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Physically the taking of these photographs wasn't particularly easy - each exposure was eight minutes; it was made easier because I was alone, but to get a similar position for each of the three poses took a bit of guesswork. I sat for them in the reverse order that they appear, but on review the initial three seem to encapsulate my thoughts of "me" better then the second set of three. I've never tried self portraiture before this course, I have never had the process of thought that might want to engage in this form of expression. I had taken a "portrait with no face" earlier as part of the Roswell Angier "Train Your Gaze" assignment, which seemed much easier as it wasn't me it was a character being portrayed by me.

Eight minutes is a long time. You get to think about quite a lot in eight minutes and when there are six eight minutes it is even longer, much too long for self contemplation. "Why am I doing this?" was a question that raised it's head a few times, it was therefore a force of will to stay the course, to see the process to a conclusion, at each phase of the operation. I had no idea of the outcome, there is no viewfinder in the zone plate camera to enable some information to gauge the likely area to sit and pose, the wide angle (20mm equivalent on a 35mm camera) would make it easy to get "in" shot. I had "pre-visualised" the transient shot - but that is about all. The post process time isn't short either; I took the shots on Wednesday, developed them on Wednesday evening; scanned them on Friday and post-processed them on screen on Saturday (I had a good idea what they were like when the negatives had dried i.e. that the exposure had worked etc, but it is only in the print that reality starts to kick-in). All through that time I could have given up or given in and not finished the process. I'm still not sure why I did finish, or why I didn't give in to temptation and go and do something less painful.

So why? And why these shots/poses? I thought about artifice, or at least the lack of it; I wanted to have as little affectation as possible and thought of the classic "offender" shot - left, right and face on. I knew that the diffused effect was an artifice, I knew that it was therefore, in part, a cop-out, I also knew this was a "way-in"(which is why I took another with the 35mm camera and have included it at the end of this post).

The photographs that best express myself at the moment are the transient images, the three that have me half there and half not, either having left, or, more likely, still trying to get there. Simply by leaving the chair after four minutes and allowing the film to continue to expose for another four minutes would provide this ephemeral image. The chair staying solid and consistent, the sitter part there, part somewhere else. The "offender" kept re-appearing as I sat there. Guilty or not guilty?

Technical details:

Top six: Zero-image zone plate camera, Technical Pan developed in Technidol

Last shot: Pentax MZ-5, Fuji Neopan 1600, developed in Prescysol, 90mm lens

Eighth week

My original idea when I planned this weeks visit was to record the payers "strength of character", how they  have assimilated themselves into their roles. My thoughts were about how they might be showing a greater physical approach to their roles and how that might be received by me acting as the audience and how, subsequently, I perceived the interaction between the players and whether that physicality, that ownership of the role, would present itself to their fellow players on stage.
I've said before in this series that the directorial debuts of Emma and Kevin has, thus far, been a revelation. The cast have responded wonderfully and the play seems to have a life of it's own as it nears opening night in four weeks time. On reviewing the stock for the edit I felt I needed to revise the proposition of the post based on the images that I had managed to take.
I felt that the set that I had could be separated into two distinct groups "People and Production". The "People" part were the interaction between the various persons at the hall, including actors who weren't in role, as they either prepared to "go on" or were going about their business - there is one exception which I felt could be in either, so strong was the image in my view. The "Production" shots I decided could provide something else; the players personifications were so strong that I thought about how I might look for publicity type shots, shots that could be used in a programme or poster (there is an example of one of the actual posters in the series "People".

People:

This shot, a prelude to an on-stage (scripted) scuffle is a cross-over and is really a "Production" shot but I have included it here on the basis of it's "realness".

The basis behind the inclusion of these shots is interaction. I have tried to depict the interplay of the various people as they work their individual and group functions. There are shots of individuals, of couples, of groups in a single purpose and multiple groups focussing on disparate roles towards a group end. When taking these images I tried to capture moments, the "gesture" of the moment as individuals (or groups occasionally) manage to express different emotions.

Production:

I have decided to present this sub series in colour - it should mean that they are stronger, clearer and more directly connected to the viewer without the remove of monochrome.

The play is set in a pub - therefore the inclusion of "drink" related images, glasses etc. there are some "scuffles" and the can in mid-flight is indicative of the brawl that goes on "off-stage", and humour.

As this series progresses there are lots that I'm beginning to take on board. I now realise that the techniques required for candid people shots are ones that need to be practised, these last few weeks have been a "soft start" as I know all the subjects. I will need to get out there - in the street - more often. Anticipation is a very important part of the toolkit, but also recognising the emotion as it begins to appear on people's faces and bodies. I'm not sure I want to be a street photographer, but I do know that I want to develop in the genre of portraiture and these exercises are helping me a great deal.

And I thought I would leave the post with these shots: Emma, delivering thoughts and direction to her audience - the cast!

Ellen's Eyes II

A short preamble regarding film.

For photographers of my tender years film was what we grew up with; Ilford FP4, Pan F and HP5, Kodak’s Tri-X, T-Max and Technical Pan are names that came, and, in today’s terms seemingly stayed around forever, much in the same way as photographic papers such Agfa Portriga and Brovira, Oriental Seagull and Sterling still evoke some nostalgia. I don’t miss those days, maybe the stability (or the perception of it) in comparison to todays perpetual rush for more, for growth and the “bigger/better/brighter” next generation model.

There is something though, about film, that has stayed fast to the anchor of it's technological age  and which is defined by the limitations of it’s modus operandi; which is image creation time. Today’s photographer can take a picture on one side of the globe and have it in print within a second or two in most cities in any country on the planet. In the decades leading up to the noughties the best that could be hoped for was several hours, assuming a local need and base, overseas though could be days.

Ilford Delta 100, ISO 100, Prescysol developer , 30 secs

Fuji Neopan 1600, Prescysol developer, 90mm

I have largely switched over to the digital domain, but I still hold onto a couple of film cameras, a 35mm and a zone-plate wooden box camera (cost £25, second hand). I have used both of these cameras for exercises on this course already. Serendipity, for whatever reason, allowed me to find a single roll of 120 Technical Pan and five unused bottles of Technidol liquid developer (Technical Pan had it’s concomitant single shot developer that it recommended).  I decided to experiment with it in this session with Ellen.

These three shots (and others) were taken during a single exposure of the ZP camera i.e. within 30 seconds.

Fuji Neopan 1600, Prescysol developer, 90mm

The film was eight years out of date (according to the packaging) and, more importantly, hadn’t been in a cold/dry environment – rather it was in my home office/light room cupboard, which has a wide variation of temperature being west facing. Technical Pan is a very slow film, rated at ISO 25 although I preferred to rate it at ISO 12.5 (that was certainly the speed that worked best on my medium format camera before I sold it). It has almost no discernible grain, especially if developed with Technidol. This film and Lith’ printing are what I most miss about the analogue world of photography that and time; time and space which is an incumbent with film photography and which needs to be added by purpose within the digital domain.  

In the previous “Ellen’s Eyes” post I talked about the use of the various cameras and in this post I would like to discuss two disparate eventualities of using film cameras coupled with a very wide aperture camera – f48 and a very slow film ISO 12.5. The most significant difference was time. The slowing of the process of taking the image allowed me to consider more of what I wanted from the session. I also found that I could take multiple images with different cameras at the same time, and what this allowed me to do from a creative perspective. I used two film types in this session the single roll of Technical Pan and a roll of Ilford Delta 100; due to the length of exposure another issue had to be factored in, that of reciprocity failure. In order to combat that, in the Ilford film I doubled the exposure time as determined by the exposure meter, but as the meter read 4 mins for the Technical Pan I decided to go with that - more out of kindness to Ellen than of any photographic masterplan! Both decisions seemed to pay off in terms of recorded detail. I exposed the Ilford film first and only took three of Ellen at the extended exposure times with the Technical Pan. I finished the roll with some self portraits at the full extended eight minutes which may be part of a future post.

 The Zone Plate camera has no viewfinder, no exposure control other than a piece of wood that slides over the pin-hole aperture. The (first) shot above is a four minute exposure and it was during this time that I started to consider what else I could do through the extended exposure and I decided to record Ellen being recorded by the long exposure camera using the other two cameras on hand. This process allowed different aspects of both the sitter/viewer relationship to be explored and the rest of the images juxtapose the camera that holds the viewer position i.e. the zone plate camera, and the other shots explore the relationship between Ellen and the viewer from a third person perspective, a voyeur on the process.

Ilford Delta 100, ISO 100, Prescysol developer , 30 secs

Ilford Delta 100, ISO 100, Prescysol developer , 30 secs

I tried a few experiments as we progressed, the shot on the left has Ellen talking continuously for 30 seconds, not easy when there is no feedback. This exercise was to bring some animation into an otherwise static shot, it is difficult to discern that from the image. Whereas the image to the right is a reaction to the former shot, by covering her mouth, in a static pose, she is deliberately preventing that event record to occur again. I also introduced focus into the images. Ellen is out of focus, her mouth is active (just about visible in this shot but the zp camera would be better represented with a clearer focus, I think there needs to be "a" reference in the image to "hold" the image - see later shots.

Fuji Neopan 1600, Prescysol dev', 90mm

Next series:

Ilford Delta 100, ISO 100, Prescysol developer , 30 secs

The accompanying "parallel" shots come with varying degrees of focus. I feel that the metaphor of focus can deliver different narratives. The shot left has Ellen in "bright, sharp" focus - in control not only of the zp camera but, by connotation, the viewer as well - whereas the shot on the right has the viewer through the medium of the zp camera firmly in control and Ellen diminishing in the frame. The image below takes full control of the "Ellen" in the frame where she appears almost as a vestige of herself.

These next shots are from the Technical Pan set of three, these allowed me to roam around more freely, but I was also aware that Ellen might need some encouragement, as sitting still for 4 mins is very difficult (I did it for 8 mins the day after and can attest to that!).

Next series:

Technical Pan, ISO 12.5 Technidol developer, 4 mins

 Two shots with the Nikon D3, close in with a macro lens at f2.5 (details as per previous post). I had originally thought this whole session would be about eyes, and to a certain extent I still do - albeit it has moved on a little - so these shots had the camera focussing on her eyes. The shots below are all with the 35mm camera and a 90mm lens loaded with Fuji Neopan. I particularly like the strength of the first and last shot - they seem to express power/control at both extremes. The middle shots invoke some vulnerability especially the shot taken from above, in a voyeuristic viewpoint - knowing that Ellen is compelled to stay transfixed in the pose for the duration and to only come out of it on my say so. Lots to ponder there.

 Next series

A couple of variant shots, Ellen, above in another long pose and the Nikon taking a picture of the camera taking a picture of Ellen. The focus is so "way out" that we can only "know" it is Ellen by the narrative that has been developed prior to this point.

A number of inspirational factors drove me to this line of exploration. Hockney's current exhibition at the RA with his use of multiple cameras exploring different perspectives and viewpoints and this which also reminds a little of Hockney's multiples http://driftingcamera.blogspot.com/p/woodland.html. I shall explore this further; the use of time, perspective.

I feel that there were too many variables - the Technical Pan was an experiment that I won't be able to repeat, but I have plenty of Ilford and can vary the lights to provide me the exposure bandwidth that with a little more planning I should be able to develop this concept.