Film and Alt-Process Photography

[iain]

Ah ha, thank you. I knew he’d used some technique to get the emulsion separated from the film, but I never knew what.

[quixot]

Here are a few photograms…fun with photograms!

[quixot]

Some double exposure skater action

[quixot]

As far as modular systems go, the rz or rb67’s were going for prettttttty cheap for awhile there. I picked up an RZ with a couple lenses, viewers and backs for a little over $300(!)

The yashica tlr’s are really fun too. Staring into the ground glass is mesmerizing. For 35 mm stuff I use a Nikon f100 or a Nikon FM. Feel most affectionate towards the FM. The light meter on it doesn’t work and shooting Sunny 16 can yield some very interesting exposures.

[quixot]

Can I tell you how much i absolutely ADORE both of these. Especially that 2nd one. Solarization can be really tricky and that turned out great.

[baleen]

really lovely ‘grams

[quixot]

Hey thanks! Nice to have a spot to show people stuff. Photograms are like modular patches in a way. You can set em up in the same way, but you’ll never really get an exact match.

[sonicstructure]

nice. love fuji superia!

[_mark]

Thanks!

If I had the time and equipment I could certainly get back into it. Actually those sort of processes are so appealing because you have limited control over the outcome. Come to think about it - just as @barnjazz describes here:

Other natural or unnatural processes that are like modular synthesis

hello, i’m new to modular (i got an 0-coast about a year ago and am obsessed with it, i just acquired a braids and am building my rack this weekend), and like all people who are new to modular, i’ve been watching zillions of youtube videos on the topic. of all of the disembodied voices i’ve heard in eurorack vids, the one that stands out most to me is make noise’s tony rolando. in one of his videos, tony explains that the modular synthesizer and the composer meet halfway between chaos and contr…

I think the appeal is the same as using generative processes in music…

[guillaume]

I am in complete and constant awe of how creative, curious, and open the members of this forum are. Loving this thread.

I do film photography (black and white, medium format, large darkroom fiber prints to contrast with the tiny screens we consume photography daily on. For me, that is the best way to get all the pros of the medium), as well as digital photography (where there, I like to have fun with crazy color and compositions that only digital would allow).

Some prints (photos taken from the tray with my phone, I need to scan them properly at some points):

Some digital stuff:

Ironically, modular synthesis has greatly influenced my approach to photography, even though I have been around cameras my whole life but modular stuff only for a few years. I write my own software to manipulate my digital images, and the philosophical inspirations from modular are many (if I had to sum it up in one, it would be that there should only be inputs and outputs, and you should be able to plug any input into any output and get something interesting).

I post stuff here, if anyone’s interested

[philmaguire]

Ace! How do you make these?

[quixot]

Thanks! I set a piece of glass on the paper and pile stuff on top, then expose with the enlarger and make a test print of different exposures before making the final print. An enlarger isnt even really necessary, as long as you have a pitch black room and a light source.

The one that looks kinda like an eyeball was made with a cracked glass candle holder that had a blob of burned down wax at the bottom, turned upside down. The circle one used this light up magnifying glass that i got to go with the one volume condensed OED. There’s a round furniture pad underneath and packing material cut out around. And the other was made with a bunch of metallic tinsel.

They are reallllly fun to make, and you can use anything at hand.

[quixot]

Yesss to all of that. Funny, too, how the end result image is contingent on the environmental conditions it was made in, and with sound, what you hear is contingent on the environment you’re listening in…

Been toying with the idea of using aspects of, or analysis of, the image/negative as a score in itself, but haven’t thought it through enough. I had this idea of showing the pictures with tiny speakers mounted behond the prints. Liked the image of people leaning their ear against the print to listen.

[quixot]

Love the look of fiber prints. Mine always get kinda wavy around the edges though. Over-drying maybe?

The colors in the digital images are amazing! I am intrigued by the programs you’re making…the results are fabulous.

[guillaume]

Love the look of fiber prints. Mine always get kinda wavy around the edges though. Over-drying maybe?

Fiber can be a bit of a pain to work with (it’s so worth it), it’s always going to curl. You have to use a hot press + cold press to flatten the paper after it’s dried, and even then it will never lay perfectly flat (although if you mount it, it should seem flat enough).

The colors in the digital images are amazing! I am intrigued by the programs you’re making…the results are fabulous.

Thanks for the kind words! My current employer does not permit me to release software, but when that gig runs its course I will most certainly release that software. Probably something Max/MSP looking, but for artsy image processing.

Another project I did a while back was write an iPhone app that simulates Prokudin-Gorksy’s trichromy process. One can get some really nice results - subtle effects when the 3 exposures are close in time, and nice trippy stuff when they are further apart:

[quixot]

Yeah, i need to do some serious work on getting them flat. I visited a relative and noticed they had framed and displayed a matted print I gave them, and I could clearly see the waviness and how it was pushing the matte away! I wanted to pull it off the wall and flatten it out somehow.

Those prints with the selective separations are really cool. What a great idea! Most of the color stuff I do is with a 4 pass gum process, as I still like using slide film at times and it seems the papers for that are just…not available anymore. I have a kit for making color prints from regular color film, but haven’t busted into that yet.

Here’s an ill-fated print that was an attempt at making 3 exposures with b&w film, but with a color filter in front of the lens for each, then printed and contact printed again to make a large paper negative . It was a breezy day and I didn’t use a tripod (smart!), and then had some major registration issues while doing the different color passes. It did ultimately yield an ok looking print, but here is a way out of register one:

And here’s another gum, just for kicks:

Self-portrait

And a fiber print with some rather dodgy dodging and burning; as well as a paint-y gum print from the same negative printed as a negative:

[iain]

These look amazing, as do all the prints people are developing themselves.
I think I really need to find time to learn how to develop things.

[ht73]

I love the first one though!

[quixot]

@iain it is really simple to get started with and b&w developing is all room temp and pretty forgiving. So many options too…

@ht73 thanks! I like it but it is SO far from what i had actually been looking at…a happy accident

[Zedkah]

EDIT - how about a lines london photography meetup group?

nice idea… would be interested in something like that. Or a London Lines creative field trip with field recording, photography and sketching , writing…