Exhibition Design; Darkroom work

Introduction

Exhibitions are a great way to showcase individual pieces or bodies of work, this helps both artists and photographers to make a reputable impact. The Great Exhibition was one of the first successful exhibitions which was held in Crystal Palace in 1851.

 http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/history-of-london/when-london-made-an-exhibition-of-itself.html

http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/history-of-london/when-london-made-an-exhibition-of-itself/gallery.html

Exhibiting our work

We all had different opinions about exhibiting work; one of the main negatives was the way the work was hung by clips. In my opinion this made the exhibition appear as if it was temporarily hung in order to amend any adjustments that was required. Another factor to why it didn’t work for me was the prints themselves; the paper wasn’t cut into neat proportions and this made the whole exhibition look as if it was thrown together without any consideration.  Others argued that these factors made the whole exhibition more effective as we were displaying pinhole images; they stated that the images looked like darkroom experiments rather than controlled outcomes.  

Examples of other exhibition

I looked at Aperture to find my exhibition resources as it contains both ancient and cotemporary examples followed by an article, which really helped me understand the history behind each exhibition.  

http://www.aperture.org/2012/08/a-couple-of-ways-of-doing-something/

http://www.aperture.org/2012/07/subway/

http://www.aperture.org/2011/11/abstraction-in-contemporary-photography/

http://www.aperture.org/2012/03/petrochemical-america-project-room/

http://www.aperture.org/2012/05/invasion-68-prague/

Conclusion

There are numerous examples of exhibitions that I’ve included yet each have a setup that looks professional and works with their style of photography. The most unusual design I’ve seen was that of Martin Parr that was hung by drawing pins;

The images are presented professionally even though he’s opted for this format of display. I felt this was lacking within our exhibition and maybe if clips were placed underneath as well as on top the images, this would have appeared far more presentable. From the experience I have discovered a whole range of designs within exhibitions, like the use of drawing pins but it’s the time, planning and thought process that makes the exhibition successful.  

Digital workshop; Studio practice

Introduction

The Daguerreotype was the first photographic process that permitted people having their portraits taken, before this period portraits were only possible through the medium of art. Daguerre had made his invention public in 1839; by 1850 there were over 70 Daguerre studios within America alone. This was the first instance where studios were required for the medium of photography, just by looking at images from the studios back then to now, we’ll see how things have developed throughout the age of time.       

Back then the studio appeared like a torture setup with all the gadgets required to keep the human as still as possible, these gadgets were required due to the lengthy exposure times. Now the modern day studio is far less intimidating even with a multitude of gadgets.

Why photographers use the studio

Here’s a full length article that I found interesting and answers all the questions to studio photography;  http://photo.net/learn/studio/primer

During my research into studio practices I came across a project created by the photographer Peter Dicampo; Life without lights.

                        http://www.lifewithoutlights.com/contents/About%20the%20Project/
                                                                  
                                                         http://vimeo.com/10930099

                          

The project really had me thinking about the importance of light within photography, especially within the studio environment. Then we have Dicampo completely defeating the studio practice by utilising minimalistic lighting that he has no control over and producing an extremely powerful body of work.

My studio practice

Throughout these series of images I’m going to show the different equipment that was used and a few images I’ve created within the studio environment.

Beauty dish

Large softbox

Honeycomb

Barn doors

Throughout my studio practice I found that the following book really helped me understand what effects certain lighting setups will achieve and how the setups work; The portrait lighting referance, Peter Hince, 2011.

Pinhole photography; week 2

Introduction

Pinhole photography has remained ageless within time, modern day practitioners thrive on taking this area of photography to new heights. Many practitioners concentrate on composing their image while others focus on the length of exposure (as long as three years), while others utilise new materials to create cameras; human skulls, the HIV camera, even using their mouth as a camera. There are so many practitioners within this field that the boundaries remain endless and the enhancement of the style keeps it successful within contemporary practises.

Pinhole practitioners

Bethany De Forest

Her recreations of magical worlds are inspiring, especially when you re-iterate that these sets are made from food; meat, asparagus, chillies etc. She constructs every part of the scene as they are hand made by herself, it’s an intriguing and breath-taking experience viewing her work.

 http://www.pinhole.nl/pages/pinhole-pictures-studiodioramas/2010/dripping-landscape.php

Wayne Martin Belger

Belger takes the pinhole camera to the ultimate extremes; he made a camera that had HIV blood running through it. He would photograph the person who the blood belonged to; the blood would act like a filter over the lens. There’s something disturbing about this concept yet Belger is still a practitioner that is enhancing the experience of the pinhole.

http://boyofblue.com/cameras.html

My experiment

I decided to explore pinhole photography with the making of my own device and whether I’d produce successful results, my home-made camera is nothing exotic compared Belger just a simple box.  

`

                                                                  30 second exposure

                                                          http://youtu.be/UB8ysgSRDS4

Conclusion

I’m now going to explore how pinhole photography remains successful within the digital era;

 http://www.redbubble.com/people/redbubble/journal/7486553-pinhole-vs-digital-photography

This article is a great read and really shows in detail why pinhole is preferred over digital, as the author uses digital and pinhole to capture scenes so that he can compare them for learning purposes. I certainly agree that the pinhole images are far more successful and productive.

Pinhole photography; Justin Quinell

Introduction

Aristotle had made observations about the physics of light creating circular images 330AD, Ibn Al-Haytham had created the first pinhole camera; Camera obscura and Henry Fox Talbot who created the first pinhole camera; The mousetrap. The camera obscura was essentially designed to aid painters and draughtsmen, as it would project the opted scene which could then be traced.

 It was eventually adapted with mirrors and lenses to create a camera, the scene would be projected onto sensitised paper to create the image. This was the starting point of the camera, here after lenses, mechanics, apertures and many more features were developed through the ages and today we have the DSLR.

                                     

                                      http://www.ted.photographer.org.uk/photohistory_origin.htm

Practitioners

 

Henry fox Talbot

Talbot’s obsession with not being able to draw led him to the important discovery, which led to the development of photography. He’d explored the three key factors within photography the developing, fixing and printing of the image.

                                                        http://youtu.be/DZ7Gx9Xx1dM

The first pinhole image made.

Lacock Abbey is a great place to explore the roots of photography and to see just how important Talbot was within photography.  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lacock

Justin Quinnell

The modern age pinhole photographer that strives to keep the practise interesting as well as contemporary, his work has gained him international recognition. http://n-a-s-a.tumblr.com/post/23114303019/suspension-bridge-solargraph-credit-copyright

 Working alongside someone so enthusiastic and passionate about the practise was an exhilarating experience that won’t be forgotten.

http://www.pinholephotography.org/

Group pinhole

I really enjoyed the process and the excitement of producing a physical print, therefore I'm going to make my own pinhole camera and create more images.

Conclusion

With Talbot creating such a development within photography, I’m interested to discover why the Daguerreotype was far more accessible and widespread within the market. 

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5855511_differences-between-calotype-daguerreotype.html

The statement explains clearly why the Daguerreotype was popular within photographic societies.

Wet collodion process

Introduction; Fredrick Scott Archer 1813-1857

The inventor of the Wet collodion process was considered a pioneer within the development of photography, as his process dominated the photography market from 1851-1880. The process was discovered during a period where practitioners were experimenting to produce a process that was quicker and more accessible than its predecessors. The wet collodion allowed photographers to produce impeccably detailed glass plate prints. The photography market had an opening for this style of photography where re-production was possible, this process allowed photography to become accessible for all and cost effective compared to the daguerreotype that was only afforded by the upper class.

                                                      

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiAhPIUno1o&feature=player_embedded

Ancient practitioner

His portraits created by the process has to be applauded, he adopted this new format during its infancy and produced a successful body of work. The portraits lost their succession against his documentation of the civil war, 1990.   

      

                                               http://mathewbrady.com/portraits.htm

Contemporary practitioner

Lisa Elmaleh combines a modern outlook with an ancient process to produce a body of work that is both personal and innovating. A full statement can be found on her website, alongside the full body of work. 

      http://lisaelmaleh.com/everglades/#1 

 Another interesting addition on her website is her professional blog which allows her target audience to see what methods are used during projects; http://oldpapersheets.blogspot.co.uk/  

Work overview

It was definitely a rewarding experience to create our own wet plate, especially when I consider how little the process is practised. 

 

Conclusion

“More than a search for comfort steers photographers back in time to work in archival methods when the rest of reality is navigating a high-tech future at warp speed". (18th December 2008, second paragraph)  http://marksinkphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2008_12_01_archive.html?zx=e144e92b5addd0f1 

The phrase sums up why the wet collodion is still being used within the digital age but juxtaposing how the digital age is wiping out chemical processes.