Last Wednesday I contacted Sam Christopher Cornwell, the owner and artist in residence of the contemporary gallery 'The Taxi Office' located in Hawick. I had saw some posts he had put up on his Facebook page of photographs on tin plates. The portraits appeared very clear and I felt intrigued and curious as to how the whole process worked!
I decided to Tweet Sam and ask if it was okay if Alice and I popped in Friday afternoon to sit for a portrait. He replied soon after and was more than happy to have us! Once we arrived he began explaining the initial stages and walking us through how he applies the liquid to the tin plate and works some magic in the dark room. After being shown how to prepare the tin slide, Sam had me sitting on a stool in front of the huge camera with 18 bulbs pointed straight at me. I hadn't posed for a photograph like this since High School but in this case I felt a lot more excited to see the outcome!
Sam explained how light and exposure time would effect the tin plate and I was fascinated. The lead up and eventual efforts put into just one small piece of work did gradually sink in and made me appreciate the whole process a lot more.
Finally he plunged the tin plate into a clear solution and we witnessed my 'likeness' - as Sam referred to it - appear on the plate in front of us! It was a great thing to watch happen.
Alice was next and I loved going through the process again and seeing the different stages and how each one was so important in contributing to the final piece.
Afterwards Alice and I stayed and chatted with Sam for about half an hour, we talked about our forthcoming courses and discussed some artists we had mutual affection for. It was great to talk to someone so passionate and with a legitimate drive to want to expose the population of Hawick to contemporary art.
As we left we expressed our excitement regarding the Borders Photo Marathon he with the Taxi Office is hosting this coming weekend.
On Thursday I went along to Hawick Knitwear and finished up filming for my project. I spent about 3 hours in total at the factory and made sure to take notes to include in my sketchbook. Human Resources and the staff in general were consistently helpful and genuinely interested when it came to what I was filming. I began at the very 1st stage of production and followed the process through the mill capturing visuals that looked similar to each other. I was considering composition with every shot I took. Having the tripod definitely helped me frame certain shots, and even allowed me to venture from stationary recording to slowly sliding the camera left or right. I made sure I spoke to each operator a little before I began filming at their machines, every single one of them were more tan happy to help out and even gave me a basic run through of what it was they were actually doing. This made a huge difference when it came to understanding how long I should film for or how zoomed in I should be etc. I let them know the exhibition dates and that I would provide them with a few invitations nearer the time to show my gratitude for allowing me in to film.
Having new material and fresh clips to take into iMovie is great. Even though nothing is stopping me from using older clips, I feel much more in touch with my imagination when working with untouched material. Plus I sometimes struggle editing together previously used footage as I can't shake the ideas I had first time around.
Filming the Hawick Harlequins rugby team play the Welsh side Bargoed RFC was an interesting experience. I had fun and was able to capture some shots that I was planning on attempting, and even some that presented themselves for the first time on the day.
It's a little daunting finding yourself in a situation that you knew was coming and had prepared so much for, then suddenly feeling an immense pressure to achieve the things you set out to do.
This is how I felt the Saturday before last.
Sitting in the changing rooms with the squad felt natural. As a member of the Quins and having played and socialised weekend after weekend over 3 years with the team, there was a relaxed atmosphere as the lads were pulling their boots on and donning the strip. During bouts of recording I would ensure some players that the final work will be without sound, but this only encouraged their enthusiastically explicit language. It soon became apparent that I would need to produce a blooper reel purely for the team's appreciation!
Once we were down at the riverside and onto the pitch, I began recording movement around me. My first few clips were of our committee members pushing the touchline flags into the grass and various shots of legs leaping across the pitch step by step.
As I looked through the viewfinder whilst recording I couldn't help but think;
"Ooh! That'll look good if I do this..."or"This bit will work better if I crop the..."
The editing stage was constantly on my mind and it was affecting the work! I had to focus on the moment and concentrate on capturing the best footage possible. Once the game kicked off I went into a zone of complete paranoia.
I hope I got that bit!
Shit - was that in focus??
Where's the ball went??
How long until half time?
I haven't got enough footage...
The first half was traumatic. For both me and the team. The second half went better and I was able to relax and get some images of the supporters on the touchline. There is once clip where I decided to focus the camera on the lower half of one player, and it just so happened he was passed the ball soon after I began filming. Little occasions like that empowered me and made me realise how important being patient was.
I have looked over most of the footage from my day of filming. Most of it is good, and I am confident that I will be able to produce a final work that is as close to my brief as possible.
We caught our 5.00pm flight out of Newcastle on Monday the 29th of December. Christmas was the warm up match, preparing us for the main event...
The prospect of spending 4 days over new year, in a beautiful city, with great company and a multitude of places to visit and things to do was an intense thought!
I had came equipped with my camera, sketchbook and notebook along with intentions of documenting our trip particularly with the two on-going units: Location photography and Observational Drawing still in the works.
I believed this holiday would prove a beneficial opportunity for me. This was definitely the case as we swiftly began our routine of a coffee and smoke at Rick's Cafe on our first morning. These few hours each morning allowed me to pull out my sketchbook, relax and take the world in as it passed by through the window in front of us.
Me on the left and Jake on the right. Photograph taken by Calum
I felt very productive and realised this ritual we had taken to each morning was essential if I were to emerge from the Netherlands with any observational material at all. I didn't take as many photographs as I thought I would. I felt as if seeing too much through the lens would affect how I saw things with my own eyes. Plus the camera I own is pretty poor in the dark and this was the time when Amsterdam looked its best, especially around this festive period.
I did record some footage of our trip. I'm starting to really enjoy working with video and capturing places people and areas on film. I have this belief that my mind subconsciously attaches emotions and memories to things that pass me by first time around. It's not until I review the footage later on then I recognise faces or objects that I thought I'd never noticed; but I really did.
Noise and audio are things that attract me to video and editing. Our brains want to make sense of things, and when you are watching for example a short film with music, and background audio from the video you might find yourself piecing together what you see, with what you hear. I can't speak for everyone but this is definitely how I feel!
iMovie has allowed me to manipulate sounds and images to create a visually intriguing experience that questions the intent and reason for it's existence - this is what I want!
I collated clips I had recorded over the 4 days including - Calum reading from Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road', footage of passing foot traffic, Jake rolling a joint, Calum writing, and various others. I was struggling with whether to keep the film instrumental or add a track with lyrics. I saw a film 'Wish I was Here' a couple of months ago and a short song by Aaron Embry 'Raven's Song' was featured on the soundtrack. After much deliberation I realised that this song was a good fit!
So, below is a link to what I came up with. I tried to pay attention to Embry's lyrics and kept in mind what images were visible at the times where he was singing.
This took me a solid hour. There are things about it I feel should be changed, the length is perfect I think, not too long and the amount of clips used are suitable regarding the different verses in the song.
I bought him a coffee for posing
I mentioned that I took along my sketchbook and pencils on the trip, this was a great decision! Whenever we fancied a coffee or were tired from exploring, I grabbed my sketchbook form my rucksack and begun. I adopted a technique of loosely sketching figures, street signs, coffee cups, faces, railings, electronic signs, trams, pavements, backs of heads, hands, beards, hairlines, lips, and anything that caught my eye or looked even a little interesting.
Doing this was therapeutic. I knew whilst drawing I was contributing to my Observational Drawing unit and this made me happy, but it was more than that, each time I drew a line accurately or glanced up then back down and realised that my drawing actually does look a little bit like what I'm drawing was great! I thought "Huh, maybe I am getting the hang of this drawing thing.."
Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and huge queues we were unable to get into the Van Gogh Museum. This was disappointing, but I am planning a solo trip to Amsterdam in the summer and so with a little forward thinking I should be able to book tickets for a tour and nose about.
I have found that a change of environment works wonders for productivity. I felt I had freedom, as if there were no shackles or irrational social boundaries to contend with.
With more drawings to add to my Observational Unit, I can power ahead with others I have half finished, and polish off annotation etc. Also, photographs I have taken may be eligible for submission regarding my Location Photography unit.
Over the last few months since we began our Location Photography and Narrative Image Making units, I have been randomly filming people in and around our class. I had no idea what I would use these short clips for in the beginning, but after getting to grips with iMovie I discovered a whole number of possibilities regarding editing.
My first initial attempt at a short movie was put the music of Pink Floyd and their song 'Us and Them' I realised an immediate connection with the lyrics and the people in the clips I had recorded.
With no plan or any idea what was my beginning, middle and end I just began sifting through the material I had recorded.
Listening to the lyrics closely I tried to arrange certain clips that may look or sound relative to the words being sang and sort of worked from there.
Below is a link to the video!
Learning a lot from this experience with iMovie I discovered the amount of layering that was possible in the editing process.
I had another look at all of my clips and decided to have another shot. Last night I spent 2 hours finishing off another movie with some of the same clips as my first. I found a lot of sound clips and transitions within iMovie I wanted to use, but this meant straying from the dramatic atmosphere I was wanting to create! So I decided not to take it too seriously and start playing around more!
I ventured outside tonight and took advantage of the fog that had descended upon Hawick to see if I was able to photograph any passing vehicles. Having only little experience with adjusting the settings on my camera I was worried about how I would fair, but I think the images I came away with were promising.
This one was taken on the way
The first photograph I took was out of focus but I'm happy with the composition and the headlight trail this particular car left behind. I carried on to the hill opposite the A7 just down from Homebase and sat for about 45 minutes, essentially waiting for cars to pass by. The traffic was by no means heavy but plenty opportunities arose for me to snap away!
The streetlights interfered quite a lot
I played around with the exposure, shutter speed and ISO between most shots, this gave me an indication of what combinations worked the best. Again, most of these ones are blurry and out of focus. I succumbed to the reality that at this stage of my learning, I wasn't going to be able to achieve the level of quality I wanted to.
In this case the streetlights were less overbearing
I included this one because I like the red brake lights disappearing behind the hill as the car drove down the road out of shot.
My first full length light trail!
I tried to include the tree branches in the foreground that hovered above me where I sat
A lot darker which I wanted, but very out of focus
Adjusting the exposure and lowering the amount of light that was getting into the lens, really drew more attention to the light trails themselves, rather than the streetlights or other objects in the image.
A more focused version of the photograph above
I was getting into a rhythm and getting used to the time it took to focus as I pushed down to capture until the photograph was taken.
I must have slipped on the wet grass during this one...
The next couple of images I like a lot better. Only the lights of the cars, lampposts and houses in the background are visible.
The last few I took are completely different to the rest in that a lot more is illuminated. I managed to position myself in such a location where I had a foreground (the tree branches) to compliment the background (the road and cars).
The very last photograph I took is probably my favourite! I deliberately and slowly moved the camera downwards as I took the image. Looks pretty cool.
This collection of photographs were an experiment into how well I can operate my camera at a different time of day. Capturing these light trails proved a great opportunity for me to get used to adjusting things like exposure and shutter time. I must mention that I have yet to edit these images, actually I may just include them in my unit entirely un-edited to accurately display my findings.
Here's a few shots I took earlier tonight with my camera. I've always wanted to tinker around the settings and see if I could capture light trails successfully. Adjusting the exposure allowed me enough time to draw words and shapes in the space in front of me where I stood in my bedroom. I was surprised to see it had actually worked first time, I think I was under the impression that it required more time to set up or something.
After Googling 'light trails' I was hit by a huge amount of photographs of highways and the lights of passing vehicles being captured. They inspired me to perhaps take my experiments outside and see what I can produce once the sun has set and vehicles are illuminated by their headlights.
Shortly before the holidays I was sitting listening to a few of my records, it was early in the morning and for some odd reason I felt a creative urge hit me. I decided to film a record playing from different angles and in different lights using my iPhone. I could have used my actual camera but once I had figure out how I was going to position the phone to prevent shaky footage, I realised my iPhone would practically be easier to work with.
I put on a record, the torch on my phone and got filming! I had no idea at first the capabilities of iMovie and it's editing software, although in my younger days I tinkered around with Windows Movie Maker creating goofy clips with my friends, so I had a rough idea of how video editing worked. I managed to get all the clips together after uploading them, then progressed to cutting them and tidying up the start and end of each one of the clips. There are a lot of options regarding filtering, colour, contrast etc. but I felt that on only my first attempt, that would be overkill.
Once I had all of the clips together in the order that I wanted, I looked into cropping and panning. I had fun with this because it gives the impression that the camera was actually moving during filming, of which I lacked the equipment for. I may have went overboard with the cropping and speed etc. because at some points in the film I feel the panning goes a little too fast and particular clips aren't shown for enough time. But of course this is something to take on board for future experiments and projects.
The last stage was audio. Now as much I would have liked to have kept the original audio track (The Sound of Bread) on each clip, they wouldn't have flowed together and would have sounded wrong. So I took away all audio and went for one of the many, many choices iMovie gives you at this stage of the process. It might not fit in with the speed in which he film progresses but I felt it was the most appropriate. If I ever go back to editing this particular group of clips I'm going to try and record the audio of my record player separately, so it picks up the crackles and authenticity of the record, and then splice that with the film.
Well - here's what I came up with! It took me about 1 hour, so keep that in mind.
For the October break we visited Nairn, up past the Scottish Highlands. I figured I should take my camera along and see what I can come back with. I had ample opportunity to photograph my surroundings during our week there and came home with a total of around 500 images in total. I then proceeded to give a select few a quick look over in iPhoto, which led to me choosing these 6 photographs below.
I was aware during my time roaming around with my camera, that I was certain to end up with groups of images that looked very similar and had the same subject matter. So, during my cull of the original 500 I discovered this to be true. These 6 images below aren't my favourites or anything, I picked them because each one is different - whether referring to colour, composition, shape, light, colour etc.
This is the view from outside Primark in Inverness city centre. The sun was in my eyes and I wasn't exactly sure at the time what I was photographing...but I think it turned out okay.
This one was from a rest stop alongside Loch Ness. We stopped the car and continued down the small set of stairs that led us to a rocky patch of ground, and this was the view! The reflection astounded me and I like how you can just make out the misty fog lying on top of the loch in the background.
I quite like this image. The log you see in the foreground was about 6 foot tall and stood in the sand as if originally planted there. I took the photograph in black and white and made sure that my mum and sister had just about moved out of sight - this way the space on the left of the upright tree is left empty. Personally it gives me the feeling that the figures are going to disappear behind that log. I of course know that they won't completely disappear behind the log (they didn't) but, I can't help but feel that way when I look at the photograph. Strange!
This photograph was taken as a tester to see if the timer worked well. It seems 10secs was long enough for me to dart back across to the shore and pose so gracefully, unlike my sister and mum. I blurred our faces out on iPhoto to create an anonymity of sorts - I know everyone who will see these already know who we are but sometimes I feel faces distract too much and give away too much.
I genuinely can't remember where I was when I looked up at the sky and took this one, but I remember capturing the glare and light and thinking "I won't delete that one!". Composition was always on my mind whilst taking these photographs, I regularly remember that certain things in a photograph may look great aesthetically and pleasing to look at, but at the same time aren't technically in the right place. I hope that makes sense!
This one may not look like much at first, and you may notice that I took this from a moving car... But I guess the reason, or at least the main reason I kept this one was the juxtaposition of the trolley pushing couple in the foreground, and the fictional Specsavers customers in the background. Although not completely in shot, I think this little contrast is the main subject of the image. I struggled deciding how much of the left side to crop, I wasn't sure how much I should bring it in.
Out of all the things out there I can photograph, people are my favourite. Rather than ask people to pose with each other, say cheese or organise them before I photograph them, I prefer capturing them acting natural and not feeling forced. Below are 3 examples of this. I've taken photographs of my friends since I got my first camera phone. Anytime we were out at each others houses, out for a walk - anywhere, anytime! My computer was (still is) full of those types of photographs. I must admit most of the time they got pretty pissed off, no wonder though who needs some madman documenting them at every opportunity?! I still continue to record my life through photographs to this day, I believe it's a very important thing to do. Who knows when your memory is gonna begin fading and fading and eventually you can't remember what you did last weekend? Well not to worry because Martin has a 13 images of you eating a meal at that restaurant you went to last Saturday! In all seriousness though, the main reason I have taken so many photographs over the years is probably because of my Mum and Dad. They done a great job recording me and my siblings childhood. One of my favourite things to do is sit down with a box of old photos and home videos. My wish is to look back at my photographs not only for my pleasure, but for my children's! Even if that's the last thing they want - they will sit down and watch my life re-told through hundreds and thousands of photographs form my childhood. Back on point - here are those 3 photographs :
This one is of my friend Calum. It was taken in Krakow Square, Poland earlier this year in July. As I said above I prefer photographing people without them knowing (not intending to sound creepy) as I feel I can capture their true selves, or rather an unfiltered version of themselves. We were sitting down to beers and sandwiches as we had just arrived and Calum lit up a rolled cigarette. The light hitting the right side of his face, arm and hand works well and contrasts with his dark t shirt. I also like how his sunglasses cover his eyes, I think it gives a little mystery to the image as whatever his feelings were at the point this photograph was taken are slightly less obvious.
As it was my sisters turn to wash the dishes that night, I decided to put the opportunity to good use and photograph her. My kitchen window faces the back garden so I went out and sat on the grass so I could see my sister through the window. At first, looking through the lens I couldn't find her face but when I did she looked straight up at me with this deathly stare. I love how the reflection of the bright green grass is able to be seen in the window. It almost makes it look like a floating mouth, nose and pair of eyes.
This last one of my Granny is interesting. I can't remember whether she annoyed or just listening very intently.. who knows. Either way I like how the background of the house and hills are out of focus and the foreground is so clear and in focus. I took a few but the exposure was all messed up on the first couple, so this was the only one I managed to get right. Luckily the conversation she as having with my Mum went on a while so I was given ample opportunity to play about with settings.
Some of the following photographs were originally taken in black and white, while the others I edited afterwards upon realising they worked a lot better that way. Reducing the amount of colour in a photograph drastically changes the effects it has on the viewer. In this case there wasn't much colour to work with in the first place, most of the clouds were white and grey and all the blue sky was covered up by the clouds. I guess I just liked the way it looked as I peered out my living room window armed with my camera. I have a limited amount of flexibility at my house when it comes to perspective, especially if I'm just sitting with the window open, stuck in one spot for an hour or whatever. But I'm determined to collect as many interesting and different photographs from this position. Anyway, these are the images I came up with!
Upon first glance all I saw was clouds, going from dark at the bottom slowly getting brighter near the top, until I noticed the sun (or moon? not sure haha) in the top left corner. This illuminates the clouds and creates a beautiful image that looks rather like a close up of a mushroom cloud...strange.
A larger scale photograph taken on the same night. Giving the viewer much more to look at and scan over with their eyes. The inclusion of the telephone wire in the bottom right corner was a decision I made whilst cropping certain areas out. Now that I'm looking closer I'm having doubts about whether it belongs there or not... Then again I like that it's just sitting at an angle in the corner. I'd rather it positioned there than it going further along the bottom of the image. I think without it, the photograph would look far too bare. It also gives the viewer some idea of where the photograph was taken from, what perspective I had or where I was when I took it.
I was annoyed when I came to edit this particular one because I was under the impression it was completely in focus! Sometimes when you preview a photograph on your camera screen it looks better than it actually is... Anyway I think I made the most of what I had. I cleaned up some of the loose, individual branches with iPhoto just to give the impression the branches are longer than they are. I used the sharpen tool to a certain extent as I desperately wanted the branches more in focus - I didn't want to go too far, though. On second thought actually I have no idea how I managed to take this photo! The bush that those blurry branches belong to is just over about a metre tall and with all the houses and the road in front of my house I can't understand how I was able to set those branches against this backdrop?! I took it from my living room window as well...I don't get it. Maybe I should refrain from admitting these doubts and just say everything was deliberate and for a reason haha.
This is probably my favourite out of these 4. Again, like the other 3 this photograph was taken on the same night. (Yeah it was definitely the sun behind those clouds, really looks like a sunset in this one.) My first instinct was to crop out the foreground. I figured that because the sky looked so clear and the clouds were in focus, the photograph didn't need anything else! But when I adjusted the contrast ever so slightly - I realised the roof, chimney, telephone wire and the very tip of that branch worked well as a silhouette in the foreground.
I'm pleased with what I was able to produce from just sitting at my living room window. When it comes to photographing the sky, I feel it's important to have something to tie it all together (especially when it comes to black and white images) for example even if it's a bird flying past or even better - a collection of birds! I'm lucky to have such an interesting view from my living room window, although there's only so far I can go. I know that the sky can look different every day and night, and the way that clouds form is beautiful and does encourage me to look up at there every now and then and see what I can capture - and these 4 images are evidence of that.
After showing us a little piece on the BBC website about Victorian era photographs that are a little less traditional than usual - Niall asked us to take a few ourselves and pull faces like the people in said photographs.
It was fun and I thought I'd go ahead and edit my pictures slightly. Credit again goes to the amazing app 'Afterlight' providing the subtle filters that give each photograph a retro look.
I've been looking through some of the photographs I've taken over the last week and tried to fuse them together. Finding 2 photographs that blend together is tough. I'm not necessarily looking for two images with similar subject matter - but images that compositionally work together.
Here is an example:
Because of the empty space on the left hand side of the photograph, this makes it perfect to combine with an image with perhaps an empty space on it's right hand side.
Much like this one underneath:
As I said I'm not bothered about the two photographs being explicitly related. All I'm looking for are two images that would blend together and become connected like 2 pieces of a jigsaw (kind of).
In this case I felt there was enough free space to work with in both photographs. So I got to work bringing them together and manipulating things like colour, brightness, contrast etc.
In the end I came out with 2 final images. Here they are below:
At this point I can't decide which one I prefer! But pleased at the result. I think the black and white version has more fuzz and blur ('noise' I think they call it?) in the background, which make the colour image more appealing.
For the black and white image I chose to crop out the wall on the right hand side. I feel it took away from the main subjects of the image. Saying that I don't mind it being in the colour version.
I guess if I was pushing to relate the two images I've combined, I could maybe make the point of saying the photograph of the person (Alice) pointing the camera towards the ground, is opposing the perspective in which the other image was taken (pointing upwards, from the ground).
Nonetheless I enjoy fusing images together and will continue playing around with my photographs and posting the results!
