We first had to find the correct filter settings for our enlarger. I worked on enlarger number 1 and the settings were almost correct, I didn’t have to make much changes. I produced my first test strip but after showing it to Gavin, he pointed out that I had forgotten to put the filters down (so I wasn’t working with any filters) and my test strip was way too red.
(settings: was supposed to be Y65 / M65 but filters weren’t in)
I exposed another test strip without touching the settings and just use the filter this time. The result was much better, I was just told that I had put my negative upside down in the carrier. I made a full print of that settings using an exposure time of 24 seconds but I realised it was a bit too yellow.
(settings: Y65 / M65 / 24 seconds)
Since my print was too yellowish, I changed the settings for the yellow filter as if a print is too yellow, I have to add more yellow. I first changed my yellow from 65 to 68 and reduced the time of two seconds so it would be too dark but it was still a bit too yellow so I tried to add even more yellow so went up to Y70 but this time I kept the same exposure which was 22 seconds. It still wasn’t quite right so I added some yellow again which after showing my print to Gavin, was told it was good, that the photo might have not been even everywhere. My final settings were Y72 / M65 with a time of 22 seconds.
“ We are part of the universe. Our earth was created from the universe and will one day be reabsorbed into the universe. We are made of the same matter and energy as the universe. We are not in exile here: we are at home. It is only here that we will ever get the chance to see paradise face to face. If we believe our real home is not here but in a land that lies beyond death - if we believe that the numinous is found only in old books, or old buildings, or inside our head, or outside this reality - then we will see this real, vibrant, luminous world as if through a glass darkly. The universe creates us, preserves us, destroys us. It is deep and old beyond our ability to reach with our senses. It is beautiful beyond our ability to describe in words. It is complex beyond our ability to fully grasp in science. We must relate to the universe with humility, awe, reverence, celebration and the search for deeper understanding - in many of the ways that believers relate to their God, minus the grovelling worship or the expectation that there is some being out there who can answer our prayers.”
- These are some key ideas behind the ancient religion called ‘Pantheism.’ It is a religion which holds the belief that we belong to the universe, and the Earth is a sacred part of the universe and something we belong to. There is no spiritual being who we can’t see but yet answers our prayers and watches over us and who the Earth belongs to - according to Pantheists. Instead, they understand that the universe itself is natural, existing, yet powerful beyond our imagination - and we belong to it. We belong to the nature of the Earth around us, because we are a part of it, it grew us not the other way round.
Personally, I’m not of any particular religion, however I relate massively to the key ideas of this one. This is what my project has been inspired by and based off - the idea that we belong to the Earth and as much as we may stray from it (technology etc) we will still belong fully to mother nature; when we die our bodies become a part of the soil again and we will become the food for nature - it will get nutrients and energy from our body, just like when we are alive we get nutrients and energy from nature. In my eyes, this is simply the natural circle of life. Nature is a whole, in which we are part of as well as all living organisms, instead of it being built up of separate components. Humans are nature as much as a tree is nature or as much as a fly is nature. Everything connects and works and grows and functions this way - the circle of life. No matter how many technologies we can invent - whether we ever can build a time machine or walk on mars - nature will always over power us. The universe is nature and that can over power anything humans create, whether that be by natural disasters on Earth, or natural disasters in space, e.g a black hole, a comet hitting into Earth etc. Nature is something that we know is real, existing, and will continue to last forever, and us as humans are just a small part of it.
This is the idea that inspired my project. A series of gifs depicting a woman, of whom it’s unclear whether she is dead or living, laying in nature. That nature then starts moving as if it’s growing - into the woman and out of the frame. This is my way of demonstrating this idea through digital art, along with some quotes over the top of the gifs which also demonstrate this idea.
5IMAG003W.2 Wall, Page and Screen: Screen 1 - Tutorial Reflection
Having presented my most recent footage to Shirley during a tutorial session, I’m now far more sure of the approach I have decided upon for my video project.
Given some reflection on the iPhone4 footage, I have decided that the effect I was hoping to achieve wasn’t easily achievable, repeatable nor conducive to the aesthetic I was hoping to achieve. Though interesting and relatively successful on a shorter piece (such as that I uploaded previously), over an extended period it becomes frustrating to watch, flat and generally uninteresting as a continuously shot piece of footage.
Taking a more ‘video art’ approach than documentarian by placing the camera on a tripod and allowing the scenes to unfold organically in front of me provides something of a detached, observational, even voyeuristic perspective as I had originally intended in my initial ideas, but without the outwardly feeling intrusiveness that was evident within my earlier trials.
Secondly, this approach provides a more accurate narrative upon what I am trying to achieve with my short film; the behaviour of the public to a tripod mounted - camera in general surprisingly doesn’t invoke reaction, perhaps due to the assumption that it is setup for stills. As a result, people go about their daily business naturally and without premise - producing honest,(mostly) uninterrupted footage.
Due to the diverse demographic of the town itself, this approach allows such situations to unfold that I feel couldn’t be accurately directed by myself, nor shot with a moving camera as they unfold around me without having an impact upon them. In addition, the photographically compositions I have tried to achieve also help to provide a sense of some tension, as well as rewarding extended/repeated watching to notice smaller details of movement.
I am very happy with my new approach, and intend to visit some further locations over the next week as time allows to allow me to work with a wider selection of footage.
