Well all,
It has been an interesting week as technology came crashing down around our ears. Luckily the subject of Photography is not ruled by the Network.
SO here are some of the topics we covered in class as well as
important dates to remember and things to inspire your creativity!
Processing a negative
Most of you were set the challenge of removing a negative from its canister, winding it onto a spool and securing it in a light sensitive container all from the frustrating confines of a black bag! It was harder than it looked and it something that you only get good at with practice. Next double lesson after you have taken photos you will the learn the process of developing negatives ready to print.
Things to Remember:
- Unlike photographic paper, undeveloped negatives can not be exposed to ANY light (red or otherwise).
- It is important to try and keep your fingers off the negative as you are winding it on to the spool.
- In order to wind it easily on the the spool you must cut the end of the film so you have a straight edge.
- The best method when following this process is to line up all your equipment in the black bag in order of its use.
In the Darkroom
In the dark room we went through the parts of the Photographic Enlarger (something you are going to be tested in in a couple of weeks). We then learnt how to make photo grams using everyday objects, placed on photographic paper and exposed to light. It is important to note that many objects are were more transparent to light than originally thought including the human hand! It was also interesting to see the difference in clarity when experimenting with different exposure times.
Photo grams can be a very beautiful approach to experiment with because of the detail they capture and the ghost like quality of the end result. This feather photo gram would have been exposed to light for a very brief period of time because of the transparent nature of the object.
Important: One thing I forgot to cover when going through the parts of the Photographic Enlarger is that on the lens there is an F-stop that controls to Aperture of the enlarger. Just like the function on the camera you can set the light window of the lens depending on the exposure of your negative. If your original photograph was over exposed you may want to increase the F-stop on the the Enlarger to reduce light passing through the negative and onto the photographic paper. A standard F-stop on the Enlargers is F8.
The Masters of Photography
This week we looked briefly at Margret Bourke White (1904-1971).Born in American to Polish-Jewish parents she originally was a architectural photographer. After the outbreak of WWII she became a woman of many firsts; she was the first woman to work officially as war correspondent; she was the first woman allowed into conflict zones; she was the first woman allowed into the Soviet Union after the Germans invaded in 1941 and she was the first photojournalist employed by Life magazine in New York. Her imagery evokes powerful emotions depicting the atrocities of war. She was also a passionate advocate against Racism and recorded powerful images of Gandhi when he went on hunger strikes as a form of peaceful protest.
Genres of Photography: Photojournalism
Photojournalists aim to communicate as much as they can about a story through their images usually evoking an emotional response and stimulating a relationship between the subject and the viewer. We briefly examined the history of photojournalism, the different types of photojournalism that exist and they type of impact they can have on their audiences. We looked at examples of Hard News Photojournalism, Feature Photojournalism, Sports Photojournalism and Environmental Portraiture.
It is important when we travel through the different genres of photography that you try to to absorb the language that you use to talk not just about the technical elements of a photograph but the message and impact it has.
Things that might interest you
- Check out this short film on Photojournalism.
Warning some of the images are confronting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XONXeUndHl8
- One of my best mates, her brother Adam Ferguson is one of Australia's most promising young Photojournalists at present. Check out his works at;
http://www.adamfergusonphoto.com/
- If you are interested in doing Portraiture as your style focus for you portfolio you might like to check out this simple technique results in a very creative portrait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAiEhOhr5l0
Important Dates to Remember
- Monday 12th August - IN CLASS: Camera and Photographic Enlarger Test
- Friday 13th September - Photography Blog DUE
- Monday 16th September- Skills Task DUE
- TERM 4 Date to be confirmed - Photography Folio- Part One DUE
