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.