Solargraphy

As I will have limited hours of sun in Finland I am interested in documenting this for a pinhole project. This is called Solargarphy, and has been used by many artists in the past. Solargraphy is a process that exposes black and white photographic paper in a pinhoel camera over an extended period of time, for example days, weeks, months. The negative can then be scanned for further processing in Photoshop, where the image is rendered in colour. I have experimented with solargraphy once before and had some interesting results, but I only left them for a day. I am interested in using the process to document the movement of the sun over the period I am in Finland.



This is a useful blog when looking at the different effects each type of paper gives. I have only used Ilford before so it would be interesting to experiment with other types.
http://www.greggkemp.com/projects/papers-for-solargraphy

Feedback from Peers

As well as feedback from the tutors I got some feedback from my peers, which is interesting and has given me some things to think about while I am in Finland. To make use of my time in Finland they have suggested that I could start a mail art project involving pinhole photography, which is the way I got into pinhole photography in the first place. It was also suggetsed that I could collaboarte with someone here while I was away, which is definately something I want to think about more. These would both aid as a networking opprtunities. It was also proposed that I could think about whether my final piece could be something else other than the photograph. This is again something I had never thought of before, I do percieve my photograph and camera to be final piece but maybe it could be something else?

Tutorial with Jon

As this was my last tutorial until I get back from Finland I found it very motivating. It highlighted all of the aspects that I need to focus on next term, which I knew I had to do, I just needed to focus my attention on it. Next term I should explore what the relationship is between the camera, the environment being photographed and the photograph. This is somehting I tried to do for my last exhibition, where I photographed the street outside the exhibiton yet the wheelie bin had little relevance to this. A way to help with this is to maybe answer these questions when looking at other pinhole artists work.
- Is the subject of the photograph important?
- How does this relate to the process of pinhole photography?
- How are the camera, photograph and environment related?

Answering these questions when lookin at other artists work may help me to see where my exploration of pinhole photography is going. Hopefully, with this the context of my work will appear. It was suggested in my tutorial that I should investigate site-specific installations, media-archeology, optical illusion and early film. With specific direction towards, Siegfried Zielinkski Audiovisions and Erkki Huhtamo's work.

Another, suggestion by Jon was to think about how much information Igive to the veiwer in the exhibition. This is something I wasn't going to do as I quite like the obscurity of the photograph and camera, yet as it had been brought to my attention maybe it is something I need to think about. Should I make it obvious that it is a pinhole camera? Jon also suggested that I should think about maybe placing the image back into the camera, which is something that I had never considered. But, this could be an intersting concept as you will see the image in the camera where it was created.

Tutorial with Gavin

My essay for my HCC id well underway now, I have always been interested in land art yet I have never really looked into it as an art form. Which, I should have really as I suppose some of my work could be linked in some ways, especially my work last year. Anyway, I have for my essay I have focussed on artists who tried to escape the gallery system in 1960's, which has led me on to research Richard Long, a well-known land artists who uses walking as his medium for his work. I had a tutorial with Fionna and she directed me to Gavin, who is doing his Phd in Walking as Art. I find walking as a art an interesting concept, as it is talking art down to its minimum and questioning what actually is art. Gavin was really helpful and gave me a great insight into walking as art, there is a divide actually two forms which I never realised; rural and urban walking. This is something I need to make clear in my essay, even if I don't use urban walking I still need to recognise that it is different from rural walking.

Farm equipment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuA7fG58KI

Read the following then watch the video to fully appreciate & understand......

This is almost unbelievable. See how all of the balls wind up in catcher cones. This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between The Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa, yes farm equipment! It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was well worth the effort. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to

the Smithsonian.

Exhibiton

My half year exhibition is up in the link gallery, after debating whether to display my photograph on the wheelie bin or not, I have decided to hang it above the wheelie bin. I wanted to have the bin as part of the exhibition as I see my cameras as much of my work as the photographs themselves. I wanted to create some coherence in my work, therefore for this project I have created a link between the photograph taken and the exhibition space. My exhibition is placed in the Link Gallery near a window. It is out of this window on the street that I used the wheelie bin to take the photograph, creating a correlation between exhibition space and photograph. Although, the photograph is the negative of the street, which makes it less obvious. I do quite like this though, as well as I don't like to make it obvious that it is a pinhole camera.

Wheelie bin 2

I have eventually been able to produce a successful image with my wheelie bin camera. After many attempts and the weather giving rather bad light conditions I managed to get an image which is clear and in focus. I have used this image in my half year exhibition. I have enjoyed working with a larger camera and it has expanded my knowledge of pinhole camera. It is just a problem when it comes to wanting to photograph places far from university, so I would some how have to find a way to travel with the wheelie bin, or other large pinhole camera. I am quite interested in making a life size camera which can be used to photograph life sized images of people.

Wheelie bin camera

As part of the food project I have decided to look into turning a wheelie bin into a pinhole camera. I want then use the camera to photograph the rubbish we would throw away in a week, the idea is to show the amount of things we actually throw away and how much goes to a landfill site. I would also like to continue this idea through and go to a landfill site and photograph there with the wheelie bin.

My first results came out well, yet were not in focus. So I made the aperture smaller, however it had gone quite dull outside and all of these factors meant I didn't get an image. But, I will be out trying again tomorrow.

Steve Pippin

I have recently been introduced to the work of Steve Pippin during ym tutorial with Jon, I can't believe I have not come across his work during my pinhole research. He seems to be a key pinhoel artist and was short listed for the Turner prize in 1999. His work has close connections to mine, in that it is not just the end photographs which is centre to his practice but, also the camera itself. Being interested in mechanics his work shows this, taking mudance objects and furniture and turnig them into pinhole cameras. This includes; fridges, washing machines and bath tubs. An example of his work is shown above, in the overall appearance the image is like my own pinhol photographs, the round image inside the square of paper. His photographs also show a beautiful aged appearance, which I love. I am very inclined to look into making work on a larger scale and seeing what objects I can use to create my images.

Taking the camera down to its bare minimum

I have been looking into taking the camera down to its bare minimum, where I have made the camera out of just the photographic paper. After a few attempts I have been able to make it light tight enough to actually use it as a camera and create an image. I am interested what image will occur as the whole of the inside will be photographic paper, it may be quite disjointed but, I am looking forward to trying to get some interesting results.

University of Lapland

It has just been confirmed that I have been accepted to study in Finland at the University of Lapland for four months as of January. I can't wait, although it will be freezing I am hoping it is going to be an exciting and fulfilling opportunity. The chance to study in a new city, especially one so different to England, will be fantastic.

Daina F+

After a discussion about my pinhole cameras with a fellow student they introduced me to the world of lomography. I had never heard of it before but, it sounded like it was just up my street; beautiful mistakes occurring with delicate results. So, off I went to do some of my own research on lomography not sure with what I would find. To my excitement a world of opportunity and exquisite photographs emerged.

Not long after I decided to buy the Daina F+ camera, the extra pinhole function appealing to me straight away. I have just finished my first film and can't wait to see the results once it has been developed. I will keep my results posted.

Land art lecture

Land Art is an area I have always been interested in yet I have never done much research. Today I had a lecture on Land Art and artists who tried to escape the gallery and art system, starting with the work of Robert Smithson who went into the landscape looking for areas of land scarred by humana and industry. The most well-known piece is 'Spiral Jetty', and spiral of rocks going into a salt lake, Smithson was keen for the environment to interact with his work, the ultimate happened when the spiral was covered by the lake for a period of time. The notion of the work decaying and not being maintained in a pristine condition appeals to me, I don't like the perfect and love being able to see a history of somehting in the texture which are created by decay, erosion etc. To me the imperfect is more beautiful. Smithsons work was created as a reaction to the white cube gallery and the work of artists such as, Caro and Serra who used industrial items like steel in their works. Smithson comments, "Why steel is valued over rust is a technological value, not an artistic one." This shows Smithsons resentment for steel being used in its prestine condition and values it's beauty once it has eroded and turned to rust.

Various other interesting aspects of Land Art were also raised in my seminar, mainly concerning the fact that many land art artists wanted there work to show the notion of escaping the gallery and being unconnected with it. Yet this seems to be an impossible thing to do, as many of the artists had to rely on galleries for their support, which ultimatly contradicts the reason the artists wanted to work out of the gallery. They didn't like the way art had become so controlled by the white cube gallery, but without this can any of their work really been seen as art? The gallery is now instrumental in the art world, and has the power to say what is art today.

Pringle pinhole camera

I have been doing alot of experiments using a pringle tube as a pinhole camera, after having seen some images created by other pringle cameras. due to the cylinder shape of the tube it creates a wide angled image compared to my other pinhole experiments. Due to the length of the tube I have also been able to put 2 apertures in the same tube, which means I get two images on the same piece of paper of the same place. I am going to next try experimenting with only opening one pinhole at a time, so that the images will be different yet still on the same piece of paper.

First Tutorial

I found our group tutorial with Jon quite productive compared to the single tutorials we had last year. It was interesting to hear others ideas and processes as they go through out the year, and also to have their imput on my work. Thinking about the food project I am being pulled towards actually making cameras out of food instead of pursueing my initial interest in 'food and mood', this came apparent in the tutorial, and I am going to start with a pepper. I thought this would be an easier option to start with as it would hold it shape and hopefully won't take long to produce.

Some of the others in my group were interested in the aspect of food and habits/phobias. Some phobias brought up were fascinating, one girl could not eat any food on her plate if it was touching another type of food. I wonder what it would be like to feel that strong about something I would just take for granted (food touching food ona plate) How would it impact your everyday life? You wouldn't be able to order anything in a restaurant as generally food comes touching each other on the plate.

Food project

To commence the second year we have been given a project with the theme of 'food'. I have been particulary interested in looking at how foos effects mood and our behaviour. There have been quite a few experiments donw which imply additives and pesticides effect us adn make our behaviour more aggressive. However, there has not been sufficient testing to make these accounts creditable.

It surprised me that surveys had also been done on pets, such as cats and dogs. The results are evident that cheaper pet foods with less nutrients and more additives cause more aggressive behaviour. I had never really thought about this, but pets are just the same as us and we should watch what they eat just as much as we would ourselves.

There were some other interesting points made in our group disscussion, I found it interesting when someone mentioned how they looked at other peoples shopping, trying to gather information on what that person is like just from what they eat. It is fascinating how you can create an image of someone from just what is in there trolley. I hadn't thought of this but, I am sometimes consious opf what i am buying and wonder what people think of me.

Back to interactive arts

After a long summer of working and a bit of travelling it is good to get back to manchester and be back in the dark rooms. I didn't manage to do much pinhole photography over the summer due to the lack of a dark room (which is something I need to look into) but, I am back on with the experimenting now. I have no particular subject I want to focus on, I am just keen to learn and explore as much pinhole photography as I can. To start off with I have a project called 'A Pinhole a Day', where I will make a use a camera everyday. I am keen to experiment with the limitations of pinhole photography and see where it will take me.

Someone's lost lists

I also found these two lists while putting up my exhibition, a 'to do' list and a 'christmas' list.  I am not sure who they belong to as they were just left stuck to the wall.  However, they must have been quite an organised person, I wonder if they made lists on a daily basis?  I was slightly confussed by the person buying "marshmellow fluff" for their friends "Louis" and "Hatbat".  What is marshmellow fluff? I didn't know there was such a thing. 

lost space tag

I found this tag when putting up my exhibition pieces, it says "Lora's wicked cool space... YEP!"  I wonder what her space was like before I turned it into my exhibition space... was it wicked? was it cool? Suppose I won't find out. 

First Year Exhibition - Interactive Arts

I have just finished putting my first exhibition up for my Interactive Arts Degree.  It all went without much stress, which I was pleased about. I decided to display two larger casts of Manchester pavements and a series of 25 photographs from my various sites around Manchester.  I thought these pieces best represented the aim of the project, while also displaying the work which I enjoyed doing the most - this is an important aspect of producing work to me!  I liked how although the pieces juxtaposed each other (due to the varying media used), but also enhanced each others representation of the project.  All together it was a successful week! 

Nicola Dale

While looking at mail art projects I came across this piece, where the artist has painstakingly cut leaves from pages of a book. This has made the leaves stretch out towards a source of natural sunlight, as though the book is living and changing in the way that history does. I like the whole connection to journeys here as I collect old books because of the history of them. I like the way other people have touched the book before me and it has been a part of their journey in life.

Der Lauf Der Dinge

We watched a video with Hazel in our Monday morning meeting, called 'Der Lauf Der Dinge', this is an art film by the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss. It documents a long casual chain assembled of everyday objects, resembling a Rube Goldberg machine. The machine is in a warhouse and incorporates materials such as tyres, trash bags, ladders, soap, oil drums and gasoline. Fire and pyrotechnics are used as chamical triggers. The film is a great concoction of items which move together in a continuous manner to create a rather beautiful and calming effect.

I have found this video on youtube when trying to find the video again, it again involves the same notion of a chain of items moving in a continuous manner. However, there is a more common use of marbles which role and are moved around the set of items. I loved how magnets were used to move magnetic marbles, and it seemed they were moving on their own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDudog6zF7k

Passport Photo

I have sent my passport photo off as part of another mail art project. David Crawley is working with the notion of the 'passport image' and how the UK Passport Office rejects atleast 20% of all photographs. His project, entitled 'Photobooth', is intended for participants to be filmed whilst being photographed in a passport style.

www.davidtcrawley.co.uk

Cloud formations

In these images you can see some cloud formations, which I think gives quite a magical effect as with my other images the sky has either been blank or black.  To get the cloud formations you have to get the exposure the correct duration.  Trying to capture cloud formations is something I want to continue experimenting, which will lead to trying to capture light in my images rather than detail of the place.  

Pinhole skyline

I have again used the small aperture for this image, however I pointed the camera higher than most of my other exposures.  I wasn't sure what would happen but I love the results I got.  You get a clear definition of the skyline as the sky goes black compared to the white buildings of the skyline.  It has become quite a ghostly image, and has become another thing I can preserve about the sites. 

Pinhole camera with small aperture

For this exposure I have used a small aperture, created using a needle.  This gives more focussed detail, yet the image is still delicate and discrete, this is what I love about the pinhole camera.  The viewer is still only given an essence of the place without seeing everything in detail, it feels like you are rather distant from the place. 

My exposures

I love the pinhole camera! I have got some great images from using them and want to continue with the experimentation to see what other effects I can create.  It did take quite a lot of trial and error at first to actual get any detail in the images, I found that my first diameter was much too large and kept coming out with black circles.  With some perfection and a new way to make a hole in the tin cans it did get some fascinating results.  I found it best to first drill a hole in the tin can (1-2cm) and then get a piece of a coke can, sand the centre so that it was as thin as possible, and then pierce it with a needle.  This allowed me to get some very small apertures, and it is these small apertures which enabled me to get such definition in my images.  In the future I could maybe experiment with lenses to adjust the focus, but this will do for my first set of pinhole cameras.  The image here is one of the first I did where I got some sort of definition, even tho the centre of the image is still black and been exposed too much, I think it creates a nice effect as the viewer is blocked off from some areas, and presented with foggy fragments from the site.

My sites in Manchester

I think I have explained this earlier but I will explain again to clarify; for my current project I have a map of Manchester and thrown darts at it, I will then go to these random sites and preserve them in all different ways.  Anyway here is the map with the sites which have been selected, I threw the dart at the map randomly, but there does seem to be quite a few darts which have landed rather centrally on the map.  I didn't know my dart throwing could be so precise, maybe I should have worn a blind fold?  I had selected ten sites, but for my exhibition I am just going to preserve the five sites selected in the circle at the bottom.  I am going to continue with the project and collate a full archive of the sites in Manchester. 

Medieval 21st

My cousin had her 21st birthday recently and didn't want the usual disco party celebrations and decided that she wanted to have a Medieval party, with a band and dancing with a caller and the lovely dresses!  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a great night, everyone joined in with the dancing.  This reminded me of maypole dancing at primary school. 

Lost and found Cadburys tin can

I found this Cadburys tin can in my dads garage and thought I would rescue it.  It used to hold Cadburys cocoa powder I think.  I love all the old adverts around the outside, my favorite is the advert with the cyclists. I have given it a safe home and it is now my ribbon box. 

My pinhole camera

I have finished my pinhole camera and have been taking some exposures around the city of Manchester.  The camera is made of tin cans and cardboard (so it is falling apart a little bit, maybe I will try and make a camera from a more substantial material), and it has four apertures all of various diameters.  I placed the tripod over the site which had been picked by the dart on the map and photographed various scenes in the area.  I love the effects of the pinhole camera, the detail is delicate and discrete.  I also like how no one will ever be able to reproduce that same image again, like you could with a negative or a digital camera. 

Lets go fly a kite...

Our interactive arts class went on a trip to Glossop recently to fly kites.  I took a kite I had brought, because I had been making miniature kites to be flown indoors, so it wasn't possible to fly them on the windy hills of Glossop.  Even though my brought kite was un-flyable, quite a few of us tried but it keep crashing to the ground.  However, lots of other students kites were successful, my favourite was one made by an erasmus student; where a line of 5 kites were strung together.  A simple carrier bag kite form Genette was really effective.  Steph and Julia's parachute worked well (with some muscle power from Cen) and they managed to get it too glide down the hill side.  I thought the best thing was Jon's idea of letting a reel of red and white tape go, it caught the wind and floated delicately across the valley.  It was like a drawing across the landscape, it was great how such a simple technique created such a beautiful effect. 

What can you send without an envelope?

This is another mail art project I have become involved with.  For this project you had to send something without using an envelope.  I sent a ballet shoe because in my spare time I dance, and the other day my ballet shoe ripped in my dance class so I therefore can't wear it anymore.  I decided I would try and send it and see if it gets there, hopefully this will happen. 

Pinhole Litter Project

1.
2.

3.

Hazel let me know about a mail art site, where there was a current project on pinhole cameras. This is a collaborative pinhole project to clean up and re-engage with our surroundings, and learn about the art of pinhole photography.  You have to collect a can and photograph in its environment and then send the can off to be turned into a pinhole camera which you will then be sent back to take a photograph of the site using the can.  The aim is to replace litter with a creative vision, and the cans are later recycled.  I found this project extremely interesting as I am currently exploring the pinhole camera, so thought it would be great to get involved.  The images show the sites I found the site.  I am still waiting to receive them back, but hopefully it wont be too long. 

1. found under a bench outside my door at Briarfields accommodation, Manchester

2. found on the floor outside the Salutation, Manchester

3. found on the wall outside the Salutation, Manchester

Journal Exhibition

I was surprised to see my work up in the Holden Gallery as I walked through one day; I had entered for the exhibition but had never heard anything back, so I was unsure as to whether my work would be displayed or not.  I was pleased as a walked through the exhibition as saw my work there, I have only ever been part of exhibitions put on for final shows at High School and on my Foundation year.  Anyway, the exhibition displayed a range of sketch book pages from entries.  I displayed a few pages from my foundation degree final project sketch book; my project focussed on the subject of restriction of movement and how this would effect you.  Below is an image of the pages from my sketch book (mine are the pages on the second row).

OAP on A27

I found this image when I was searching around on the internet.  I found it funny when i first saw it and it still does make you smile.  But, at the same time it is quite worrying, how does an OAP come to think that his wheel chair is road worthy? And even if he did think it is, shouldn't he wear a helmet lol!  To add to this I showed it to a friend and she said that she heard on the news once that an elderly woman had managed to travel all over England in her electric wheel chair, o to be an OAP and have no worries!  

pin hole cameras

I have recently started to make some pinhole cameras, I have never made any before but they are quite simple.  I have done quite a few samples and had little success, however today I have managed to get to grip with long the exposures should be in certain conditions; for example depending how large the aperture is, how sunny it is and where the camera is pointing.  The results are quite ghostly but I like this. There is one I especially like where there is little detail given but u can see the shape of the buildings and landscape.  Eventually, I want to make a pinhole camera which has 6 different apertures.  All facing in different directions; up, down, north, east, south and west.  This will allow me to preserve all areas of my site at once.   

Antony Gormley

I saw Antony Gormley's piece 'Filter' at Manchester Art Gallery, it hung from the ceiling as if it was floating.  The piece was the casting of the human body made from washers, the juxtaposition of the metal and the fragile sculpture worked well.  I may experiment with this medium as a way of casting the roof on my third site. 

Trip to Liverpool

I visited the Bluecoat in Liverpool this weekend when I went to see my friend.  There is a new exhibition on at the moment 'Next Up' showing Liverpool's new working artists.  I loved a piece by Gina Czarnecki, there is a delicate mash of human dancers creating a sensitive texture on the page.  The composition was curious and unexpected and made me want to see deeper into the mash of limbs.  I was influenced by James Loftus, who deploys his functional sculptures to survey the city's dark matter.  The core of his project is the pinhole camera, which he used to capture 6 images of the city at one time, this is a technique I may use to preserve the area around my site.  His photographs were misty and delicate, and gave beautiful scenes. 

Review of Slumdog Millionaire

A visual wonder from start to finish, this family film of shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse and a fantasy of wealth fueled by crashing poverty is worth a watch.  It has been reviewed by many as a modern fairy tale and with its gaudy rush of colour and kinetic editing, it pulled on all my heart-strings.  The way Danny Boyle giddily bounces between past and present captivated deep emotions.

Half Year Review

I found this an extremely useful way of collating my ideas and my work, and even without doing the presentation it was a useful exercise.  I felt that I had a bit distant from my work and needed to become encapsulated by it again.  I feel this has happened again since the review and I am confident this attitude will continue. 

Although, I found the presentation rather daunting I felt more confidant as I went on, and think this is a great stepping stone towards me becoming more confident talking in groups and also about explaining my work.  I now have to continue with my preservation of my sites in Manchester, and I will become more forward thinking about the sites I did not earlier think I would be able to preserve - there is a way to do everything if you try!!

Preserving Manchester...

I have cast some pavements and my technique worked so all is good,  although I did have some perfecting along the way and a few queries from some security men about what I was doing.  I realised that I need to put some sort of lubricant on the surface first, vaseline worked great and I also had to apply modrock to the top of the alginate so that I could press down on it to mould to the pavement.  

Now that I have this technique of preserving under my belt it is on to other things I can preserve at the site.  For example, the wind, cloud formations and the people at the site at that particular time.  I am also going to broaden my range of Manchester and will use the full map, instead of a small section which I used for tests.