All has gone quiet on the blog, my scanner has died :(

I will be back!

Photograms finito!

Photograms task complete! 

Today, I finally completed the photogram task yippeeee! As I started my course late I missed out on the opportunity to do photograms in the darkroom with my class so I did them on my lonesome in the darkroom this arvo.
I really enjoyed the whole process having the added benefit of a few days research in advance. Including the below darkroom rules I discovered online.

So first of all I gathered all of my materials needed including: 

3 or 4 chemistry trays: The first tray for the developer solution, the second for the stop bath solution, the third for the fixing solutions and the fourth for the plain water rinsing. 




              Black and white photography paper 











Last but not least, image props/objects which can be any three dimensional or two dimensional objects (i.e. paper cut outs, cutlery, toys, your own fingers/hands/feet, flowers etc


One of the most important things to remember when setting up a photogram is that the ONLY light to have on is the SAFELIGHT. If you have any other light hitting the light sensitive paper it will become prematurely exposed.

• I placed my paper shiny side up underneath my light source ensuring that it was in the correct position by ling up with the guidelines masking tape. I then arranged the composition of my image by placing several chosen objects directly onto the paper.

• Once I was happy with the composition i hit the timer and exposed my images for an average of 9 seconds (some a little longer some less depending on how much exposure i wanted)

• Clearing away the objects I then placed the paper into the developer face down and agitated it a little for two minutes and turning to face up.

• I then removed from the developer and placed and agitated the paper in the stop bath for 30 seconds  ensuring the developer was rinsed.

• The next step was to place the paper in the fixer tray after letting the paper drip for a few seconds. With a little tap ensuring the paper was fully submerged I left the paper for 4 minutes

• After the 4 minutes were up I removed the paper to drip for a few seconds then submerged the paper into the water rinse for 5 minutes

VOILA!!! Your photograms are processed! Remove from the water rinse and dry :)
Tomorrow I will scan and upload my good and not so good photograms and let you be the judge of them -_-
 

more photograms!!!

Sunday evening, raining outside and sat here at the comp wth a belly full of sunday dindins and a glass of vino mmmm

So I thought now would be a perfect time to do a little more research on photograms, here are my findings..............

I came across a number of photograms while searching the internet but these in particular caught my eye.

This photogram was by a lady named 
Anna Atkins 

She lived from 1799-1871

Atkins was friends with Herschel and Talbot, other well known photographers. She had a large interest in botany, and used the cyanotype process to photograph plants. Throughout her career as a photographer she made a book with these plant photographs, and was credited with making the first book of photos. Anna Atkins is also credited for being the first female photographer.

The image caught my eye as I love POPPIES and this image is full of them.
I particularly like the way the light has captured the depth of the flowers, it shows how strong the stems  are and how delicate and near transparent the petals are.
The image also has balance with equal amount of stems on the bottom half of image to similar amount of petals (flower heads) on the top half of image.




Now this image is by an unknown artist going by the name of  asdjklfg
They achieved this photogram by placing real flowers on the bottom half of the photo paper and then placed a cut-out hot air balloon on the top right of the paper.
The outcome is lovely. Almost fable/fairytale like. It holds an adventurous story in it thats beginning, middle and end could vary every time you look back at it.









So, I now have more ideas for my own photograms which I will hopefully be making on Tuesday. Each photogram must contain a mood or emotion. So far I have heart broken, celebratory, generous, hungry, mow I best get my props sorted heehee xoxo 

The lowdown on Photograms

So....My first task is Photograms.

What its all about?

A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. 
The usual result is a negative shadow image that shows different kinds of tone that depends upon the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey.

Now this is all new to me, the traditional side of photography so I hit the web to do some research to prepare me for my first dark room session tomorrow.

One word comes to mind WOW

I never knew something so simple could produce something so complex and interesting.
The versatility of one object is amazing. With the form of photogram you are able to add depth or movement or emotion to an image from just one object.

I have added a few links of some of my findings so far


an-introduction-to-photogramsshadow catching
photograms-a-cameraless-image


Below are a couple of  photograms that caught my eye:

Make Love Not War
A simple water pistol with a daisy inserted!

Mark Magnan
These images remond with of fairies or elfins, created with large photosensitive papers and a person lay flat or  on back with knees up position

My Four Week Project

This blog is to document my findings over the next four weeks on the below three subjects:

• Photogram (Emotion)
• Pinhole (Reflection)
• SLR 35mm (Perspective)

I have to analyse, evaluate and experiment techniques to produce a number of photograms, pinholes and SLR 35mm images to show that I can recognise the full potential using materials, techniques and processes.
I will source this info from lectures, presentations, handouts and demos as well as the internet etc