Chemigram - A What A What?

I thought chemicals are what you develop your photos in.  I was wrong..  Well I am right but the chemicals used in photographic development (I have learned) can be used for so much more!

It's called a Chemigram.  It's sort of like painting with chemicals.  Almost doesn't resemble photography at all.  However the lines can blurr.  

Here's one by New Zealand artist Polly Marriner.  Beautiful isn't it, looks almost like a landscape!

The lines can blur further as photography and chemography such as in this photo by Flickr user Ania Pajada:

It combines the use of different negative/positive images with different kinds of chemistry usage to form a beautiful image.  

Here's a version of mine:

In this photo, I ws printing it for my final assessment work but it didn't turn out the way I wanted to.  So I reacted it to some light outside the dark room and played around with getting it to respond out of order with the chemicals.

Not quite as good as the other ones I've mentioned but still pretty cool, I must admit!

Tricking the Light Meter

As many would know, film photography is so different to digital photography.  In some ways however it is similar as Adobe Photoshop is basically a dark room, though with film we cannot see or check the photos we are about to take.  

In this way you only know if it is a good or bad photograph once the film has been developed and then you can see how they turned out.  

On a few occasions I have been tricked by my light meter thinking that my photo was exposed correctly, but it simply was not the case.  The light meter inside the camera is designed for that purpose, to help you correctly expose your photo, right?

EHH - wrong.  But right...sort of, errr......

If one is not familiar with the way it works (such as myself) then things can go horribly wrong as soon as you start taking photos with several different light plains. 

For example if you are taking a photo of someone outside in the sun through the inside of a window, you light meter may give you incorrect readings.  If the bulk of the photo is on the inside of the room, the light meter will adjust accordingly and give you an incorrect exposure reading.  

Take for example this photo (enlarged from a scanned contact sheet, not an actual print):

(and this photo, girl falling asleep on bus)

In this case I wished to take a photo of a friend as she drove in her car.  A large portion of the photo was on the sky outside.  It was also a very bright day.  

When I activated the light meter to help me program appropriate camera settings, I followed its instructions without thinking.  

When I developed the film I was shocked to find that the photograph hadn't turned out quite how I planned it.  In this instance the light meter must have adjusted itself to compensate for the exposure outside of the car, making what was inside of the car way too under exposed.  This setting may have worked for a flat outside shot, but since there were two distinguishably different exposure settings, it did not. 

Unless this is the desired effect, I now understand better how to use my camera so that it doesn't fool me when I am trying to take photos like this. 

If I could re take this same photo, I would frame out the sunny sky (ie; point the camera at her chest/lap/face only) to trigger the camera's light meter into using the correct exposure settings for the inside (subject) before taking the photograph. When you have your correct frame, leave the settings as they approximately were.  You could experiment with changing settings slightly but without over compensating for where your camera wants you to go.  Now you should have a correctly exposed subject (and probably a way overexposed background).  But nevertheless at least now you can probably see your friend driving in her car. 

This my friends, is how you trick your light meter.  

Use at your own peril :)

Preparing For Portraiture + Self Reflection

In preparation for the photographing for my portraiture assignment, I have loaded into my camera Ilford HP5 Plus 400 speed film.  This is as I will be photographing in doors (inside buses) in possibly overcast, sun setting/night time conditions.  

I will shoot a roll of film with the aim to capture bus goers from behind and if possible with their reflection in the window - should they have a window seat.  With this idea I am wanting to explore what I can capture when public transport commuters have time to themselves. 

My series or portraits will hopefully convey an outsider sight into the world of another person - as I plan to capture them while they are unaware. 

I would also like to talk briefly about lighting and the advancements (or so I think) of my knowledge in this area.  The first is about key light and contrast.  

Here is  photo of my mum:

I really like the way the above photo has turned out.  The key light is coming from the left of frame (that left side is lit the best) and there are shadows on the right side of frame (her left side).  The light side is backed by a dark (wooden) background, while the shadowy side is backed by a bright light to contrast.  These slight contrasting details bring out the subject of the photo.  

NOTE: The scratches and irregularities are caused by the glass used to push down the negatives, not in the photo themselves - however it does give a nice effect.  

The picture below is also a nice use of contrast in black and white hues

The other thing I have realised is an important factor to photography is an eye light.  The picture below has a good use of an eye light which even though the picture is quite dark and not very well detailed brightness wise, it is still clear to what it is.  The eye light in her eyes also helps to bring some life to the subject and photo overall.  

Similar to this note is also this photo:

Use of shadow and contrast between surfaces of skin/wall worked out really nicely.  Though the subject doesn't have any kicker light, the back of his head is completely black, it still works really well as a photo especially because this is against white which helps bring it out more.  

I'll let you be the judge, but I have realised that light is probably the most important thing when composing shot.  Because without light - what's the use in having a subject?  Unless you are using longer shutter speeds.

See below for my contact sheet (Ilford HP5 Plus - 400 ISO Speed Film):

Your Environment - Brief Ideas

I pretty much know what I want to do with my portraiture brief.  I want to experiment with anonymously photographing people on buses.  I have been thinking about the 'Your Environment' part of the assignment.  

I feel very inspired by Duane Michals who we watched some work of in class.  I was particularly moved by his Things Are Queer series of photographs.  

I really love this set of photos as they really blow my mind in relation to time and space.  When looking from one photo to the next, not knowing what to expect, it really draws me in.  I also like it because each photograph is important and needed to help make sense of the next one. 

I would really like to possibly explore this theme in my own work of photographs for The Environment assignment.  

I am not sure as to what subject matter my photographs will contain, but I have come up with a brief sort of plan to start to work my ideas around.

It has kind of blown my mind getting my head around my own concept.  Apologies if you cannot understand and of my drawing/writing.  I scribbled it down really quickly on the bus.

My idea is basically about revealing people from behind other people.  It ends on a shot from over the shoulder of someone taking a picture of the four revealed people.  I could also if I wanted to put that in a frame hanging on someones wall of this final photograph just as an optional extra.  I however doubt that I will have the resources to do this even though it would be good and add a bit of Duane Michals style to my series. 

I will develop ideas further and report back on a further course of action later.

Ciao!