Bibliography

Online:

: Kate Steciw. 2012. : Kate Steciw. [ONLINE] Available at:http://katesteciw.com/. [Accessed 22 September 2012].

kate steciw - boundless hyper. 2012. kate steciw - boundless hyper. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.toomerlabzda.com/Site/kate_steciw_-_boundless_hyper.html. [Accessed 22 September 2012].

Howard Hurst. (2012). A still life of a world that is never still. [ONLINE]Available at: http://hyperallergic.com/57190/kate-steciw-boundless-hyper-toomer-labzda-gallery/. [Accessed September 22 2012.]

Linda Connor. 2012. Linda Connor. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.edelmangallery.com/connor.htm. [Accessed 26 September 2012].

Linda Connor « New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. 2012. Linda Connor « New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. [ONLINE] Available at: http://gregcookland.com/journal/2010/07/27/linda-connor/. [Accessed 26 September 2012].

How a sandcastle reveals the end of all things - Wonders of the Universe - BBC Two - YouTube. 2012. How a sandcastle reveals the end of all things - Wonders of the Universe - BBC Two - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uQSoaiubuA0. [Accessed 24 October 2012].

Journals:

Magazine, Daylight, 2012. Linda Connor, Daylight Magazine,9,50-53

Magazine, Photoworks, 2012. Charlotte Cotton, Photoworks Magazine, 18, 14-23

Prints

I have decided to use my last pair of night sky images as my final images, in my last tutorial i was told that they would look great done as Cibachrome prints, this is a traditional printing method which uses transparency film to make highly detailed vividly coloured prints. Unfortunately the print lab which was suggested it now turns out no longer offers Cibachrome printing services. So im not sure if it will be possible to find somewhere and have Cibachrome prints made and mounted in time for the deadline so for now i have ordered prints from photobox.

Night sky image (details)

Here is a close up view of my first night sky image. At first I thought the points of light i have circled were simply caused by scratches on the film, however after examining it carefully with a loupe im now fairly sure that they are actually small meteors burning up as they enter earths atmosphere. Also in the top/ right hand side of the image you can see a faint light trail which is from a plane flying over. I think its interesting how an image which seems to only show one thing can also contain these subtle, almost hidden elements. Especially in the case of the trail left by the plane since it is a man made object hidden in an image which feels very far removed from the man made.

Night Sky Images

Here are my night sky images from Wales. Im very happy with how they have turned out particularly the different colours of the celestial objects in the images. I think that they fit in very well with my project theme as the stars are very much subject to the effects of entropy as well as the trails they leave in the image which represent the passage of time- something intrinsically linked with entropy and referred to as the arrow of time. I like the idea that with these images i am showing not only physical objects but the the passage of time itself and in this way i hope to give people a fresh sense of perspective on the world and on themselves.

Camera: Arax 60 MLU
Film: Fuji Provia 100

Artist research: Trevor Paglen, The Other Night Sky

Trevor Paglen's series, The Other Night sky shows images of classified American satellites in the night sky. The project uses data produced by a network of amateur satellite trackers, the images are made using a large format camera, telescopes aswell as other devices. I think this project is fascinating as it looks at the idea of secrecy and shows a hidden reality, that is the "black world" of the United States Government. Also i really like the colours vividness in the images as i think it heightens the visual impact.

Artists Webpage

Update

Picked up my film from the lab today and it looks good! due to long exposure times i only managed to capture two images however i am confident that they will be worth it. I decided to try shooting colour transparency for this because i wanted to capture the colour variations between objects in the night sky which would not have been visible if i had used monochrome film. I am currently scanning the film so ill post the pics when im done!

Update

Had a great time photographing in wales this weekend, took the film to be developed today so pictures soon!

Last emulsion print

Hear is my final attempt at making a silver emulsion on canvas print, unfortunately the emulsion has lifted and ran probably due to to the canvas not being porous enough, due to tome constraints i have decided to print my final images digitally.

New images

The negatives i scanned to get these images were quite thin however i am pleased with the results as it gave some of the images a very graphic high contrast look to them.

Update

Planning on a trip to wales this weekend to see if i can shoot some final star trail images.

Update: images from last shoot

Update

Well, spent all day in the darkroom doing my second silver emulsion on canvas print and frankly its worse than the first one i tried, i dont think the canvas was porous enough so the emulsion lifted and ran everywhere, i might just use photo paper. 

First emulsion on canvas print

Here is my first attempt at making a silver emulsion on canvas print, although i think it looks interesting its not quite what i was aiming for, i dont like how low the contrast is or how many bubbles have appeared, on the day i made it i was rushing, the darkroom was quite busy as well as the negative i was using was very thin. Next time I will:

1. Choose a day when i will have the darkroom to myself.
2. Plan ahead better.
3. Leave the emulsion in the preliminary hot bath for longer to make it more liquified. 
4. Take more care when coating the canvas with an emphasis on consistency.
5. Apply at least 2 coats.
6.  Use a fan to cut drying times.
7. Use more even negatives to print from.
8. Use a blank canvas to focus on.
9. Make sure test strips are coated identically to the canvas.
10. Go slower.

Stereoscopic images from last shoot

One technique i love to use is stereoscopic photography, this involves using a multi lens camera which takes multiple images of the same subject from slightly different perspectives, then once the film has been scanned i process the images in photoshop to create a 3D GIF image.

Update

I spent today working in the darkroom on my first photographic emulsion on canvas print, i have left it in collage overnight to dry, picture soon! 

Artist Research: Taiyo Ohorato and Nico Krebs- Light of other days

I recently came across these artists and there project- light of other days, in the spring/ summer edition of photoworks journal. The images are made on 20 x 24 sheets of black and white positive paper, which is exposed directly inside the camera for at least one minute. The easiest way to describe the subject of the images is as it says in the article that they are of "curious acts and objects" The images evoke a feeling of metaphysical realities and are compared with spirit photography as well as featuring "movement and light with no earth-bound logic" I really admire the visual qualities of the images as well as there mysteriousness and ambiguity, the article also describes some of the photographs as having a "sensory undercurrent of surrealism" this is something which i have felt present in some of my previous work but until now have had trouble expressing, it is also a style i would like to continue with and employ in this project. Below I have included a photocopy of the article in which i have hilighted points of interest.

Artists website: http://www.tonk.ch/

Second shoot contact

With these images I wanted to show examples of entropy in the old part of the graveyard, many of the headstones have been eroded over time as well as as the old chapel which is in ruin. As well as this surface decay i believe some of the images to be suggestive of something deeper, intertwined with the religious iconography is the idea of human entropy, a concept i believe is enriched by the sense of time and history present in the of the psychogeography of the area.

Camera: Arax 60

Film: Rollei Superpan 200

Skull from first shoot, larger view

Update

Heading out today to photograph, expect pictures monday/ tuesday!  :D

Brian Cox Explains Entropy

Skull and star trails larger view

First contact!

Camera: Arax 60

Film: Rollei Retro 80s

Update: studio shoot

Today i finished the roll of film i started in Wales at the weekend, i have been photographing objects in the studio which are examples of entropy, I cant wait to develop and scan my film and see what i got, pictures to follow!

Update

Okay last weekend, that is the 6th of october I was in wales to make my first image for this project, this involved a 3 hour long night time exposure as well as the use of flash, unfortunately when i returned to my camera water had condensed allover it and the lens was pretty steamed up! So im not sure how the image will turn out but for now heres a rough artists representation of how the image should look.

Personal Project Planning

Subject matter/theme:

I have decided to base my project around something physicists call entropy, also known as the second law of thermodynamics, it explains why matter will always be much more likely to be in a disordered state rather than an ordered one. I plan on capturing representations of this through still life work, as well as outdoors.

Initial research methods and material:

I will research into my chosen area through library, journal and web based research. I plan to shoot using film, and print my images in collage. I am going to engage in studio-based work possibly alongside outdoors shoots aswell.

What, why, who, where, when and how?

This project will be medium based as I plan to produce fine art prints using photographic emulsion on canvas, I am also interested in using darkroom experimentation to further abstractify my images. Through this abstractification I plan on emphasizing the visual ambiguity of the theme I have chosen.

Artist Research, Linda Connor: Odyssey

Linda Connor's Odyssey series explores sacred religious sites from around the world, as well as focusing on astronomical subject matter. Her Odyssey images were exhibited at the RISD museum in Rhode Island, in the catalogue she describes her images as an attempt "to point toward the unfathomable and the unutterable" Connor seeks out places and phenomena that dwarf us and I think that this is evident in her work, particularly her astronomical images. I really like the formal qualities of Connors images, she uses an 8x10 camera, she then makes contact prints from the large negatives which she fixes in gold chloride for a burnished, bronzed look.

Artist Research, Kate Steciw: Boundless Hyper

Ive always been interested in subversive artwork, anything that is critical or questioning of what is seen as normal in the way we live. I recently discovered Kate Steciw's project "boundless hyper" online and was fascinated, her three large scale digital collages which combine images from internet exploration and stock image databases. The images have been heavily manipulated into swirling abstractions more reminiscent of painting than photography. Each peace is titled with the list of search terms used to find the images used to make it. Taking mundane often polished comercial images and twisting there function in this way i think shows how overly visually stimulated we are by commercial images and questions if we have a choice to participate or not.

Kate Steciw, “Apply, Applications, Auto, Automotive, Burn, Cancer, Copper, Diameter, Fire, Flame, Frame, Metal, Mayhem, Pipe, Red, Roiling, Rolling, Safe, Safety, Solid, Strip, Tape, Trap, Trappings” (2012), 60”x44″, C-print, oak frame, mixed media.

Artists Website

Kate Steciw is exhibiting at toomer labzda gallery NY