Fourth Year, Week 7

This week was recorded tutorial week, where we are asked to submit a small amount of writing on our work.  I hope this helps people understand what I am trying to achieve, as I still haven't thought of a good way to explain it to people in a nutshell;

 “A beautiful subject can be the object of rueful feelings, because it has aged or decayed or no longer exists. All photographs are Momento Mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to times relentless melt.” - Susan Sontag

This year I am focusing on the ideas of death; loss; the past, present and future; the passage of time; and the dead amongst the living, through photographing within my family home. This stemmed from my dissertation research, where I am focusing on ‘Camera Lucida’ by Barthes.

I am shooting 5x4” large format black and white negatives, and am finding my technical skills with this are developing strongly, providing me with a few potential final images. I am also shooting 5x4” Direct Positive paper, inserted into the camera back, exposed, then removed for development. This produces a completely unique image, which cannot be recreated many times like a conventional negative. The piece of paper that is inserted into the camera is the piece of paper that the viewer is presented with as the image. Interesting ideas lie behind this approach, and it is something I plan to continue with.

The presentation of my images is something I am currently considering. I am unsure whether or not to adopt a very traditional approach, or devise one that has the potential to inform viewers of more ideas behind the work. To experiment with this, I have been painting liquid light onto textiles collected from my Grandmothers house, which I find acts as a good way to portray the domestic ideas lying behind the work, although I am concerned that visually it will become overwhelming for the viewer, and that it becomes a bit too ‘cute’ and ‘homely’. I have had limited access to the Flextight Scanner this semester, as it needs repaired. A soon as possible, I plan to get my negatives scanned and experiment with ways in which I can present them more traditionally, for example, by framing them. The scale of the images and the order in which they are placed will play a big role in how they and received by viewers, and this is something I am currently considering very carefully.

How the images are printed will have a strong influence on how the viewer receives them, which is something I am currently exploring. In previous years, I have printed onto Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, a paper with a very high cotton content, which creates very very rich darks, and an excellent tonal range. I am planning to get sample images printed in Hahnemuhle, in various sizes, to see what works best. I am also considering other methods of printing, such as 'C-type' prints.

I have been looking at various photographers exploring family, relationships, the home, the family within the home, loss, and death; Sally Mann, Richard Billingham, Thomas Ruff, Marjolaine Ryley, Diane Arbus, Christian Boltanski and Nobuyoshi Araki. Photographers I have looked at in previous years include Walker Evans, Nan Goldin, Colin Gray, Larry Sultan, William Eggleston, Andres Serrano, Francesca Woodman, and Joanna Kane.

After my tutorial with my tutor this week I've decided to continue looking into digital printing, over liquid light, as I think everything was getting a bit too cute, and want the images to be images in their own right, rather than 'things' printed onto textiles.

I've spent most of this week scanning and editing my images on photoshop, as the scanner got fixed.  Here are some images I am very pleased with;

Fourth Year, Week 5

So this week started off with a group tutorial which I found really helpful.  I mentioned that I was considering how to present my works, more traditionally, or thinking of more imaginative ways, and someone in the group suggested fabric... So I have spent the week playing around with liquid light!  First onto paper, then onto fabric (white cotton), at the moment these are just contact prints, but I will be enlarging larger images once I get the hang of it!  It's reading week at the moment (writing this a little late...) and so I have been collecting some fabrics, bed linens, table cloths, napkins, hankies, etc., that were taken from my grans house to print onto when I get back in the studio!  Also considering scale - not sure if I want these big or small yet...  Personally, I prefer the actual photographs smaller, but I'm still not sure about the emulsion pictures.

The image on the right was my first attempt, painting the liquid light straight on onto acrylic painting paper from the bottle.  I didn't watch the wash timing very closely, hence why the emulsion is all crackled around the edges - it started to lift off when I removed it from the wash.  The image on the left is the same emulsion on the same paper, diluted 1 part emulsion to 2 parts water.  Apparently meant to give a more even coating, but I suspect this is only if you buy really swank water colour paper!

Another image with the emulsion straight form the bottle onto the paper, washed for the correct amount of time.  I think I will need to use a more absorbent paper (water colour paper) rather than acrylic to get a more even coating

....And following on from a reasonable success on paper, I applied it to cotton! Two coats, with the cotton mounted onto boards.  I'm really pleased with how these turned out, although the emulsion is slight fogged as you can see from the grey tone.  I'm ordering some brand new stuff (the stuff I'm using right now is very very old) so hopefully that will allow for very brilliant whites.

This week I am slowly drowning in applications and dissertation, so it will be nice to get back to the studio making things again next week!  I will be enlarging to 10 x 8" on cotton... when I've got that sorted, I'll start making some more final pieces (hopefully within two or three weeks)