My first attempt at creating camera-less photography was an interesting learning experience for me. The aperture was fully open at f2.8 for all the photographs.
The first image on the top left was left for 10 seconds and I didn't feel that this was long enough, so I tried again with the picture next to it with an exposure of 15 seconds to the light. This was too long. We used layers of newspaper and cut parts out of the rest of it and created a sort of collage to experiment with in the dark room. I should have laid all of the pieces of collage flat on the paper as it blocked the light from reflecting the actual image that was on the collage onto the photo paper. The silhouette of the two gentlemen came out white as the image was inverted, the cut out was very dark. I decided to make some test strips by covering the light source above the photo paper, with an opaque object, and move it along every two seconds to get an almost gradient effect. My first attempt (on the far left) was an absolute fail as a hadn't quite grasped the concept yet, however my second attempt (just left) worked really well, and as you can see, has a gradient effect from 2 second exposure 10 second exposure. |
I used Kodak projection paper, light weight to produce this photogram. The arrangement itself I didn't give much thought to, however I really like how it came out! The objects came out in a high resolution and they look 3-dimensional which gives it an almost 'x-ray' look. I exposed the paper to the light for 15 seconds which was enough time to allow the objects outlines to be defined.
The paper I used for this image is amazing as it produces mid-tones of grey and gradients which makes the objects really stand out on the page. I really like how chaotic the layout of the pins is and how some objects fade into one another. The sharpness of the blades and the pins is rather striking. There is a bold mixture of circular and linear shapes which I like very much. |
History of Pinhole Photography A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture Light proof box with a small hole in one side Light from a scene passes through a single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. The Invention Alhazen (Persian Scientist) wrote about naturally occurring pinhole cameras like wicker basket slits or crossing tree leaves Pinhole images of the sun make the camera possible. Alhazen figured out that the smaller the pinhole the sharper the image. The 4th century was the beginning of the pinhole camera and Aristotle was the one who mentioned it The entire technique was brought about in the thirteenth and fourteenth century. The First Photograph was produced in 1827 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce - he made the first ever photographic image with the aid of a camera obscurer. Prior to this, the people used the obscurer to draw or view things. The first picture of a pinhole camera obscura is a drawing by Gemma Frisus' De Radio, an astronomer. He used the pinhole in his darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. |
Another one of Steven Pippins artworks was a bathtub converted into a camera (1984). His work often involves a significant amount of planning to overcome the practical problems posed by the chosen object. Pippin typically has to plan and construct a significant amount of supporting equipment in order to achieve his pictures. Frequently the resulting photographs are distorted or otherwise compromised by the manner of their construction, but the imperfections are seen as an important characteristic of the image, giving a link back to the object which was used as a camera.
Pippin was short listed for the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery for his work called Laundromat Locomotion in which he converted a row of 12 washing machines in a laundromat into a series of cameras triggered by a trip wire. He rode a horse into through the laundromat to create Eadweard Muybridges - 'The Horse In Motion'. |
Steven Pippin
Stephen Pippin is an English artist born in 1960 in Surrey. Pippin works with converted or improvised photographic equipment and kinetic sculptures. For example some of his most famous artworks include: A self portrait made using a house converted to a pinhole camera (1986). To make this work, Pippin created a pinhole camera out of a prefabricated pre-war bungalow in Clerkenwell, London. He fixed sheets of photosensitive paper to the wall opposite the front door, made an aperture in the door, and then stood still in front of the bungalow for eight hours. The final image, made up of separate sheets of photosensitive paper, is an upside-down, black-and-white negative image of the artist and the warehouse-style building behind him. The ethereal, otherworldly effect produced by this negative image is increased by the blurred quality of the image of the artist in the foreground, a result of his minute, involuntary movements during the photograph's long exposure. Pippin also used the laundromat to create a series of images called 'Walking In A Suit', one of which images is pictured above.
|
I did some research on analogue photography and came across the artist Akihiko Miyoshi. Throughout his series of images called 'Abstract Photographs' he explores form, color and focus in relation to the photographer. Standing in front of a mirror covered in circle or square-shaped stickers and hues, nothing more than a silhouette is ever visible in any one of his photographs. This image in particular inspired me to distort my photograms using sticker dots:
I liked the effect the stickers gave the photogram once I had peeled them off. Some developer had managed to get underneath the sticky dots which created a cool abstract effect, adding to the chaotic nature of the placement of the dots. Miyoshi's dots are arranged in a way that looks like they are being dispersed from the centre, however my dot placement was much more random than his. The next thing I did was experiment with overlaying the photogram of the dots on top of an image I had previously taken - a statue of Nelson Mandela's head. This came out pretty well however I wanted to combine some aspects of what I had done last lesson. I interrupted the development process of the paper with fixer on a paintbrush and lightly go over the some areas randomly, left it for a moment, and then went over the whole image with developer with the same paintbrush (rinsed in water) to partially develop the photogram. I then placed the whole image in the 'stop' chemical and then finally the 'fixer' chemical once again. I regret paining the heart in fixer on the bottom right hand corner, it takes some of the integrity and abstract quality away from it. Then I had a crazy idea...it took a while to source the equipment I needed... |
I wanted to try out a chemigram/photogram using oil. Vegetable oil in fact, which I finally sourced from the food tech lab. I attempted to dot some oil onto a test strip of paper (reference the 4th image) using my original sticker dot photogram and a random strip of photo paper. I found that the light travelled through the oil layer pretty quickly and did not need the 10 second exposure that I had tried. So, I tried again using another, smaller test strip, exposing the paper with the oil on top for only 4 seconds. This gave a much more defined, abstract look.
|