic paper was placed inside it would not be ruined. Unfortunately, my first two attempts ended up coming out completely black. But then i borrowed a friends pinhole camera and ended up with two pinhole photographs. My final outcomes do not look interesting to me at all as they are blurred. The experience of conducting photography using this method is something I enjoyed anyway though.
For rayograms, I found Man Ray very inspiring. His work included toys placed onto his photogram. I thought it looked out of the ordinary compared to the other photogram photographs I researched. In this topic I tried making my own ray grams/photograms using objects like hair and leaves which turned out very clear which was surprising. I ended up cutting up one of my rayograms because I thought it might add an interesting aspect to the outcome.
Within chemigrams I researched a photographer named Pierre Cordien. I found his work work interesting as it gave off quite an eery feeling. I created one of my own chemigrams which turned out different to my researched photographer which I was dissapionted with. The experience of creating my own chemigram using the developer and fix from the darkroom really opened my eyes to the many ways chemicals can be used to create an image. I left my chemigram in the sunlight which ended up making my final product brown.
A cyanotype photographer which I researched was known as Anna Atkins. Her cyanotypes end up with very detailed outlines of plants and a very strong colour of blue as the background. When studying her work I did not realise the amount of effort which is needed to make such stunning end results until after being taught the process. When learning about cyantotypes and how they are made I was hoping once I create my won it will turn out similar.
I had the most positive experience in the darkroom with light painting. The outcomes overall looked good as the strokes of light came out very well. I found and studied a light painting photographer called Gjon Mili. I discovered him while scrolling through pinterest as one of his light painting pieces caught my eye. An interesting photograph of a girl figure skating with strokes of light all around her. I chose to take pictures of light using penlights and the schools digital camera using a tripod to take a well focused photograph. Flash was on because the room was too dark for the camera to pick up the model without it. After we used the flash it was too bright so I then ended up standing far away while using the flash so only a little bit of light managed to reach the subject. We all figured out that the best settings were; 10 seconds (but it depends on how much you want to paint), F-Stop 8 and 100 ISO. During this experiment I found it hard to create good looking stokes of light and using the flash. My groups final photographs (second set of studio images) turned out well as the green penlight turned out very clear and bright.
I had a negative experience with pinhole photography. Justin Quinnell was the pinhole photographer I decided to look at. His very odd photograph showed me that pinhole photographs can actually come out much more detailed than i initially thought. His photograph also showed me that pinhole cameras can capture much more interesting scenes than a building or grass.To take a photograph using a pinhole camera you first put the container on something that can not easily be moved (e.g. bench), next you remove the shutter from the pinhole for 10-30 seconds (depending on the container you are using) after you have timed the amount of time you have exposed the paper you have to quickly put the shutter back over the pinhole before you overexpose it. I made my own camera using an old metal coffee container, I sprayed the inside of the container black and blocked any holed so that once photographic paper was placed inside it would not be ruined. Unfortunately, my first two attempts ended up coming out completely black. But then i borrowed a friends pinhole camera and ended up with two pinhole photographs. My final outcomes do not look interesting to me at all as they are blurred. The experience of conducting photography using this method is something I enjoyed anyway though.
During this component I also looked at a number of themes such as, abstraction, street photography, edges and the natural world.
Starting with abstract photography I was very excited to see what I'd create and what photographers have already created. I find the abstract photographs I have pinned on pinterest very eye-catching and one of my favourite styles in photography (see abstraction page). In abstraction I researched multiple photographers such as William Eggleston and Jonni Cheatwood. Jonni Cheatwood was the photographer who influenced the style of my attraction final piece. His work consisted of portraits of people except their faces where covered with multiple colours of paint.I tried to recreate hid work by doing the same thing. While creating my final piece for abstraction I realised that making nail polish drip of a photograph is a challenging task. I managed to work through this though and created final piece. I wasn't very happy with my end result as the photographs didn't look as good as Jonni Cheatwood's work.
Street photography photographers I researched were Jeff Mermelstein, John Baldessari and Sual Leiterisan. These photographers captured scenes on the street in very different ways. My favourite method of capturing life in public was done by Jeff Mermelstein. His photographs were of very strange looking events happening on the busy streets which included bright colours. His photographs showed me that street photography can be quite invasive of peoples personal lives but that is why they interest me the most. My own street photography work started out very simple. I began my experimentation by taking picture in school while focusing on things like unusual angles, looking down, over the shoulder, shadows and reflections, etc. Those small experiments of course did not turn out to be very interesting to look at but defiantly helped when starting to take photographs on the streets. I gave myself homework to take pictures of life on the streets of Amsterdam while on holiday which ended up with photographs I am really proud of. I also took a very large amount of photographs while on a trip to Tate Modern.
While exploring the theme 'edges', I researched Dolores Marat, Sophie Tajan and Almar Haser. Starting off with this theme I wasnt very interested in photographing different textures as I found it boring. Once I started looking at other photographers I realised there are multiple ways to focus on edged of objects. I made a series of responses to Dolores Marat but then moved onto Almar Haser. I felt very inspired by her work so I based my final piece on it. I used digital photography to capture peoples faces and then changed the surface of their face. I used multiple ways to fold the printed photograph to make my work stand out. I am quite pleased with my edges final piece because I had little hope for what I would create at the start. However, I would change the fact that I only crunched up the faces of people, instead I think it would've been more interesting if I focused on parts of their faces. My attitude towards 'edged' changed throughout completing this personal project as I discovered that there are endless ways of responding to the theme.
For the 'natural world' genre I started off by researching photographers that focused on cutting out shapes from paper. They included Anna Kulachek, Shamekh Bluwi and Nikolai Tolsty. I was inspired by their creativity and the way they focused the viewers eyes on the centre of the photograph so I decided to respond to their work. I conducted some experiments but then discovered I did not want to continue with this idea so I researched more photographers. I researched a large number of photographers but the ones that inspired me to create my final piece were Vilde Rolfsen, Vanessa McKeown and Sarah Illenberg. I started off by looking at the natural resources I could use for my final piece. I also held coloured sheets of paper behind things like leaves and flowers to see if I wanted to use this idea from my researched photographers. I brought in fruits and small objects to pierce into the fruits and photographed it with a digital camera. I wanted to explore using a new technique in my final piece so I edited my images in two different ways using photoshop. I discarded the edited versions but experimented with using different objects found outside and a different angle. However, I also chose not to continue this idea so I took a step back and used some of my earlier images for my final piece. I selected four out of the nine to display and call my final piece. I consider my 'natural world' final piece to be very successful because I think it gives off a strong message to the viewer and the images are very simplistic which I consider positive. My initial thought on the 'natural world' theme was quite positive as I instantly thought of multiple ways to respond, this perspective stayed consistent throughout because the theme is very open.
Starting with abstract photography I was very excited to see what I'd create and what photographers have already created. I find the abstract photographs I have pinned on pinterest very eye-catching and one of my favourite styles in photography (see abstraction page). In abstraction I researched multiple photographers such as William Eggleston and Jonni Cheatwood. Jonni Cheatwood was the photographer who influenced the style of my attraction final piece. His work consisted of portraits of people except their faces where covered with multiple colours of paint.I tried to recreate hid work by doing the same thing. While creating my final piece for abstraction I realised that making nail polish drip of a photograph is a challenging task. I managed to work through this though and created final piece. I wasn't very happy with my end result as the photographs didn't look as good as Jonni Cheatwood's work.
Street photography photographers I researched were Jeff Mermelstein, John Baldessari and Sual Leiterisan. These photographers captured scenes on the street in very different ways. My favourite method of capturing life in public was done by Jeff Mermelstein. His photographs were of very strange looking events happening on the busy streets which included bright colours. His photographs showed me that street photography can be quite invasive of peoples personal lives but that is why they interest me the most. My own street photography work started out very simple. I began my experimentation by taking picture in school while focusing on things like unusual angles, looking down, over the shoulder, shadows and reflections, etc. Those small experiments of course did not turn out to be very interesting to look at but defiantly helped when starting to take photographs on the streets. I gave myself homework to take pictures of life on the streets of Amsterdam while on holiday which ended up with photographs I am really proud of. I also took a very large amount of photographs while on a trip to Tate Modern.
While exploring the theme 'edges', I researched Dolores Marat, Sophie Tajan and Almar Haser. Starting off with this theme I wasnt very interested in photographing different textures as I found it boring. Once I started looking at other photographers I realised there are multiple ways to focus on edged of objects. I made a series of responses to Dolores Marat but then moved onto Almar Haser. I felt very inspired by her work so I based my final piece on it. I used digital photography to capture peoples faces and then changed the surface of their face. I used multiple ways to fold the printed photograph to make my work stand out. I am quite pleased with my edges final piece because I had little hope for what I would create at the start. However, I would change the fact that I only crunched up the faces of people, instead I think it would've been more interesting if I focused on parts of their faces. My attitude towards 'edged' changed throughout completing this personal project as I discovered that there are endless ways of responding to the theme.
For the 'natural world' genre I started off by researching photographers that focused on cutting out shapes from paper. They included Anna Kulachek, Shamekh Bluwi and Nikolai Tolsty. I was inspired by their creativity and the way they focused the viewers eyes on the centre of the photograph so I decided to respond to their work. I conducted some experiments but then discovered I did not want to continue with this idea so I researched more photographers. I researched a large number of photographers but the ones that inspired me to create my final piece were Vilde Rolfsen, Vanessa McKeown and Sarah Illenberg. I started off by looking at the natural resources I could use for my final piece. I also held coloured sheets of paper behind things like leaves and flowers to see if I wanted to use this idea from my researched photographers. I brought in fruits and small objects to pierce into the fruits and photographed it with a digital camera. I wanted to explore using a new technique in my final piece so I edited my images in two different ways using photoshop. I discarded the edited versions but experimented with using different objects found outside and a different angle. However, I also chose not to continue this idea so I took a step back and used some of my earlier images for my final piece. I selected four out of the nine to display and call my final piece. I consider my 'natural world' final piece to be very successful because I think it gives off a strong message to the viewer and the images are very simplistic which I consider positive. My initial thought on the 'natural world' theme was quite positive as I instantly thought of multiple ways to respond, this perspective stayed consistent throughout because the theme is very open.