After many weeks of studying to finish a degree that does not really seem to fit into my creative work, I now feel relieved. Tomorrow will be the last time I will sit in a row consisting of probably thirty desks, repeated endlessly to form a matrix, filling up an entire hanger-sized hall.
The great thing about this is that I will have loads more time to photograph, develop and print in the future, which brings me to my next point: A new series in celebration of a great year, with all it's good and bad moments we may or may not know about. This time I will approach architecture using large format film photography. The release date of this new project is possibly February 2015.
For now, here is an image I simply call "No Connection".
After being really busy it is just fun to take some time off and play around in Photoshop to create weird and wonderful creatures.
"Metamorphosis" by Karolina Rupp
I am looking forward to completing two series in July of which one is going to be a collaboration with a wonderfully talented illustrator and the other will be shot on medium format film. The first sneak peaks should be available by mid August.
I browsed around and found some stunning actions for Photoshop that create an old vintage look similar to pictures taken years ago. I played around with some and they are in fact amazing.
This should indicate that it is in fact incredibly easy to improve an image "just like that". You need no skill of colour nor of editing software. It's just automatic. I guess what makes me feel a little better about using these actions is that I understand what they do. This doesn't make it better but in fact just quicker. Welcome to the 21st century.
If you are interested in this action I applied above just use the comment function below to let me know and I'll gladly share it.
Taking images with a medium format camera on film is such a different experience within photography than your average point and click. And taking these images into Photoshop just opens up even more options. I decided to go against my usual ethic of keeping 'doctoring' to the minimum and went all out by using a photograph taken on 120 film and editing the . out of it.
It's all about Photoshop! Have you seen this? Can you do that? Look what he/she did! The difference is amazing! How did you get there?
Instead of honoring this software even more, I will revert back to photographic printing and colouring processes that look fantastic. The key.... they require a little work, actions done by hand and chemicals, not PS.
A chemical is painted onto water colour paper. Then a negative or like in the examples below objects are placed onto the dried paper and then exposed to sunlight. The parts of the paper not covered change in colour. After exposing for about 5-20 minutes (depending on the process), the paper is washed with running water (sometimes with more chemicals added to the water), which acts as a fixer. The results are as below. All examples from www.alternativephotography.com
Cyanotypes
Vandykes
Salt
Creating a fine art series with one of these processes shall be interesting. My thoughts are running wild while I'm trying to find a suitable topic that deserves this work and effort. Possibly a series on nudes in blue? Or dark brown portraits with dramatic lighting connected with each other in some or other way, or lastly photographing the theme of "to much of a good thing is a bad thing" but on salt, which would support the message inherently. I will have to get back to this.
Shooting a 2 minute video about social commentary is my next project. I have never really filmed anything before... this will be a challenge.
I find firstly a definition is adequate (this one here is from wikipedia):
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice. Social commentary can be practiced through all forms of communication, from printed form, to conversations to computerized communication.
...after browsing around I found some inspirations:
The above image is a little bit to "in your face" for my liking, even that it made me smile. But this might be an indication of what path to walk or what direction to choose.
The next thought of mine is why not try and talk about clothing.... "you are what you wear"... or are you? Exploring this issue via video seems tricky, but having close up shots of clothing pieces and fancy dressed ladies throwing their hair back... wearing scarfs with glitter and stuff... possibly having a timeline... starting with old, broken/torn clothing and ending with high end fashion... and finalising the video with a simple pair of scissors and thread on a table... everything, no matter what the end product is (in this context) starts with the same basic elements.
To take it further, we are all humans, naked apes, and how do we allow ourselves to judge people on what they use to cover themselves up with... one would think that the more it glows or shines... the more the human wants to distract from what's underneath... or does he/she uses it to attract others... a cry for help, a cry to feel important, a statement of individualism... a way to survive in today's society....?
UPDATE:
I decided to use the concept above in a photographic series rather than in video format. Possibly even with the use of alternative printing processes.
Having experienced a power outage in the last couple of days (fair enough, it was only for an hour or so), I realised how dependent we are on electricity and how wasteful we use it. I found that by addressing more "obvious" topics with video was a better solution as my skill level in filming is essentially none. Video requires more energy/ battery life than photography and considering that filming is a rather continuous process similar to the stuff running through our cables, I found this theme appropriate for the medium.
Below is the footage of my first - socially critical - video. (Filmed on the Canon 7D and edited in iMovie).
