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Rejections from the Final Project

January 5, 2011 / Rick / 2 Comments

I knew I wanted to include at least one picture of one of my dogs in my final project once the vision of direction became clear. I was originally going to do them all in digital (since material waste isn’t a factor) but since I had exhausted my ideas with 35mm I decided to see if I could luck out on finishing the roll. As luck would have it, I did get some really good photos with my 35mm film camera, but of course, I had to decide which one would make the final cut. It was by no means an easy task.

I really liked this picture of Ozzy, my Beagle, but it seemed there was something not quite right with this one. The colors were good and the soft focus gave him a smooth look (Beagles tend to have small but apparent wrinkles on their snouts and jowls, which is one of the reasons they have such powerful noses). It finally hit me that the reflections of light in his eyes were what threw the entire photo off. The reflections give him an otherworldly look that to left me feeling a little less than comfortable. So, this shot went out the window. I was kinda disappointed as this was my first choice upon inspecting the negatives prior to scanning.

I liked this picture first and foremost for the composition. It isn’t your conventional animal portrait. Both dogs are looking in the same general direction and Sharon (the German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix) is looking forward with intent while Angela (the black German Shepherd) is trying to figure out what’s going on. The biggest problem I encountered with this one was a matter of depth-of-field, with Angela not being fully in focus. There was also the problem with the Newton rings on Angela (that’s a downside to using flatbed scanners for film). Try as I might, I just could fully eliminate the rings.

I pity Ozzy sometimes when the ladies gang up on him. This picture stopped a good bit of the action but there was just enough motion blur to give me a sense of the intensity of their play. Compositionally this isn’t a bad shot and you can get a sense of Ozzy’s frustration by his expression and his baring of teeth. Ultimately, though, I decided I wanted to go a little less violent with my picture selection. Otherwise, this one may have made it in as the selection for the 35mm film camera.

Three young dogs tend to move very fast in their wrestling matches. This photo was actually a mistake on my part as I forgot to double check the settings when I went from aperture-priority mode to full manual mode (for some stupid reason I thought they would remain the same). The result was a nice motion blur. The motion blur hides the violence rather well, but in the end I just wasn’t feeling this one. When I look at it now, I think there was just a little too much blur in the photo.

This was one of the finalists in my search for the picture to be included in the final. I loved the look on Angela’s face when I took this photo. It has the look of a puppy (she was just over a year old at the time it was taken) with curiosity yet trying to maintain her composure in case her curiosity turned out to be danger. The rejection came from the composition. Her right ear is cut off at the tip while the left ear remains whole. Also, there’s a little piece of something in the upper right corner of the photo that I found distracting. I supposed I could have cropped it out, but to be honest the cropping did not look much better than the original. Otherwise, I loved the tonality and color balance in this photo.

As you may or may not recall, this was my selection for inclusion in the final project. Angela manages to keep an air of dignity about her as she fights through the exhaustion of her previous running around. Also, she continues to watch for danger even while obeying my command to sit. Compositionally this is a very simple photo, which is something I continually strive to accomplish. The grass is vivid yet subdued enough that it doesn’t compete for attention with the subject of the photo. Plus, in my opinion, Angela is a beautiful example of a black German Shepherd with German bloodlines.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Random Mumbling Post 2011-1

January 5, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

The Silvershotz annual ‘Folios’ issue just recently hit the newsstands. Aside from being one of my favorite magazines to look at the world of art photography, the ‘Folios’ issue is one I look forward to each year as it contains work by emerging artists and those who are not strictly photographers but have an artistic talent for photography. The 2009 issue contained a lot of great work, some of which really inspired me. The 2010 issue seems a little disappointing by comparison. More than a few of the pictures I see in this year’s issue seem to have a snapshot feel and some are so out there that I’m left wondering if the quality of submissions this year was just at a low. That’s not to say that the whole issue is bad because there is some excellent work to be found in the pages (some of which I may discuss soon). Perhaps I’m becoming more discriminating? That’s a matter of internal debate at this point.

Since we’re on the subject, there exist a few photography magazines which I read on a regular basis. I read Silvershotz, Photographic Technique, Color, and another I can’t quite recall (it’s a technique-oriented magazine). Silvershotz and Color focus on art photography (although Silvershotz does include some informational articles and sometimes a product review). Photographic Technique focuses on some of intermediate and advanced techniques used to process photographs, both digitally and in the darkroom. It also includes a product review, which is focused the processing side of photography. The last magazine is strictly about shooting technique, and it has given me more than a few pointers on what to look for when setting up my shots. Most other popular photography magazines seem to deal more with gear, which is not where I believe one focus their energy when engaged in photography. And seriously, do we really need to read articles about the latest bags from Lowepro or the new CF cards from Sandisk? Every once in a while they will mix a camera review in there as well. That’s not to say those magazines don’t have their place – if I’m looking to add a new piece of gear, I will sometimes consult one to get their thoughts, but that’s about it.

Thankfully most of my discussions with other photographers about gear have mostly been based in the need for input, feedback, or information. I have had a couple of gear discussions in the past where the other photographer has bragged about all the higher-end stuff he or she uses (as they looked with disdain upon my little entry-level DSLR). Those discussions tend to grate on my nerves and, if I can’t steer the discussion to something more substantive, leave me looking for the nearest exit.

On the gear front, I did pick up my backdrop rack the other day. I’m pretty excited about it. While I meander my way through a small health issue and a pending dental procedure, I can try to do some larger scale still life shots in my living room. I do have a small “Studio in a Box” contraption that I got on the cheap (I used it to to take the photos of my cameras for my final project) but its small dimensions don’t make for much flexibility in object selection. I could barely get my Pentax 645 in the frame without showing the sides of the lightbox.

Now you have the meandering thoughts swirling in my head for today. I must take my leave as in about 8 hours I need to cancel an appointment in order to find a more cost-effective way to get something done I need done. So, to all of you, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I bid you goodnight.

A Thought

January 3, 2011 / Rick / 3 Comments

I wrote this essay in 2008 as part of a one-off photo book I made as a gift for my grandmother. It was an expression of my definition of art. Here is the essay in its entirety:

Art is what we make it. I’ve always believed that. I once had a conversation with someone who had been accepted to art school and was excited about it. For some reason I felt the need to say that art is what we make it. This person told me that he, fortunately, “has grown above that”. Some people just don’t get it.

Everyone has a different aesthetic. Even two people who have similar ideas will look at a famous work of art such as The Mona Lisa or the Statue of David and come away with very different feelings about both pieces. Take this a little further – when these two people produce a work of art on their own, they both will produce very different pieces. One may not like the other’s work, but to each person the piece they produced is art.

That’s because art is an expression. That, however, begs the question of what kind of expression is art? The beautiful thing about art is that it can be an expression of anything at all. It can be how one feels about a certain subject; it can be an expression of how an experience affected them; it can be an expression of a happy or sad memory. The possibilities are endless. There is a story that a German military officer had met Pablo Picasso after the Spanish Civil War. The officer, upon realizing with whom he was speaking, said “You’re the one who created Guernica“. Picasso’s response to this was “No, you’re the one who created Guernica, not me”. This famous painting was Picasso’s reaction to the horrors of war he witnessed during the German bombing campaign in Spain.

When one has something to express, there comes the question of medium. The possibilities here are also endless. This is also where people get easily frustrated. I know in my own case I’ve given up more than one painting project due to the fact that I’m not very skilled with a brush. Give me a quill pen and some ink, however, and I’m good to go. Working in any medium takes a little practice to become effective. I spent many hours developing the fine control required to use a quill pen so I could achieve the clean lines necessary to add power to my work. Dancers spend many hours practicing their steps, actors study their lines and characters, and writers learn the best use of words. Skill with a chosen medium is necessary because without it the end result will definitely suffer.

The other beautiful thing about art is that there aren’t really any hard and fast rules. This is the what I feel is the essence of art. Where science depends on the order that be achieved through mathematics, art breaks through this order and opens up realms beyond what can be described by math. We can see a black hole reduced to mathematical expression, but I have yet to see the same done with a Renoir painting.

But of course, when one applies art to the concept of design we begin to see rules. Designers have an art background, but their focus is on using their creativity to produce something acceptable for someone else. While there aren’t strict rules to design (not any of which I am aware), there are strong guidelines that designers use that have shown to be effective in pleasing their customers.. While design work is art in the sense that creativity is present, it isn’t a pure form or art where the expression of self is the core motivator in creation. When I think back to the prospective art student, I believe that he hasn’t grasped why people create art and that he believes that design and skill with a chosen medium are the core of what art is.

When I was in high school I seemed to have an aptitude for mathematics and science but a love for art. I graduated from high school with five credits both in math and science and four in art. Twice a day I worked within the rules and structure of math and science and once a day I was able to break out of those confines and let my soul out through whatever medium were we employing in art class. Let me be clear – I loved science as well as art. The question I never asked myself at the time was how to resolve the love of both. The answer would be presented a long time after I graduated from high school.

I took my first photography course in the Autumn of 2007. We worked with black and white film for this course. A big part of the course was learning how to develop film by hand and print the photos using a dark room and chemistry. This is the simple part when one begins to consider the physics involved merely in the use of light when taking a photograph. I had never experienced a class like this in the past. Just like in high school art class I was creating something, but to create I needed to follow the rules for the chemistry involved. And when I manipulated the science, I came out with different creations each time.

One may say that is what happens in science – if you manipulate the components you get a different end result. The next logical question is “where is the art in photography?”. It is true that manipulation in science gets different end results (like adding hydrogen to vegetable oil to get shortening). However, when it comes to photography, it begins with the photographer’s imagination. To make a great photograph you need the imagination to see what you want to see come through on the paper. Without that imagination, then it’s merely design work to please a customer. Granted, it could be said that it took imagination to create shortening, but when one knows the chemical properties of saturated fats vs. unsaturated fats and knows that the addition of hydrogen will remove the kink at the end of a unsaturated fatty acid chain, thereby allowing saturation to occur, well, I have a hard time seeing imagination in that.

Expression involves showing the world something that’s important to you. With photography I now have a way to show people what gives me wonder, where I find beauty, and what affects me. The best part is, I use both art and science with it comes to creating my expression. That is why I love photography as a medium.

Anyway, that is my little scribe on how photography is an art. I felt it necessary to share this with everyone as recently a commentor expressed some disdain for the elitist attitudes that some “artists” hold for photography as a art form. I personally have to say I agree with the commentor. The example of the prospective art student shows why. I do, however, like to read what they have to say. That’s part of the Sun Tzu mentality I have… I do like to know what the other person is thinking.

Thoughts? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Some Post-Holiday Mumbling

January 1, 2011 / Rick / 2 Comments

This Christmas was definitely a good one for my photography equipment. My lovely wife gave me an all-weather hood for my DSLR, a 5-in-1 reflector kit, and a flash bracket. Unfortunately I had to return the flash bracket as it could not be used with my camera. The resulting store credit netted me a backdrop cloth for studio type work. My mother sent me a Visa gift care which will soon be used to purchase a rack to hang said backdrop. Combined with the light kit I purchased a couple months ago I should have a nice little portable portrait studio. Now I just need to figure out how to parlay that into paying customers, but I digress.

I also received a Barnes and Noble NOOK reader for Christmas. The first book I purchased was “Pictorial Composition in Photography” by Arthur Hammond. I basically purchased it because it was free. The first (and from I can tell only) edition was written before 1923 and as such no longer has any copyright protection under US law. All that aside, the book seems to have some good information, even when I filter out the stuff that hardly exists these days (orthochromatic plates, anyone?) and has given me some things to ponder with my own compositions. The author seems to hold a disdain for pigment prints such as gum bichromate. He seems to feel it takes away from photography as its own art form by blurring the lines between itself and other artistic mediums. All I have to say to that is whatever. Personally I find the alternative printing processes give a flexibility to photography as artistic expression, but that’s this author’s lowly humble opinion.

At this point I need to get to work on some other non-photography related items. I have a few pictures that I will be discussing in some upcoming posts so until then, to all my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I bid you goodnight.

Aside from the e-book, I also purchased “On Photography” by Susan Sontag (in print form as no e-book version was available). I’ll start on that one soon. From what I’ve gathered, that book is required reading in some university photography programs. I’m interested to see what Ms. Sontag has to say on the subject of photography as I’m definitely looking to expand and deepen my thinking when I’m working on my own stuff.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2011. The past year brought some changes to my style and helped deepen my thinking when it comes to photography. This new year promises to bring new opportunities for me. I will soon be pursuing some new avenues to help my work grow and become more meaningful – not only to me but hopefully all of you as well. Thanks for all your support and comments and let’s go into 2011 with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Gum BiChromate Printing

December 15, 2010 / Rick / 0 Comments

I just realized that I never updated anyone on my education in the Gum BiChromate printing process. Well, let me start by saying “I’m sorry”.

The inspiration to learn this print process got its genesis when I saw some of Peter Liepke’s work in Silvershotz magazine. The colors achieved via this black and white process captured my attention first. Coupled with the soft focus, the photos attained a very dreamlike look, almost as if I was looking through a fogged window into someone’s mind. I didn’t know anything about this process, but I knew I liked what it could produce. Since I don’t have the facilities in my home to set up a dark room, I didn’t think much about it until a few months later.

As part of my learning in Photography II this past semester, I was required to provide an oral presentation on an alternative printing process (i.e. other than what we were doing in class). Gum bichromate immediately came to mind as I read the project list. When I spoke with the instructor, she seemed happy that I was choosing a 19th Century process (and it was something she did extensively while earning her MFA). I was told that she possessed all the chemistry to produce a print and all we needed was time for her to go through one with me if I wanted to produce one myself. I immediately jumped at that chance.

Well, it turns out that chemistry portion of producing a good print isn’t quite as extensive as it is when producing a traditional silver print. To make a traditional silver print, one needs developer, stop bath, fixer, permawash (for fiber prints), and water. To make a gum bichromate print one only needs watercolor pigment, Gum Arabic, a dichromate salt (either potassium or aluminum), and water. Seems pretty simple so far.

First I had to choose my photograph. For this project I used the following photo:

From this photo I produced 3 negatives printed on acetate. One was a black and white negative and the others were negatives that filtered out the red and green colors, since I was going to use those in my print. Since traditional photographic paper is watercolor paper with an emulsion of light sensitive silver salts coating one side, I only needed good quality watercolor paper as the print base. I preshrunk the paper (in order to minimize the paper’s natural tendency to flex when wet and while drying) and began the next step.

Here is where we get into the chemistry. My first order of business was to mix some Gum Arabic with a solution of potassium dichromate. This had to be done in the dark as dichromate salts are light sensitive (the light was dim as I still needed to be able to see what I was doing). After thoroughly mixing the compounds, I coated one side of a test strip and one side of the sheet that would contain the final print. After letting the paper dry again, I took the test strip and negative outside to expose the paper to the sun.

The next step was to develop the test strip. The great thing about this is the only chemical needed is plain water. Dichromate salts become insoluble as they are exposed to light and they harden the gum arabic mixture on the paper. The water washes away the pieces of gum bichromate that can’t stick to the paper (usually in the highlight areas). Once I developed the strip, I was able to mount the full negative on the sheet and repeat the process for print creation.

The first print turned out better than the teacher had expected for someone doing it for the first time. I was pretty proud of myself, but I knew that the process was going to be repeated a couple more times before I could consider the print finished. I had to run another pass for each color filtered negative and I had to make sure they lined up perfectly with the first (known as registering). If the negatives didn’t register perfectly, then I would be left with something not so good. The only difference in the process from the first run was the mixing of pigment in with the Gum Arabic before mixing in the potassium dichromate.

As you can see from the photos below, the negatives did not register perfect as there was some slippage during transport outside.

The dry print after the second layer was added. Here I mixed in the green pigment.

After adding the red pigment. The shadows have gotten deeper, but the negative was not perfectly registered.

The third layer had yet to dry on the second photo, which is why it has a bit of a glossy look.

All in all, it was a fun experience. I still need to fill in some of the shadow areas, which will be done with a graphite pencil here in the next week or two before I can show everyone a final image.

Since this process is not silver based, the expense in terms of money is not high at all. In fact, a 35-pass kit from Photographer’s Formulary runs about $28 and a bottle of dichromate salts (which will last quite a while) runs about $30. The most expensive part of the process will be the time invested in creating a great print. It takes several layers of gum bichromate for the shadow areas to really pop out, which makes exact registration of the negative a must. There are also concerns about the safety of the dichromate salts which must be address. Dichromate salts are not only toxic, they are also known carcinogens. One will not develop cancer right away from the first exposure to these salts, but care must be taken to minimize direct exposure. They are also powerful eye and lung irritants, so care must also be taken when preparing the solution and during mixing. That said, I would recommend at the very least gloves and goggles when handling the salts, solution, and wet gum bichromate mixture. I would also recommend using a sink that isn’t used for any other purpose (such as getting ready for work or doing the dishes).

All in all, this was a fun experience and this knowledge is something I would like to develop. I just need to figure out how to get a sink in my garage at a reasonable price. Feel free to check the links below to see Peter Liepke’s work and the website for Photographer’s Formulary.

Peter Liepke Photographs
Photographer’s Formulary

The Grade

December 15, 2010 / Rick / 0 Comments

I’m happy to report that I received an ‘A’ on my final project. I only received one ‘B’ the entire semester (on a minor assignment) so my final grade should be an ‘A’ as well. This semester really helped me find my creative vision once again. Hopefully this will soon translate into more art from me as well as a continuation of my evolution. Thanks to all of you for your kind words about my work this past 16 weeks and I’ll be checking in again real soon.

Welcome

December 10, 2010 / Rick / 0 Comments

Welcome to the new home for the Rick’s Picture Corner blog. As you can see I’ve registered the domain and moved the entire blog. This new blog is on a WordPress engine. While I’m not totally familiar with how it differs from Google’s Blogger service, I’m sure the adjustment period will be minimal. The Primordial Light gallery will be coming to this domain soon as well, although I think the name will have to change with the move. Anyway, welcome once again and I hope you enjoy what you read here.

The Final Project

December 9, 2010 / Rick / 2 Comments

The final project was turned in yesterday. I received some generally positive feedback on the pictures I presented from both the rest of the class and the instructor. Of course, the instructor’s opinion matters the most and she will apply the final grade based on a more in-depth analysis of the project.

Without further ado, here is my statement and photos for this semester:

It’s easy to want the latest and greatest in everything. We all want the newest car, the bigger house, the ultimate computer, to name a few things. For some who are into photography, this includes the latest and greatest in camera equipment. With all of the sophisticated selling points that accompany the new products, being sucked into wanting the latest and greatest can sometimes be hard to avoid. I myself have been stricken with technolust on a few occasions, but the reality of the checking account balance proves to be an effective cure for that malady.

It’s easy to forget that the camera is merely a tool. A photograph begins and ends in the mind. The camera itself is only the first tool used to provide a genesis to the photograph. It matters not whether the camera is a homemade black box with a pinhole aperture or the latest Hasselblad 48 megapixel medium format digital – without the inspiration, the image never gets created.

That’s not to say that the camera is not important. Every camera has its capabilities and faults that the photographer can exploit to his or her advantage. Each camera in my personal collection has a purpose based on their capabilities. The Olympus, for example, is a waterproof camera that allows me to do things I can’t do with my Canon 7D. The Pentax 645 uses medium format film, which gives me the ability to take shots that can be enlarged to a much greater degree than can 35mm. They all have something to offer.

Each pair in this series is a testament to the abilities of each camera and the fact that it doesn’t take a Canon 1D Mark III to create a beautiful photograph. The black and white camera photographs attest to the fact that I feel no camera in my collection is more important than the next, and when taking shots each camera is considered based on what is in my mind.

Work Has Begun

December 1, 2010 / Rick / 0 Comments

My final exam project is due on Monday, 6 December 2010. The guidelines are as follows:

6 rolls of film shot (24 or 36 exposure or 120 film) or an equivalent number of digital
6 high quality prints which can be presented in any creative manner

The themes can be chosen from the following:
1. Joiners
2. Documentation of a story, either real or made up
3. Photographic illustration of a poem or song

It’s a pretty loose set of requirements, but the themes do require some thought. I had originally decided to go with option 3, but the person I asked to assist recently joined the ranks of the employed and thus is unable to help at this time. It’s ok, I’m just glad she was able to find a job. At this point I’m going with option 2 and going to tell a little bit of my own story.

Work began earlier this evening. So far I have 43 digital shots split between 2 subjects. The story can go 1 of 2 ways, and at this point I will let the photographs develop the story for me. Wish me luck as I begin this journey. Since the Texans are playing on Thursday this week I should have pretty much all day on Sunday to figure out how I’m going to present my final shots.