Photograms
In todays lesson, we went into the dark room to create some photograms, we done this by setting the rooms light into red this is because of the chemicals and the paper in the room (which because the paper might expose and you wouldn't be able to use it) so we used the enlarger to set the lights and then placed a exposable paper underneath the red light and selected the items we wanted to add. So after placing the items we had exposed the paper for 3 seconds, to see if it would expose the items clearly or unfocused and to check if it had worked out how we wanted we placed them into the chemicals which were; developer, stop and the fixer.
Within our first lesson, we had done photograms and at first I forgot how to do it but then after Ms demonstrating it to the class, I then started to remember how to do it. So at first I wanted to go for something really simple but after putting it into the chemicals and seeing it overall I didn't really like the idea of that. So the image on the right was my first one I had done in the lesson and what I could of done better is that I could of placed more objects to create one thing for example a flower or a bike or an animal. Or I could just over lapped some objects so when the light hit the paper and then putting it into the chemicals we would see the overlapping on the paper. But the thing that had worked really well for the first time I have done this is that the paper was not over exposed meaning that the paper wasn't fully black, and for that not to happen I tried 3 seconds at first because every time I have done photograms 3 seconds was good so the objects was clear enough to see on the exposable paper or it was way to much time for the paper so I would just get a plain black background. I realised how many seconds I had to expose the paper for and this was by experimenting with the times and with different objects like your hands, a drawing, an object and etc, this is because for different things you place on the paper you would have to reflect the light for certain amount of time.
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Man Ray
The artist that I have found that has done something similar to my photograms is Man Ray which he had made his every own rayograms, without using a camera and he done that by pacing objects such as thumbtacks, coil of wire and other different types of objects then placed them directly to a sheet of photosensitised paper and exposing it with light. Man Ray made his "rayographs" without a camera by placing objects-such as the thumbtacks, coil of wire, and other circular forms used here-directly on a sheet of photosensitised paper and exposing it to light. Man Ray had photographed everyday objects before, but these unique, visionary images immediately put the photographer on par with the avant-garde painters of the day. Hovering between the abstract and the representational, the rayographs revealed a new way of seeing that delighted the Dadaist poets who championed his work, and that pointed the way to the dreamlike visions of the Surrealist writers and painters who followed.
Photograms Of Spirals
I decided to do photograms with paper strips, to experiment on how it would turn out and the different lighting of the paper.
Moholy nagy
"The reality of our century is technology: the invention, construction and maintenance of machines. To be a user of machines is to be of the spirit of this century. Machines have replaced the transcendental spiritualism of past eras."
Moholy-Nagy soon realised the richness and the quality of the material, since his first photograms were done in Berlin in 1922; from then on he produced them repeatedly until 1946. Moholy Nagy played a really important role at the Bauhaus in Weimar and also at Dessau, as a painter, graphic artist and an impassioned of avant-garde photography. He had made his images without a camera by handing his hands and different types of objects on a sheet of photographic paper and exposing it to light. The thing I loved about his work was that when he had placed the objects or his hand and exposing it to light, the object had left a shadow which gave a 3 dimensional look to the object on the paper. Also it's not just that, the way his images turn out is so unique and each one of that is individual.
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Pierre Cordier
"With the advent of photography in 1839, painting underwent a radical transformation. Nowadays, the digital process is revolutionizing photography. The chemigram, fusion of painting and photography, is most likely the ultimate adventure of gelatin silver bromide."
Pierre Cordier was a Belgian artist who was the first to invent the Chemigram, which he is also known as the most famous artist to use the Chemigram. As it has been said by Cordier Chemigrams is not a form or a type of photograph, which to make life way easier we shall say that a photograph and a photogram are two different type of things with two different definition. Well the difference between a Chemigram and a Photogram techniques is that a Chemigram is drawn and carved into which you could put any type of chemical on top of it but with the use of the chemicals it will allow it to create a different type of effect to the Photogram and thats because the paper gains more results.
Photograms
I have created 3 sets of photograms, 2 of them was with one enlarger and the other one was with another, this is because the lighting on the enlarger, which with the first enlarger i have used it had left a circle around the paper and where the light has exposed on the photographic paper. With the first enlarger the F Stop was on 5.6 so around half way. they have worked out really well this is because the pattern that I had drawn on acetate paper I used that as a design for my photogram which was really successful this is also because the patterns came out really clear with the white lines against the black background paper. But the only thing that I didn't like about my first two experiments was that the light had left a circle around my paper which meaning not all of the patterns that i had drew reflected/exposed to the photographic paper. Also another thing I disliked about my photograms were that when I exposed my photographic paper there was other stuff which wasn't meant to be there, which guessing it could be chemicals that the other person that had used this enlarger didn't clean up so it left mark all over my photographic paper. So to improve my work and to make it better, I moved to a different enlarger which this time the F Stop was a bit more higher than the other one, which was set at 20. I didn't want to change it this is because I wanted to see the difference between them.
Chemigrams
With the chemigrams that I have created by using different types of liquids I was able to see what the reaction will be after I have placed it in the chemicals. For example, I have used; nail varnish, bleach, hand cream, spray, oil, and spit. By looking at the chemigrams that I have created they didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to this maybe because I didn’t like the look of it or maybe I would have wanted to experiment with different other type of liquids and tested them out to see how they would of turn out. Maybe for next time when I am free next or after school I would bring in my own objects that I would have wanted to try out at the time of created these experiments and for example I could bring other things to try and improve my work and also by expanding it as well. What I could also do another time is by adding all of the liquids together and see the outcome of that one particular thing. If I was to describe this photograph to someone that has never seen this before done this before I would probably show them the processes for this experiment by saying, firstly you have to start off by bring in your own equipment in that are all liquids and give them some examples like nail varnish, oil, spray and etc. Then I will give them a set of photographic paper and tell them that they can place anything on top of the paper while they do that I would get the chemicals ready for them. So after they have done the thing they wanted to I would tell them to place the paper into the developer. And then I will tell them that it would stay in there for how long you want it to be. But if was walking talking about people that had disability such as being blind I would allow them to feel the paper this is because their touch sense will be much stronger. So after that I would tell them that we would be using chemicals to help the paper fix its way up and to develop the liquids onto the paper. So maybe I would tell the person that we would be pouring the liquids to the photographic paper and then place it into the chemicals.
Adam Fuss
We’re so conditioned to the syntax of the camera that we don’t realize that we are running on only half the visual alphabet….It’s what we see every day in the magazines, on billboards, and even on television. All those images are being produced basically the same way, through a lens and a camera. I’m saying there are many, many other ways to produce photographic imagery, and I would imagine that a lot of them have yet to be explored.--Adam Fuss
With Fuss's work the thing that I was amazed by is the way he creates photogram (a picture produced with photographic materials, such as light-sensitive paper, but without a camera) out of different materials and light creating different types of photograms relying on the most basic infrastructure of photography. Which he also includes other things in his photograms: water droplets, smoke, flowers etc. From my point of view I personally think that his work is still photography but also art as well and I think this because he is creating something with art, by drawing different patterns and animals etc and then using smoke, water drop and creating an effect and turning that into a photogram. What Fuss does to create these camera less photography is by placing a really big piece of photographic paper on the wall and placing the objects in front of it and then just by
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flashing a tone of light for a few seconds he will get the different effect of the object or feature he has used. I like the way that he has made photograms using water and placing a snake into the water so it would give an effect will capturing the image. He's best known for his life size photograms which he has created with water also his work is mostly ghostly expression of light and shadows. Adam Fuss's work is contemporary photography's earliest techniques.
Marco Breuer
Marco Breuer is a German photographer, some of his work has been create without the help of a camera, aperture or a film, instead he had produced art work using a combination of different photogram techniques. Throughout his career he has examined the idea of the photographic form, Breuer doesn't just work in one place, he works in and outside the darkroom which he also exposes photographic paper using different materials such as; heat and light. He has created different series of his work using gunshots, an electric frying pan, razor blades and power sanders.
Hand Made Negatives
Within todays lesson we was set of create hand made negatives which are to play around with food colouring or any type of liquid which is because it will allow it to give tone and texture when we are exposing it in the darkroom with the chemicals. Well with mine I didn't really know what to do at first because I don't really enjoy these types of things this is because when it comes to liquid and doing something really messy I just don't enjoy it from the beginning. But I had a tried at doing something so what I have done for my first hand made negative was that I had dropped a few drops of food colouring using the different colours and allowing them to combined with the different colours and by placing another acetate on top of it the colours started to combined together to create another type of colour and a pattern. For my second one I did the same thing but this time I had to wait for it to dry for a few minutes this is because I wanted to scratch onto the acetate so when I expose it onto the photographic paper I would get something totally different; that could be tones and textures on the photographic paper, to the first one I have done and for the late one I decided to use salt, no reason but I thought that by adding salt how would it look when you expose it. So as an experiment I wanted to see the differences between the three hand made negatives.
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