Week 3 Report

                                                          Image: Cyanotype of Coco

Dates:

May 23 & 25, 2017

Processes I learned this week: Hand coloring photos (5.23.17),  historical cameras, including a selection of medium-format cameras (5.25.17)

Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:

1. Hand coloring-  we have a treasure trove of paints, colored pencils, pastels, and… easter egg dye on hand at the lab in case we need to embellish our photos and prints by hand.  At home, I have quite a bit of dry and some wet art materials.  Have not tried this process yet, but have a print that needs some detailed attention that I suspect will call for some color pencil work. Excited to put my drawing training to work!

Aside: Easter egg dye, while not appealing as a hand coloring agent, did inspire me to want to make cyanotype eggs.   My current batch of eggs are naturally tinted, most a light to medium terra cotta, and a few have a lovely pale green cast.  In preparation I blew out my first successful egg today.  Then I destroyed one of the lovely green ones.

2. Historical camera collection- Tim brought in some of his cameras, plus we looked at selections from the WCC collection. Highlights were Tim’s quirky moving image camera, and the beautiful old medium -format cameras. I checked out one of the fancier medium-format cameras, the Hasselblad and will have more to report on this front after the long weekend. 

Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.

This week, I had a chance to make cyanotype and van dyke brown (VDB) prints. On Tuesday, using the UV machine in Room 17, I made my first cyanotype test strip (90 sec baseline and increment) and print (5 minutes) of the digital negative I created on May 16 of my dog, Coco. The print turned out too light. Pam suggested that I re-coat it in VDB solution and re-expose the image.

On Thursday, I did this, leaving a small window around Coco’s left eye with just the cyanotype (as she is brown and white, except for that one blue eye.) During lab on Thursday night, I re-exposed the print, and it came out with a nice rich brown tone (4 minutes, demo room uv box.) Only problem is the area around the eye that I did not cover with VDB. Looks like a gash of white and light blue, not the subtle effect of a blue eye on a brown dog I was hoping for.  My solution to this problem is to go back with colored pencils, and draw in the fur and eye in this gash. Am I up to this task? Yes, thanks to my two wonderful drawing instructors and the five drawing classes I have taking with them at WCC!!

Also, on Thursday during class, I exposed a VDB test strip (120 sec base and 30 sec increment) and contact print (3.5 minutes) of the same image of Coco, using the UV machine in Room 17.  The test strip came out with a nice deep brown, whereas the brown of the print had an orange-yellow cast.  Need to work on consistency in coating the paper.

 

Finally, in lab on Thursday, I began to expose some of my negatives from darkroom photography class directly onto hand torn strips of VDB paper.  The first one was a test strip of five 35mm negatives (60 sec base and increment, demo room UV box), and turned out quite artsy. The second one did not retain any images, but the sprocket holes came out well defined. Both of these strips were thinly coated, so I was surprised that the first one turned out as good as it did! My final print had two strips of  5 negatives each, and I used a more thoroughly coated piece of paper (4 min). Turned out with a nice deep dark brown after developing, images are crisp. Can't wait to see these on Tuesday, after they've had a chance to dry and mellow into the final deeper shades of brown.

I like the little images, and might want to do a micro-photo album. Saw a few of these at the Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair last Sunday, May 21. Also, dreaming of which images will look best in cyanotype, which in vdb. And, would like to transfer a few of the 35mm negatives to larger digital negatives. Planning to do this during lab time on Tuesday afternoon. Plans did not work out, as scanners were monopolized by an advanced student doing her own film-to-digital negative transfers. Scans of this nature take longer than the image scans that I have been making for this blog. Also, there is a procedure for scanning film negatives, so I will need some guidance at first.

Other information I learned from other students in class:

Pam brought in one of her hand made accordion books, and a set of three little books nestled in a box. What beautiful ways to display her work! I love the intimate scale of the photographs, and how the book format invites the viewer to peruse and linger.  The smaller books each featured the same photograph, only printed using different process. Open each book to find notes on the process. She did not use any glue in the construction of these books, preferring intricate folds and cuts to hold them together.  She also made a box to house the three little books. What an inspiration!

Week 2 Report

Dates:

May 16 & 18, 2017

Processes I learned this week: Making a digital negative and subsequent positive print (5.16.17), cyanotype (5.18.17), van dyke brown (5.18.17)

Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:

1. Digital negatives- first one of yuccas did not result in a good positive. Not enough contrast in image, was an exercise in color and light. Second one made of Coco with blind cast shadows. More contrast. Will use this negative for my first cyanotype and van dyke brown prints. 

Contact Print of Digital Negative
(note to self: rescan and crop out white edges)

2. Cyanotype- a. solargrams using Tim’s pre-cyan-coated cloth pieces turned out nicely. Left out for 15 minutes in high noon sun on lawn behind the lab. Used glass and crystalline items. Going for variations in translucency, both within a single object and between objects. I think these exercises turned  out nicely, got the effect I had been thinking of since making those initial photograms.

b. watercolor paper cyanotypes- got as far as coating a few papers with Bostick & Sullivan cyanotype solution (this is the brand we use in class) and putting them in the case to dry. Did not have time during evening lab to expose, had to force myself to do darkroom homework due for critique on Monday.  Still getting a sense for  how long things take, then my time management should improve.

3.  vandyke brown- same as 2b (I believe that we use Bostick and Sullivan chemicals for this process as well. Need to verify this).  Would like to try my yucca negative with this one. Also have a cool 35 mm negative of peeling paint that might work. Trying to imagine which images lend themselves best to shades of grey, brown or Prussian blue….

Or combining colors… have a few 35mm negative portraits of Coco, who is brown and white with one blue eye. She wants to be captured in the intersection of cyan and van dyke. Oh, yes, the two together reminds me of a successful wash that I made for one of my better life drawings last semester. It was a burnt sienna gouache wash over an aquamarine gouache wash, and the drawing was made using bistre and sanguine conte pencils, and white conte chalk. I should bring it in.

Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.

Ordinary black and white film photography. Hand developed and printed my first roll of film without instructor supervision during lab on Thursday night. A taste of independence!

Other information I learned from other students in class:

More inspiration than information this. Loved seeing Pam's Van Dyke Brown print of the nested bowls. Mike is a bubbling font of information on cyanotypes. Visited Stephanie's exhibit at U of M hospital on Friday. Amazing!!

Week One Report

Dates: May 9 & 11, 2017

Processes I learned this week: Photograms (5.9.17), Lumens (5.11.17), built a pinhole camera that uses 35 mm film using a matchbook (5.11.17)

Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:

1. Photograms- first set of objects: a leaf, pin needs and dried flower were not translucent at all. love the delicate flow. second set of objects moderately translucent.  less translucent objects (leaf and whirligig) turned out best 30 seconds with glass, but more delicate flower petal looked best at 10 seconds. Next step then is to learn how to dodge. Have not had a chance to do this yet!!!

First photograms

Photograms, Round Two: Finding Exposures that Capture Interior of Objects

2. Lumens- preferred my images before developing, which added odd hazy glaze that obscures interesting details (see picture). Need to be more careful about sun, consistency in object placement when transporting outside. Exposed for a couple of hours. The time warped glass looked cool, so my choice of objects is fine. Used same glass, plus other objects with varying translucency the following week for my cyanograms on cloth. Those turned out cool!

Lumens, After Exposure Before Fixing

Lumens, After Fixing
(note to self- rescan with images matched to original)

3. Pinhole matchbox- Spent the better part of Thursday making this camera. Chose to do this rather than the easier paint can pinhole, since I had already done that in summer camp long ago. Though in hindsight the paint can might have been more efficient. Need to revisit that in the future.

Building the camera was fun. Reminded me of an am radio construction kit that I got for Christmas in the 5^th grade. Immensely emotionally rewarding to build something that works. Except, not sure that my camera works. Came undone during photo shoot (take up spool separated from matchbox body, exposing some film. Frustrating!) Also, without clicker, advancing film is not precise. Using the pinhole at same time as shooting on an old school 35mm camera for darkroom class. Much better than my crummy pinhole.

Edie- today (5.22) finish up that $&%!  role on the pinhole and develop it!! You have time and sun!!!

Edie- today (5.26) maybe over the weekend? Pair it with the "Rolls Royce"?? Update (5/30): Did 12 exposures yesterday, 6 at high elevenses and 6 between thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Exposures range from 1-20 minutes. Classmate Fred "finished" a second role, and the 1-2 minute exposures looked good. I hope to finish this interminable roll soon.   

Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.

Ordinary black and white film photography. Hand developed and printed my first roll of film!!

Information I learned from other students in class:

How to scan and maquette my lumens, which  I did before processing them in order to measure the effect of developing on my existing images.  As developing did change to the images, I am glad to have made a record of this intermediate stage.