Black Lights

My last post really inspired me to branch out and try some new techniques. I tried light painting, shooting with black lights and put glow-stick fluid into a mason jar which also glowed. It was a great experience, and I'm happy with some of the shots.

For this picture, I used a self timer. It was hard to properly focus the camera and it took a while for me to get the hang of it. I set up my tripod and took loads of shots until I found one I liked, which was well worth it

Read More

Idea

This class has allowed me to try so many new things, and each project has really inspired me to try new things. I never thought that I would have enjoyed taking self portraits or using a Holga camera, but I've really loved this class and I've had the chance to experiment with so many techniques that previously seemed daunting - like triptychs. Now that I'll be primarily shooting digitally again, I found some new projects that seem fun. One is shooting under blacklights with neon paint which sounds like a lot of fun, and relatively inexpensive.

 This looks beautiful and has so many possibilities - especially since some of my friends are talented artists and could paint all sorts of things.

Another possibility of things to shoot is snow and frost. I love winter, and it's so beautiful, yet every season I find myself taking the same old shots. 

Taking macro shots of snow and frost was hard earlier, but I feel a lot more comfortable with cameras now, and my pictures and techniques have significantly improved since, so I'm excited to try this.

Before I took this class, I hadn't used my camera in a while, because I was starting to get bored of photography as I didn't have any fun places to shoot, and could really only take landscape shots. However, over the past 2 years, I have been able to try so many different things and learn how to improve my skills in each area so that I am not limited in what I can do. I want to continue to challenge myself and find new things to shoot so that photography remains fun and interesting.

Read More

Inspiration

Painting Developer is proving to be quite difficult, because working with stencils and paintbrushes in the darkroom isn't so easy. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to continue on with the stencils, since they aren't really working. It might just be easier to try and splatter and drip the developer which reminds me of another aspect on Indian culture - Holi. Holi is a huge festival where everyone wears white, and then splatters pigment on each other out in the streets.

I think Splatter painting my work and allowing each area to develop for different amounts of time could make up for the lack of colour, while still showing something important in Indian culture.

Read More

Smoke Plumes

Inspiration

I saw this article on This Is Colossal a few weeks ago and I was genuinely captivated by these shots.
A photographer took 10,000 shots of smoke in the hopes of finding some unusual shapes.

Moving onto my Idea Project where I will be focusing on Indian culture, I found myself thinking of all of the "Indian" things I remember growing up with and their significance. One of the things on that list was incense, which I used to make a mess with when I was younger. Instead of leaving it to burn in its holder, I would take it out to watch the smoke and the shapes. Naturally, I remembered this article and tried to take some smoke pictures of my own. 

I originally took these with film, but I wanted more control, so I decided to take some digital ones as well. It proved to be quite difficult to get a dark backdrop (I used the back of the board from a board game), a high shutter speed and low lighting all at once. I tried my best, and after a lot of adjusting, I found the best camera settings and props for this. I think my favourite part is the hints of blue you can see in the smoke itself. I kept on taking pictures until I filled up the memory card, because there were so many interesting shapes that would flash by. I'm hoping that I was equally successful with my film pictures.

Read More

Painting on Developer

Idea

I really want to try painting developer for my idea project. I had never heard of this technique before today, but I think it looks amazing, and there's so much that you can do with it. I looked through some articles and learned some tips and techniques.

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/uneven-development---darkoom-guide-4729

Tools to try: straws, sponges, scrubbing brush, water gun, paintbrushes

Techniques: blowing the developer around with a straw, sponging it on, gently applying it with a scrubbing brush, spraying it on for a paint splatter effect, loading it into a calligraphy pen, painting designs or pouring it on above to create a pooling effect.

Tips: make sure you allow enough time for the picture to properly develop, test out your materials ahead of time, make sure you know where everything is in the photo before you expose it, stay near a safelight so you can see where you are spreading the developer and make sure you don't apply too much/miss any spots

Splatter Effect (with a spray gun)

Splatter Effect (with a spray gun)

Scrubbing Brush

Read More

Inspiration

After talking to Ms. Murphy from Hallmark, I looked through their catalogue and their pictures online and I found them really inspiring. I love the composition  in a lot of the pictures, and the focus, and I found them very impressive. I also looked up her friend Katy Merry, and her pictures are beautiful.

I think this picture is gorgeous because it is lit perfectly, the depth of field showcases the bride's mehndi and it makes me think of all of the Indian weddings that I have been to and how fun they can be. I also like that you can't see her face, and it isn't a traditional portrait of the bride. Also choosing to make the picture black and white takes away any distractions because saris that brides wear tend to be very bright and the bangles do as well. On top of the rich colour of the mehndi, the rings wouldn't have stood out, but in black and white, they contrast and are the focal point.

http://www.ktmerry.com/portfolio.cfm?galleryID=5

Read More

Idea

For the memories project, I am planning on taking most of my pictures inside, but there won't be a lot of natural light. I thought a solution to this would be to try some double exposures, because not only would it be perfect for this project, but the film would get properly exposed since it will get exposed twice.

http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/techniques/multiple-exposures.html

This website shows some tips for how to get a good double exposure from a Holga camera. It recommends shooting in lowlight which is perfect. I also found this Flickr which is for a Project called a Tale of Two Cities. Basically, one person shoots a roll of film, rewinds it and then sends it to another photographer without disclosing what they took pictures of. Then the second photographer shoots the roll and develops it, and it ends up with a full roll of double exposures. I really liked this idea and how it was a surprise for each photography.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/urbandoubleexposed/pool/

Read More