Recently, I have been thinking a lot about daguerreotypes and the information I read about them in the V&A museum and in later research. I am really interested in the idea that people cherished these small plates of metal with images of loved ones printed onto them in intricate frames and cases and the fact that there was so much care, time and money invested into making each plate. I want to look into possibly creating my own tintypes, using the photography which I am going to take of things which I am going to miss when I leave home.
Today, I looked at a book I own called 'The Last Layer' which instructs you on how to create modern day daguerreotypes through the use of printers or transfer paper. However, the materials needed to create them are proving quite hard to get a hold of. To discuss alternatives, I sat with my tutor and tried to think of other ways of how I could make mock daguerreotypes.
We came to the conclusion that I will just have to base my experiments loosely on the book's tutorials but use more accessible materials and just see what works and what doesn't. One method which I am going to look at first is using cheap photopaper which doesn't allow the ink to stick to it, hopefully allowing me to transfer the image onto a metal plate.
Tomorrow I will try and source some metal plates which I can begin to experiment on.
I have admittedly been holding off creating further work for my FMP as I have been doing more thinking and attempting to condense my ideas. Writing my proposal helped with this as I could pin point my concept but there are still many ways that I am thinking of in regards to how I can portray and express this concept.
To help with this, I decided to create a mind map today. The mind map has helped me to physically record the ideas I have instead of storing them in my mind. Here, I have noted down a few of the key points which were produced from my mind map.
- capturing movement of time
- passing of time in my own life
- use photography as a means to hold onto things- people use photography to hold onto memories
- capture images of things which I am scared to leave/ miss when I leave for university
- Distort images to show they are slipping away through methods previously experimented with and new methods
- take images of things I will miss on long exposure to indicate a passing of time- separate these images as a way of stopping the time/ halting the movement- stick them down- hang them individually- reflect image into fragmented mirror.
- look at movement of time in this certain stage of life or passing of time throughout life?
After creating this mind map, I have decided to carry on focusing on taking images on a long exposure and fragmenting them as previously tried, but looking at separating them in different ways.
I am also going to capture still images of rooms/ people/ objects which I am going to find hard to leave when I leave for uni and look at ways of distorting these images to emphasise the slipping away of time and the feeling of losing time and trying to hold onto certain aspects of my life.
I am also going to think about whether I might broaden my work to looking into the passing of time throughout life rather than just the passing of time which is occurring at the moment. I will hopefully be able to speak with a tutor soon to discuss this and see what their thoughts are on this.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the movement of time/ the passing of time and how I could apply this concept into my work and how I could represent it in a physical form. It got me thinking about the passing of time in my own life and how it has suddenly started moving so fast since I started my foundation course.
I have been much more concious lately of spending time with my family and appreciating what I have around me, as in no time at all I will be moving away to university by myself and having to become independent; learning how to live in a foreign environment, away from my familiar surroundings, family and friends.
I realised that this is a strong factor in my life at the moment and it seems natural to include it in my current work. I want to convey my thoughts about how time seems to be slipping away from me/ moving too fast and how I feel like I want to stop elements of it so that I can enjoy them more before I move on to the next stage in my life. I feel like these ideas could definitely be applied to the ideas and methods I have already been looking at, as it has all been focused around capturing and recording movement.
To move forward with this idea, I am going to take pictures which capture the things which I am worried about missing when I go to university and then look at surfaces which would warp them to give the feel that they are slipping/sliding away (like using the scanner, mirrors, distorted glass, water etc). I also want to experiment with long exposures of these things, to represent the fast pace that everything seems to be moving at.
Camera-less photographs can be made using a variety of techniques, the most common of which are the photogram, the luminogram and the chemigram. These techniques are sometimes used in combination. Many involve an element of chance.
Whilst looking on the V&A website at the videos of each artist/photographer who are involved in the 'Shadow Catchers' exhibition, I noticed a link to another page which talks about the different techniques used in camera-less photography including the photogram, chemigram and luminogram amongst others. I will definitely look further into these methods and hope to put some into practice once back at college.
This week we watched the film 'If....' (1968), directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Malcolm McDowell, David Wood and Richard Warwick. The film follows senior Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) and his un-conforming group of friends whilst they are competing their final year at the British public school which they attend.
To me, the film seemed to be a retaliation against the old fashioned, unnecessary traditions and beliefs that public schools insist on preserving. However, I also thought that the film could had a broader meaning; with the public school providing a metaphor for society and the ending attempt of a revolution reflecting the views of many involved in the 'counter culture' during the 60's, who strived to act against the rules of modern society and live life based on their own rules and morals.
Reading up on 'If....', many other analysis' and reviews interpret the film in pretty much the same way as I did. The public school is seen as being extremely similar to how many governments operate, with many of the techniques used by the school masters to educate and discipline their students seen in force in our own country.
'If....' is seen as an act of rebellion in cinematic form, giving a nod to the riots occurring in European countries such as Prague and France in the same year. A film which encourages the youth to rebel against the status quo and to enjoy and live their lives how they want to.
I think this particular film of Anderson's is incredibly timeless in the sense that it resonates with the attitudes and ideas of the youth in every generation so far and yet to come.
Throughout this week, we have been having individual assessments via group crits. At first, it was pretty nerve racking having to present and explain my work in front of a group of people. However, once I had gotten used to it, I began to get other people's views on my work and useful comments. It was good to have new feedback on my work from people who had never seen it before and to hold a discussion about what people thought the work meant to them. I think the group crit was a positive activity and has a allowed me to look at my work from new perspectives and hear other people's opinions of where it should go next.
It was also a good experience to join in on other people's assessments, hearing what their work was about and what has inspired them to make it. I enjoyed helping other people out by stating what I liked about their work, my thoughts on where they could take it and mentioning artist's which I thought their work related to.
Today, Kirsten Glass came to our college to spend a week with us, giving a lecture about her own work and giving one on one tutorials to those who asked for one.
I had my tutorial with Kirsten this morning, showing her my body of work, from what first inspired me through to my development stages and onto the work that I am currently creating. She made lots of useful notes throughout me talking so that she could understand my work and then at the end of the tutorial we looked back on the notes and discussed particular pieces which she found interesting in more detail. She also helped me to pick out key pieces which would be suitable to add into my portfolio which I am currently compiling in preparation to send to send off to universities.
The tutorial allowed me to seek a fresh view on my work and hear how my work is perceived by someone who has never seen how I work before or what the ideas are behind the work. Her own thoughts about my pieces have offered me a new outlook on them and I am now able to view my work in many different lights, learning that the work can be interpreted differently by everyone and that that is a good thing.
As the Victorian curio reminded me of an image created by a kaleidoscope, I decided to research when kaleidoscopes were invented and what purpose they have served.
I learnt that the kaleidoscope was created by a Scottish scientist named David Brewster in 1817, originally to be used as a scientific tool. He named his invention 'kaleidoscope' after the Greek words 'kalos' meaning 'beautiful', 'eidos' meaning 'form' and 'scopos' meaning 'watcher'. This derivation of the word relates to the Victorian curio in the sense that the viewers are the watchers, looking at natural forms; perhaps suggesting that a Victorian Curio serves the same purpose as a kaleidoscope does.
