Extraordinary the Disconnect

Tasks: week 1 - 3

Beginnings

Caffenol Experiments

Tasks: week 1 - 3

Slide show talk - presenting the Major Project

Ted Talks for research:

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_herman_a_lesson_on_looking#t-767327

https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection#t-511195

https://www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light#t-554588

https://www.ted.com/talks/saleem_usmani_perception_vs_reality

https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hoffman_do_we_see_reality_as_it_is?language=en#t-1298387

Beginnings

As the weather has been far too lousy to go out with my pinhole cameras, I started with a self portrait in pencil to get myself drawing and letting the ideas flow somewhere. I was compelled to apply the facial recognition vectors as a way to explore how reality and perception link to identity in the surveillance world. I then went onto making a series of fading mono prints, both positive and negative from the same drawing, signifying identity as something that is no longer personal and that individualism is dying, a bit cheesy, but I have to start somewhere and this is linked to the idea of reality and perception. I then did another self portrait in charcoal and chalk to reaffirm my own identity is intact for now and to remember the medium.

I am still frustrated by the weather, I have pinhole cameras all loaded with various films and papers and I am itching to go, but its either been freezing cold, blowing a huli, raining or any combination of those!

So turning to some black and white pinhole photos from my independent project portfolio, I printed out a copy of one with my inkjet printer on photo paper and experimented with some photo dyes I had bought for hand tinting. The dyes are very concentrated and need to be diluted with water, they are a bit like watercolours to use and can be mixed to reduce the intensity etc.

I am pleased with the first attempt at manipulating the photos, I think that it adds another layer of realism somehow. Sort of like the film "They Shall Not Grow Old" 2018 by Peter Jackson. He took old jerky black and white film from the first world war and brought it back to life by colourising, adding extras frames and sound design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdY-1u-rk_M

My second attempt at photo hand colouring; I limited the colour choices to just crimson, blue and the flesh tint to give more dynamism to the 'action' shot. Much more diluted this time, but the colour certainly brings the model to life.

I really want to get out and take some photos with models in the landscape and hand colouring in mind, rather than plunder my archive portfolio, but needs must the weather is still appalling.

I think I will set up some studio shots next, not what I was planning but the forecast is bad all week so I am not going to be able to get out on location.

So I built a little indoor set with one of my previous paintings as the backdrop and a model soldier in the foreground, I took photos with a pinhole camera using both film and colour paper with flash.

On the identity theme, I had my daughter design and paint my face with CV dazzle camouflage, used to confound surveillance technology. I also photographed my mug with the pinhole camera.

Caffenol Experiments

First attempt at developing film with caffenol was a disaster, lost 2 rolls of film. I have learned that the recipes for paper developer are very different from film - I need to use sodium carbonate, not bicarbonate and pure vitamin C powder not tablets.