Here are a few images from our trip:
Monday, September 26, 2022
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
sun-prints (lumen & cyanotype) and photogram
CYANOTYPE
Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints.
The process uses two chemicals: ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferricyanide. We have both of solutions available at our darkroom K-119.
Ask Jeff or myself to help you with the process.
Objects or negatives are placed on the material to make a print. The cyanotype is printed using UV light, such as the sun, a light box or a UV lamp (available in our darkroom). After exposure the material is processed by simply rinsing it in water. A white print emerges on a blue background.
Robert Rauschenberg working in his studio in 1951
LINK
LINK
LUMEN
Lumen prints are made by placing objects directly onto black and white photo paper and exposing them to UV light. Moisture, temperature, time, type of paper, and amount of UV have an effect on the color mood of the images. There is an immediacy and magic to this very simple process, and it mirrors some of the first photographic images that were ever produced. Many of these images were scanned before the print was fixed, a process which makes the image light-fast but bleaches some of the vibrant colors. They capture a specific, transient subject and are themselves objects in constant change.
Take a black/white photo paper, put a piece of plant, flower or something else organic on top and finish off with a piece of glass. Leave in the sun for half an hour or why not when you go to work and you’ve got something to look forward to when you come home.
Bring your photo-sandwich inside and rinse of any organic bits, put in fixer. You will find the image changing rapidly in the fixer and usually get a pleasant surprise when you look at it in normal light. Rinse and you should have an archival image as long as you’ve taken care to not leave any organic residue that would make the image deteriorate eventually. Sounds simple, and it is, but there’s a lot more you can do with it.
Composition is important. You will benefit from trimming your plants to make out more detail.
You can also experiment with putting stuff on the glass, partially coat it with paint, foodstuffs or place items on top, like a shadow-gram. Use tape at the edges to create a border.
Wet the paper before you put the plant on and you will get a darker image with more detail in the subject.
Or just spray the plant with water before you put it on the paper but make sure you get it in the right position straight away because the damp areas will show in the final picture, unless that’s what you are after.
It is a technique that puts you in the hands of chance and the fact that every image will be unique. So many factors affect the final image like air humidity, uv-factor, the subject’
s humidity, temperature etc. But you can alter the exposure in some ways dodging or burning in parts of the image with a magnifying glass, although it will take a bit longer than with your usual darkroom print.
It works well with most papers, especially old brands. Different papers give various colors.
Jerry Burchfield working with his assistant in Amazon, Brazil (c. 1998)
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  PHOTOGRAM A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow image that shows variations in tone that depends upon the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey. The technique is sometimes called cameraless photography. It was used by artists Man Ray, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad, Imogen Cunningham, and Pablo Picasso. |
Experimental Artist Profiles (Sun prints, lumen, chemigram, photogram, cyanotype)
Please check out these artists who applied the concept of painting with light. You may come up with a similar idea or differentiate the process.
Try to remember the artist names and their process, they will be in a midterm quiz.
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| Han Nguyen LINK |
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| Maria Estevez LINK |
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| John Fobes LINK |
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| Adam Fuss LINK |
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| Pierre Cordier LINK |
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| Garry Fabian Miller LINK |
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| Christine Nguyen LINK |
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| Cassie Doumas LINK |
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| Floris Neususs LINK |
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| Markus Amm LINK |
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| Laszlo Moholy-Nagy LINK |
Friday, September 9, 2022
Week 2: Finding your vision
Creating a Strong Fine Art Portfolio
What makes it fine art?
•Photography that is done as a fine art -- that is, done to express the artist's perceptions and emotions and to share them with others
•A picture that is produced for sale or display rather than one that is produced in response to a commercial commission
•The production of images to fulfill the creative vision of a photographer.
•Historically, has sometimes been applied to any photography whose intention is aesthetic, as distinguished from scientific, commercial, or journalistic
The Simple Answer:
Images that have been reinterpreted by the photographer.
Some ways to do that?
Different cameras—toy, large format, medium format, switching to film
Photo Shop techniques
Printing Techniques
Vintage Techniques
Artistic References
Process
How do I find my Voice?
•Your best work comes from something you are moved by, familiar with, want to bring voice to, and most often, what’s right in front of you.
•YOU and your world, your life, the way you think and live, are the most UNIQUE qualities that you bring to your work. Shoot what you know and you will always stand apart.
What are Museums looking for?
•Projects that say something.
•Projects that reflect our time, our world, our lives and are RE INTERPRETED through presentation, through exploration, or through thoughtful analysis.
•Visually powerful images, well executed and
unique.
What are Galleries looking for?
•Images that will sell to a broad spectrum of collectors
•Images that will hopefully end up in museum collections
•Images that are universal
•Images that are evocative
What are Book Publishers looking for?
•Projects that are cohesive
•Projects that are unique
•Projects that the reader will want to revisit again and again
•Projects that talk about our time in history
•Projects that reflect a creative vision
What are Magazines looking for?
•Timely stories
•Personal stories
•Photographic Essays
•Humorous stories
Some Genres of Contemporary Photography
•Typologies
•Typographies
•Domestic Scenes (home, family)
•Reinterpreting nature
•Human observations
•Documentary
•Dreams and Memory
•Surrealism and Other worlds
•Still Life
•Self Portraits
•Vernacular
•Surveys of our world
•Environment
•Staged Scenes
Important numbers when considering a portfolio
•1 signature image that defines the project
•3 images for submissions to competitions, etc
•10 images for a magazine or ezine article
•20 images for a portfolio review
•50-60 images for a book
Aline Smithson
www.alinesmithson.com
Aline Smithson's lecture at LBCC
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Agenda for Friday Sept 9
This Friday:
- Please bring your previous work to the class (hardcopy portfolio, online portfolio, images stored in your google drive folder, images on flash-drive, etc.). I would like to see all of your previous work if it's possible.
- Purchase a notebook and start your idea for the artwork you are going to create in this class. Combine any of your other artistic skills beside photography.
- Revisit Week #1 lecture to understand what is "experimental photography".
- Work on your artist interview asap, don't wait. Talk to me if you get stuck.
- Form a collaboration with your classmates
- If you have images of the Ice House Long Beach, please share them with me and your classmates who couldn't make it. You should know where is your work going to display for the final.
Friday, September 2, 2022
Artist Interview - Due 9/30th
Please take this interview with your most in depth responses
1. Please introduce yourself?
2. How did you start making art/photography?
3. Professionally, what’s your goal of being an artist/photographer?
4. What inspires you?
5. What's the last art show that you saw?
6. What is your most important artist tool?
7. Is there an element of art you enjoy working with most? Why?
8. What are your best skills and abilities?
9. What do you see as the strengths of your artwork, visually, technically, or conceptually?
10. If you could have a group exhibition or collaboration with 3 other artists, who would they be and why?
For your references, please watch/read throughly these interviews with Sarah Sze and Pierre Huyghe
Sarah Sze -- You Mark Time Through Objects LINK
Pierre Huyghe -- A brush with Pierre Huyghe LINK
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