I have a long love for abstract shape and vivid colours. Although there’s no strong link to any current briefs, I think these prints (from various experimental rolls over the year) are just too attractive to ignore. I love to find what can be achieved from just pointing and shooting and manipulating the film with premature light exposure, like a painting that’s out of my control, which makes the results all the more interesting to me.
I’ve taken a series of photographs progressing from an image taken in a train station from a previous series of photos. I’ve been traveling a lot and spending much of my time in different stations across the country, which has resulted in me becoming increasingly interested in the atmosphere of the place (Bristol Temple Meads, in particular).
The station is crowded and busy, with many people passing through and many people intently focused on their own journey. Through all this, however, I’ve always felt something calming about the place, and with this project I wanted to capture that juxtaposition.
Aesthetically, I wanted to contrast the strong, architectural and complex structure of the building with the soft focus of the premature light exposure on the film. As I’ve talked about in previous entries, the ‘light leak’ is reminiscent of a faded memory, as it blurs, distorts and blocks the image. I wanted the layering of the image to balance the bustling environment with the calming influence of the station.
The results are a little less successful than I’d hoped for. I’m not sure the strong colour works well for the intent of the images, as the light leaks seem to invade them rather than compliment them. Maybe I got carried away with exposing the film to light (there’s no way of knowing just how much light should be exposed; it’s all experimental) the result is far more abstract and ambiguous than I’d hoped for. It definitely doesn’t denote how I felt when taking the photos on the day- which is the feeling of being lost in a vast, open space of the platform.
I mentioned in my last entry about using photography to create vulnerability, and to open up to the viewer. It’s something that I’ve always admired in the work of others, and I guess it’s something I’ve not really tackled too much myself. For this reason, I set a project where this would be my sole intention. I considered memories, and places that mean something to me, and parts of me that I would otherwise not be so open to sharing.
I wanted to continue creating work with an ambiguous aesthetic, as I’m really intrigued by the idea of natural light of my photographic environment breaking into the film, as I experimented with in the blank roll project. I don’t think the subject is necessarily clear to the viewer, but in a way I don’t think it matters, as an exercise in displaying my memories it’s only really me who will find meaning in them anyway.
I didn’t pick many images as a final selection, but I think the ones I have picked, the one’s I’ve displayed here, fit the intent of the project perfectly and aesthetically work well together.
Something else that was pretty important to me when working on this project was the music that inspired/influenced me. One track in particular seemed to fit perfectly with what I was hoping to achieve:
Peter Broderick – "Piano & Rain"
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So I want to point you to my Tumblr:
It’s a huge source of inspiration for me, a scrapbook of all the influences I come across while surfing the internet, and each seems to make a real impact on my own working practice. It’s been really interesting gathering all these images together, and seeing a pattern in what I like, and how it compares to what I produce.
In particular, I notice a difference in the tone of the images compared to my own, there seems to be more subtle shades and colours that shows a kind of vulnerability, something that I think my work lacks. I’m really interested in trying to learn from this and incorporating it into my own practice.
I know that light + photography is a pretty important combination to perfect. I’ve been wondering recently about the use of artificial versus natural light, about the different connotations of each. I mean within a natural setting, snapshot photography as opposed to a studio environment- which is very much not my style, at all.
A November-night fun fair seems a perfect opportunity to photograph artificial light, there’s something about the shape and colour set against a black back drop that seems to create an awesome image.
At the moment, I’m more than conscious that my camera is far from technically sound, from the small percentage of the roll of film that actually develops, it seems to be the photos taken in perfect conditions that give the technically ‘best’ results. Although I’m a fan of the minimal/abstract shape and form in these photos, there was a lot of detail from the night that I missed out on because the camera wasn’t up to it.
I’ve always favoured film photography over digital, I guess I just like how you can tamper with the film pre-processing to distort the image. Up until these past few weeks I’d generally used digital processes more so than analogue, and I suppose now I hope to change that.
I started a project to strip down the analogue process so much that it was about the reaction of light to the film alone, I photographed a white space and a black space and exposed the film to light by popping open the back of the camera. These ‘light leaks‘ have resulted in a pretty nice variation of colour and shape:
I think they’re pretty interesting stand-alone pieces, but maybe not quite my style. A little too minimal. It’s a good starting point, and an exercise in learning the reaction of light + film.
“I have never taken a picture I’ve intended.
They’re always better or worse.”
- Diane Arbus
So it may not be much, but there’s a quality to this first roll from my new Beirette that I like. I’ll have to experiment more to create a technically correct image (as I’ve said, it’s been a long while since I’ve used a manual camera, so I have a lot to learn) but in all honesty, I’m just glad the camera works.
My new camera. I understand it’s not such a rare find, or particularly magical, but no doubt I’ll enjoy the results. It’s been a few years since I’ve touched a manual camera so I’m sure it will take some getting used to – but I will update with beautiful imagery in time (is the plan).
My .com recently vanished. I’m not so sure I even understand what happened, but even so, I’m currently trying to get it back. Until then, I have added a small portfolio of my work to this blog, and I imagine I will use this as my .com in the future. I’m starting to see the importance of a blog, I will take advantage of just how much easier it is is to keep up to date as opposed to a website built from scratch. As much as I enjoy the CSS, I’m just not sure I have the discipline to form a regular routine.
I had my first one-to-one with my print tutor yesterday, which left me with a pretty positive outlook for the year. She seemed to pretty much grasp exactly what I was hoping to achieve, so I’m optimistic. I hope for a change from digital, artificial colours to a more natural palette. I want to experiment with transfer processes, film photography (a recent passion for light leaks is a huge inspiration) and photoetching. The buzz is a big one… as I do love this stage.