Cloud People

I was doing some research online earlier today and came across the website of Matt Wisniewski (http://mattw.us/images/). You should check it out, because it's pretty awesome. So that inspiration lead to some new digital experiments:

These are combinations of some old photographs I took of my sisters on different occasions, layered with cloud images. The clouds are either fuji lifts that I scanned recently, or digital cloud images I took in northern New Hampshire and New Zealand, respectively. I think I like the first and third the most. Her tattoo fits pretty well with the shot. I also saved some versions in which the clouds are color, though I don't think those are quite as successful. 

This is a really preliminary experiment, and I wasn't sure I should post these images, but then I thought that I would really appreciate feedback, especially because these are very early experiments. 

Another grid update

Here are some later versions of the digital cloud grid I posted a few days ago, not sure where this will go, but I am enjoying the experiments. Playing with lots of semi-transparent layers, contrast and saturation.

Handmade experiments

As I am digesting all the feedback from the residency I am finding that I am interested in pursuing a few different projects. Some of them will go hand-in-hand and may connect at some point. So in addition to the digital experiments I have also been continuing the handmade work. Here are some shots of things I did in my studio on Friday and Saturday. 

One of the experiments (I should probably find some different words to use soon, I am getting very repetitive) is putting emulsion lifts on glass as opposed to wood panels with encaustic. I am not sure if the encaustic will come into play with this specific direction, but I do want to revisit that later.

I also did some lifts on fabric. The color lifts are Fuji film and they end up becoming very plasticky and not flexible, so they are easier to transfer to a solid surface. I am planning on playing with this more to see what else I can do with the fabric as a base.

                                               

Since I am currently teaching a handmade photo class I got access to some Cyanotype chemistry and a little time to play yesterday. I used some old negatives that I originally printed 16x20 black and white a few years ago. I've been meaning to revisit this project, so here are some 4x5 contact printed cyanotypes.

Another Grid

And here is another grid I have been playing with:

Layers of Grids

Last Saturday I scanned the reclaimed negatives from the Fuji 100C images I shot last week. I've been playing with these digital files ever since, and it really does feel like playing. Not sure yet where these images will lead or how they will work with the lifts I'm making with the actual instant images. I'm trying to embrace the not knowing and just making.

Experimenting

I have many projects and ideas on my mind, so I figured the best thing to do is get started and make things! Here are some in-progress photos of a color (scary, I know) project. A friend told me he heard about a way to reclaim the negatives from Fuji 100C instant film. Since I've been wanting to experiment with size and color more I thought this was a good place to start. I've been feeling limited by the size of the instant film, so I am hoping experimenting with the negatives will allow me to break those boundaries and combine the analog fuji images with digital techniques to make larger images.

I played a little with my very basic scanner but I won't have access to a transparency scanner until this weekend. More experimenting will happen then.

Thank you, Shawn!

I'm finding that one of the great things about this program is how much I am able to learn from my peers. My critique group mate Shawn Saumell  (http://www.shawnsaumell.com/wordpress/) came across this article about Eileen Quinlan, an artist who was mentioned to me during several of my critiques at the residency.

About Eileen:

"Eileen Quinlan describes herself as a still-life photographer. Born in 1972, she has become well known in recent years as one of a cohort of photographers—Walead Beshty and Liz Deschenes are notable others—who, following in the footsteps of practitioners from Moholy-Nagy to James Welling, have been disassembling the layered apparatus of photography (light, subject, optics, chemistry, bytes, the material image) and finding new means of expression."

Some tidbits that jumped out at me:

"The black-and-white Polaroid film I use produces very fragile negatives [color Polaroids have no negatives] and, despite my best efforts, they always get damaged. For a change, I decided to stress the negatives to the max—even to the point of letting the images fall apart."


"I was looking for a way to get my hand into the work, to make it more personal, more meaningful. Death is a key to this series. I lost many of the older people in my life last year—between the two of us, Cheyney and I lost three grandmothers—and I was feeling very sad. These women were our last link to the early 20th century. Calling my show at Miguel’s “Nature Morte” and titling all the images after works by artists or writers
who are buried at Père Lachaise—Star on the Forehead, for instance, was the name of a Raymond Roussel play—became a way of mourning."

Here's the article from "Art in America":

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/features/eileen-quinlan/

And so it starts

To begin, and to remember my starting point, here are some images I brought to my first residency. As I'm processing all the feedback I received I am getting many ideas for new projects, so I am excited to see how my work changes over the next semester and next two years.