Historic photographic processes

Spent a good week at the end of July learning about some old photographic printing techniques at the Centre for Photographic Conservation.  We mixed lots of chemicals and prepared various papers to produce photogenic and salt paper prints, albumen prints, calotypes and cyanotypes.  I think i like the albumen prints the best for the slight bronze sheen, but they all have their qualities - and the detail is amazing.  Lots of experimenting to do now!

Pinhole photography

I have been going back to real basics and trying out pinhole photography over the last few weeks.  It's not been altogether successful to date (for me anyway) but Laurence and I did manage to produce this interesting shot using a shoe box pinhole - exposing onto paper.  At first we didn't think it had come out and didn't bother rinsing it properly....so the chemical residue has created some interesting effects.  It has an almost 19th century feel to it, which I rather like.   The experimenting continues....

George Shaw & the South London Gallery

I'm liking artist George Shaw's work at the South London Gallery - photo-realistic paintings of Tile Hill housing estate in Coventry.  They are essentially banal, recording an often overlooked part of the urban landscape, and the absence of people is slightly unsettling.  Yet, at the same time they are beautiful.  The detail in them is amazing.  The SLG also has a rather nice cafe and book shop that my friend Robert introduced me to, so I'm already looking forward to my next dinner visit!  

© George Shaw

Changing Rooms

A community building that appears anonymous in the landscape.  A building that should be – or would have been - a hub of activity with stories to tell; yet it seems it’s now unrecognised or has been shamed.   This typological series is the start of a survey of park changing rooms – many now out of use, decaying remnants of former times.

Documentary: Changing Rooms - editing

Having completed my shoots I'm finalising my edit - to help me I've photocopied my contact sheets and cut up the images.  From the start I had in mind a grid formation, and having considered different options I think it's more impactful this way, rather than say a long line of images or a smaller selection.  This is one option for the edit - once the prints are complete (one more to do) then I'll finalise the position of each image in the grid.

Self portrait

Documentary: Changing Rooms

This terms module is 'Documentary Photography' and I have decided to do a typologies style project looking at the architecture of park changing rooms.  In some ways it might seem quite a random choice of subject, but I find the very basic architecture of the buildings and strange paint effects appealing, and the usage (or lack of it) and history of the buildings interesting.  Several were not originally built as changing rooms for sports, so they themselves have changed use (for example one I discovered was built for the 2WW as a decontamination centre in case of chemical weapon usage), but I also like the idea of them as a metaphor for the way people change - not just the changing clothes but in the sense that they almost, for the length of their game, become another person.  A bit Mr Benn like.  

I will be shooting with a Hasselblad, using Kodak Portra 160VC.

Documentary: Community buildings 2

Still trying to figure out what to do for my documentary project.....

London Fashion Week

Last night I went to London Fashion Week to have a go at a catwalk shoot, courtesy of a friend from uni.  OK, so these aren't your typical catwalk fashion shots, but I actually prefer them...

Documentary: Community buildings

Disused building, Broomfield Park, London