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Final work - Assessment 2 “Make What Will Happen”

May/6/2019

W11 - Assessment 2 Printing

(Image 1: Week 11 - immersed in COFA - me reading negatives, photo by Yan )

After the Monday class which my class helped me select potential negatives, I immersed in the darkroom from Wednesday to Friday and had huge numbers of test strips in order to find out the best settings suit each photo respectively.

First of all, I printed out the selected 10 negatives of varied printing quality and placed them on the ground. I wanted to sense these images at full size (8 by 10) and saw their potential to share a theme or tell a story.

(Image 2: Sense photos at full size after sequencing small prints, photo by author )

(Image 3: Revisited negatives, photo by Freya)

Then, I selected 8 photos that I may use for assessment 2. There were two directions. First was architectural photos which they all have a clear geometrical shape and a person is in the photos. I am always into the built environment. So not only was it me who behind the camera and captured the movement but also it could be a story of mine - me exploring space and architecture. The other direction I could go is playing with light, which can be seen as a further development of my assessment 1 photos. In my four rolls, I had randomly captured shade and shadow as a representation of the existence of light. Lights came through different sources and reflected on different material. They created various and interesting results.

(Image 4: An example of the light photo, photo by author )

Finally, the printing process started. It went much slower than I thought. I concentrated on the technique and tried to get the best and clear tone in my photos. It was a long process and really needed much to be patient. An unexpecting thing happened - some finalised prints changed colour when they are exposed to light. I suspected it is because they were not placed in the fix for enough time. Other challenges include little contrast, too much contrast, too flat, nothing in the white part, too dark in the black part. Fortunately, I had time to redo them on Friday. Let’s see on coming Monday!

(Image 5: One of the printing errors - photos not being fixed enough and their colour changed as the exposure to light )

(Image 6: One of the printing errors - part of the photo not being fixed enough and the colour changed as the exposure to light )

(Image 7: One of the printing errors - too dark and no good white in the left image; too flat and no good black in the right image )

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W11 - In-class Experiment

Picture 1 - Sequencing selected pictures to make a series for Assessment 2

Picture 2 - A photo of today’s in-class tutorial. I was lost and simply took as many photos as I can in the past four weeks. So far, I have had five rolls and over 100 negatives. The feedbacks from peers and Izabela have been helpful and it is a good way to start to think of photos strategically.

Picture 3 - Selecting pictures for Assessment 2

Picture 4 - Sequencing selected pictures to make a series for Assessment 2

Picture 5 - Test strips in Week 11 class. With Izabela’s guidance, I finally found out a suitable way to print the picture at the bottom. F4, 12s and filter 1.5 gave a good black and good contract of the bright and dark.

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W10 - After-class Experiment

Friday arvo, 26 April 2019

10 Testing prints and 2 film rolls

Test strip 1 (left 1): F11, 6s/9s/12s

Test strip 2 (left two): Double exposure 1) F8, 6s; 2) F11, 6s

Test strip 3 (left three): Double exposure 1) F11, 6s; 2) F11, 6s

Test strip 4 (right): F16, 3s/6s/9s

Test strip 5 (left): F16, 6s/9s/12s

Test strip 6 (right): F11, 9s/12s/15s

Test strip 7 (left): F11, 9s/12s/15s

Test strip 8 (middle): F11, 9s/12s/15s

Tesr strip 9 (right): F8, 6s/9s/12s/15s, exposed to light between dev and water (probably why it truned to completly dark)

Test strip 6 (left, see above)

Test strip 10 (middle): 12s, F11

Test strip 5 (right, see above)

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Inspired from the ARTEXPRESS 2019 at AGNSW.

All photos by Author, April 17 2019.

After a short drop-in to the AGNSW on Monday, I came back to have a visit to the ARTEXPRESS exhibition. The artworks are produced by students in the HSC examination in Visual Arts 2018. The five images above are of my particular interests. Its introduction and how it inspired me are explained below:

1. Rain and reflection

Inspired from picture one - “Sleep here, between light and dark”, Julian Di lorio.

“My body of work acts as a reflection of individualism, portraying the perceptions of both isolation and comfort in the imagery of rain. Intrigued by lyricists such as Leonard Cohen who explore the psyche of our society. Sleep here, between light and dark delves into the polarities of our world. This work was made through an elaborate process of specific imagery and certain artmaking choices which ultimately led to the unification of concept and practice.”

In my second roll, I also took pictures on a rainy day and have two photos of rain dropping on the ground. I feel it could be connected when I saw this artwork.

2. Make a “moodboard” as a redesigned photography

Inspired from picture two - “Time Money & Another Brick in the Wall”, Phoenix Newling.

“My body of work addresses the tension between the people and their government, drawing on a current issue facing Sydneysiders. Using surrealist photomontage, my images exemplify the fragmented state of communication between the community and the politicians who lead this country, revealing a grand moral disregard for society, where money is chosen over the people’s time, security and sense of belonging. This work responds to three significant political issues I have experienced first-hand as a Sydney resident: the costly and protracted WestConnex project, the opportunistic sale of the Sirius building, and the ongoing Issues of public school funding.”

I quite the technique used in the picture. It is like cutting down different elements and pieces from different photos and rearrange them on one to illustrate the idea that the author wants to express. To me, it is like making a moodboard. I am thinking maybe I can apply the “moodboard” idea in my assessment 2 as it would give an opportunity to some photos which some part looks good while the other is not successful at all. I will try cut some negatives into pieces and re-organise and attach them into a one.

3. Buildings and shade

Reflected from picture three - “Abiotic Abstraction” by Kristen Angelique Rhodes

I didn’t record its caption but my photos so far have shared a very similar interest to Abiotic Abstraction’s. I would like to keep shooting architectures and how it plays with light and shade.

4. Shall I have a frame on my photos?

I asked myself the question when I saw the picture four. It works quite well on the bunch of images on the wall. Initially, I did not apply frames on any photos because I thought it would a solid edge to define the image and I wanted it to be boundaryless and to leave imagination opportunities to viewers. However, having testing some full prints, I can see it might be difficult to enlarge the negative at a size bigger than an 8″x10″ paper. So I will try printing with a white frame.

5. Light at night

Inspired by picture 5 “Urban Melancholy” by Huasheng (Anna) Pahl.

“As day transforms into night, an elegant beauty is revealed by the remnant light, a beauty often unseen and unexplored. These images explore both the intrigue and the dread of darkness within the urban context. For this series I became a flaneur - an observer of the city around me - to capture the hidden beauty of the nightscape with its loneliness, melancholy and sense of mystery. The atmosphere created by the ambiguous locations and images is of isolation and focus, inviting the viewer to look within and confront their own relationship with the darkness and the light of the night”.

Not sure if I will take any photos of light at night, but I do like her approach to capturing unawareness in the dark. Also, next to the prints on the wall, there is her digital portfolio and I like the poem at its end:

No sun, no moon,

No stars... only

The glitter of

Streetlights casting

A tiny pool of light

Which serves no purpose.

Extract from City of Lights

- Scarlett Treat

For more information regarding the exhibition, please see https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/artexpress-2019/

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W9 - In-class & After-class Experiments Film#3

Monday, 15/April - 9am-11:30am

Tuesday, 16/April - 4pm-5:30pm

Picture 1 - Negatives of the roll no.3 exposed in the Week 8

Ilford HP5 400ISO 36 EXP Location: in a house Time: around 10am-12pm

Picture 2 - First test of making a contact sheet

F8, H60, 12s

The photographic paper was accidentally exposed twice when it is placed below the enlarger. So there is a so-called double-exposure effect.

Picture 3 - The other tests of making contact sheets

Testing with F8/F5.6, filter grade 3 1/2, 8s+12s+16s

However, they did not achieve desirable results.

Picture 4 - A print of two photos

After having a few trails of making contact sheets, I came up with an idea of making double exposures by placing two negatives in the enlarger one by one.

Left: First negative F8, 6s; Second negative F8, 6s.

Right: First negative F8, 7s; Second negative F5.6, 8s.

Picture 5 - A larger print of double-exposure

I was happy with the result of the left photo in Picture 4 so I decided to print it on a larger paper. However, it looks super blurry and under-quality. Anyway, it is an experiment! Steps are below:

First negative F8, 6s; Second negative F5.6, 7s.

+ Grade 2 filer

Overall comments:

In the week-9 class, I processed a roll which was exposed in my cousin’s house in week 8. As can be seen from the negative and contact sheet, most of the photos are very bright and difficult to see their subjects. I suspect it may be because I did not have correct shutter speed and ISO on my camera. In terms of the direction of Assessment 2, I plan to take another roll and then start to sequence images. Let’s see how it will go!

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W8 - In-class Experiment

Picture 1 - Contact sheet of the Film#2 (all photos were shot in North Sydney in Friday morning and noon)

Picture 2 - Image of houses from a distance

left: F8, 12s and Filter Grade 3,1/2;

right: F8, 3s/6s/9s/12s/15s, Filter Grade 2.

Picture 3 - North end of the Harbour Bridge

left: F5.6, 3s/6s/9s and Filter Grade 2;

middle: F5.6, 4s/8s/12s and Filter Grade 2;

right: F8, unknown, Filter Grade 2.

Picture 4 - An path in North Sydney

left: F11, 3s/6s/9s/12s/15s and Filter Grade 2;

middle: F5.6, 2s and Filter Grade 00;

right: F11, 12s, Filter Grade 2.

Picture 5 - Police Station building at the northern edge of the North Sydney CBD (F8, 4s/8s/12s/16s, Filter Grade 2)

Picture 6 - group photos of all my test in the Week 8 class

Overall comments -

It is unfortunate to see colour of the sky (in picture 2 and 5) on the prints are completely white.

Like the blurriness and dizziness of the left image in picture 2. It was achieved by moving photographic paper while exposing negative in the enlarger.

W7 - After-class Experiment FILM#2

Given that the first negative is completely dark, I shot another roll of film (Ilford Delta ISO100 24EXP) during week 7. The film has been processed and it seems successful.

These photos do not have a specific theme, however, the 24 negatives are location-based and are all exposed in North Sydney. It presents the built environment and the working environment on Friday morning as well as during the lunch break. There are a couple of them I really like (see Picture 2 and right 2 on the 2nd row on Picture 3) and would like to take the ideas to have further development. These ideas include -

Recording the relationship among people, cars and streets

Discovering and controlling geometric shapes in the built environment by adjusting my camera’s position

Also, “light” is a theme that I would like to include in my future testing.

#dart1130

W7 - In-class Experiment Film#1

Above

Image 1 - Abstract Painting, Ad Reinhardt, 1960-1966, Guggenheim Museum, New York

Image 2 - The exposed negatives on the light board, Week 6

In week six, I loaned a 35mm film camera from the Resource Centre and took photos of the built environment at dusk in the Cofa, Surry Hills, Central and Redfern. The specific angle of the sun during the dusk creates an interesting and beautiful shade on the street. I wanted to capture the light and its reflection on buildings. Also, I would like to see the relations among people, built forms and light.

As you can see from the image above, most of the film is completely black with the exception of the beginning bits that are visible and identifiable. This was because I opened the camera back when I finished the exposed and re-wounded the film. It is really unfortunate as I missed some moments that I have captured and they are not unable to be present. What a learning experience!

It is an error but I wanted to find about what I can do about the completely black negatives and to see if there are any ways that I can be innovative with them. The Abstract Painting from Ad Reinhardt is an example that the artist employed the darkness and purely blackness in the painting. Unfortunately, I did not find any photographic precedents that embedded the idea/approach of black negatives so far. I will keep researching. With regard to the plan of the week, I will have a go with a new 35mm film and continue to play around the light.

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To change it in response to what I’m seeing, not necessarily to improve it, but to make it my own

James Welling, an interview by Lynne Tillman

Library Activity#1 - Answers in general

Artist: James Welling

Resource:

1) Book - James Crump, James Welling Monograph,

2) Book - Lyle Rexer, The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography

Reason for my artist selection:

I was first fascinated by Welling’s photographs of architecture. I like his capture of light and the use of light as a reflection on concern and built form. Also, his series of flowers are abstract but representational. Before I chose to do the research on Welling, I came across an interview with him by Lynne Tillman in the book “The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography”. I like his explanation on his general photography approach and I quote: “One of the things I want to make what I see, give it physical form. I also want to, I don't know if “manipulate” is the right word, but I want to control it, to organize and massage what I see and put it on a piece of paper... To change it in response to what I’m seeing, not necessarily to improve it, but to make it my own.”

The research of Welling’s works led me to think of the abstraction and evidence in photographs. It is questionable whether abstraction is an idea, a concept or could be objects.

General ideas in James Welling approaches:

1) Manipulation, see the example of his works “hand”

2) Abstraction as a representation

3) Beautifulness, see the example of his works “the flowers”

4) Presentness, see the example of his architectural photos in LA at his early age

Details of his ideas and answers to the other three questions will be in the next post.

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Photographs, James Welling

Picture 1 - LA-C 135, 1978, James Welling.

Picture 2 - Chemical, 2014, James Welling.

Picture 3 - The Waterfall (C55), 1981, James Welling.

Picture 4 - H1, 2006, James Welling.

Picture 5 - 8167, 2009, James Welling.

Picture 6 - MDV 9469, 2009, James Welling.

Picture 7 - Maine Inlet, 1992, James Welling.

Picture 8 - Schiphol, 1996, James Welling.

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Photograms, James Welling

available at: http://jameswelling.net/

Picture 1 - Untitled from the series of Degrades, 1986-2006, James Welling.

Picture 2 - #1 of New abstraction, 1988, James Welling.

Picture 3 - Mystery photograph, 2000, James Welling.

Picture 4 - Torso 9, 2005-08, James Welling.

Picture 5 - FD1M, 2012, James Welling.

Picture 6 - FD105C3, 2012, James Welling.

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Assignment One Notes

Information on the two calligraphy I used in the assignment:

1) It is an ancient Chinese poem. There can be some connection between the visual image of the luminogram and the most well-known sentence in the poem. It is “The Old Toper cares not for the wine, his interest lies in the landscape” which is used to describe someone with an ulterior motive. The full text and its English translation can be viewed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiweng_Tingji

2) There is the other calligraphy I used for the project and it is the lyrics of a song I frequently listen to. The reason I wrote it and placed it on my paper is that I wanted to include some personal connection between the luminogram and myself.

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W4 Preparing for Assignment One - Luminogram Experiments

During the past few days, the weather in Sydney has been changeable and unpredictable and it gave me inspiration for luminogram experiments. I placed 12 photo papers under different conditions (rainy, sunny, windy and thunderstorm) and was hoping the light may be different and cause different results. My methodology for the project is simply to have as many experiments as I can and select 5-8 photos to make up Assignment One.

The weather is not the only variable for this experiment. Because I am so curious about and interested in the power of nature and uncertainty, other variables include the length of exposure (1hr to 12 hrs), type of light (sun, moon and artificial) and different locations (home, garden, campus, beach and rooftop). Also, I have tried to place different objects such as leaves and branches, stones, sand, MSG, plastic bag, magazine and Calligraphy on the papers.

As you can tell, each photo represents a unique condition. Given that the photos will be considered as a series/group, I applied similar steps to develop, stop, fix and wash them - all photos are partly developed for 1-2mins, partly placed in water for 2-5mins, fully fixed for 5 mins and washed for over 10 mins. I was hoping the development will give them consistency.

The difficulty I came across in this exercise so far is some uncertain and unexpected stuff left on some photographic papers when they are being placed outdoor. I could not move them or clean the papers up. Eventually I decided to leave them on papers as a product of uncertainty.

Photos below show a couple of luminogram placed in different locations in the past week:

Above: The boards I made to stabilise photographic papers which would be placed on the beach overnight...

Above: Two papers placed on the rooftop for 1hr and 1.5hr respectively. They were covered by a magazine and calligraphy.

Above: A paper placed in the garden in the early morning. A close look can tell that liquid from plants dropped down to paper.

Above: Stones are placed on a photographic paper outdoor for 0.5hr.

Above: MSG, string, and a plastic bag on paper

Above: Papers covered by calligraphy during a thunderstorm afternoon.

Above: Two papers placed vertically outdoor for overnight from 7pm to 7am.

Above: Actually three papers placed on the beach overnight but I only managed to find one in the morning...

Above: The paper with stones.

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W4 - Plan after tutorial discussion and tests

It is very inspiring to see other classmates’ works and progress and to receive feedback and comments from peers and lecturer. Also, I have had experiments with transparent objects such as glasses, a protractor, beans, salt and pepper and a bottle cover. I developed them in a normal procedure which is to exposed to light (F8, 8s, 62cm), dev, stop, fix and wash. The unusual thing is I placed layers of transparent plastic sheet in the enlarger's drawer. So you can see the black in the above images are not so good.

With regard to Assignment One, I am glad to my luminogram works received some positive feedback and I would like to have further experiments with it. The existing experiment outcomes are actually achieved by chance. I am going to place my photo papers in various locations that have connections to me, both during day and night. I am very interested in the results of different types of light (sun/moon/artificial) and the various time of exposure (1-10hrs). If possible, I also want to see the combination of photogram and luminogram in my work.

All the best to this week and assignment one!

Week 3 20190307 Experiment in darkroom:

Picture 1 – test 1-3,

Picture 2 – test 4-5,

Picture 3 – test 6,

Picture 4&5 -

I accidentally have two pictures which writing is visible. I wrote the test number and date behind photographic paper before experiments. I was thinking that I could have some letters in my assignment one.

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W3 Inspirations from book “Light, Paper, Process – Reinventing Photography” by Virgnia Heckert

Picture 1 - Selo Gaslight, exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1920s, processed 2012. Courtesy of Alison Rossiter and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Picture 2 - Selo Gaslight, exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1920s, processed 2010. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Picture 3 - Kilborn Acme Kruxo, exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1940s, processed 2013. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Picture 4 - James Welling, Hands, 1975. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Picture 5 - White Print, 2009. Courtesy of James Welling and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

Picture 6&7 - Heliograms 1876. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Picture 8 - Chemical 2014. Chiemigram on chromogenic paper with acrlic, graphite and ink. Courtesy of James Welling and David Zwirner, New York/London.

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