Module One: Experimental Photography Recap

Deadline day has been and gone, time to remember the stress!

tldr;
Chaos. Weird. But really good fun!

Instead of breaking down the whole module, I’m going to focus on the key parts and the final products.

— Images being added once grading received —

Day One & Brief

Day one of First Year. 15 random people in a room that are trapped with eachother for the next 3 years. Does this mean I have to be nice?

We meet Jon, the big boss for the Photography Degree and he explains our upcoming brief. It’s split into four parts, we’d cover one each week.

Experimental Photography

1 – Photomontage

2- No Camera Photography

3- Mirror & Reflections

4 – No Rules Lighting.

What the hell is a Photomontage? How are you expected to take a photograph without a camera? What is going on? This really was a huge jump from the simple briefs of Foundation

Okay, let’s see where this all goes.

Photomontage

I really don’t agree with this method. I see it as theft of work. I understand how it works, the meaning and the skill but how can you take someone else’s creations, cut and glue them about and call them your own? It just feels wrong.

Even working with that mental blockage, I managed to come up with a few different ideas that I was happy to call my final four.

1 – 20 Years of Friends

This was my first creation, originally meant to showcase what can cause a child to develop trauma and pain, ended up documenting 20 years of friendship and support. As is the way with a lot of my projects, involved Lottie.

It’s not my proudest piece but I’m still happy with it. We’ve been friends since we were 4, we met a few months before the image was taken and now, she’s due to be my Maid of Honour at my wedding.

2 – Identity Crisis

Working with Cosplayers, you tend to only recognised them in costume. There have been too many occasions where I’ve not recognised someone because they’re not dressed as Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

These people specialise in pretending to be someone else. But once you remove the character, take away the makeup and props, who are they?

3 – Misinformation

My nephew is 8 soon and is currently coming out of his Cbeebies era, into his CBBC days. Have you ever noticed that the formatting on the BBC News and Cbeebies website is the same? I thought I’d play around with that a bit.

I did face the main issue of scaling but it was a sweet but simple message. Children can very easily see the real world behind the Bluey ads and Hey Duggee Games. We’ve really got to be careful in this day and age…

4 – Bulbasaur

I came across this concept when scrolling through Pokémon themed Instagram posts. Using TCG cards to create an image. With some influence from previously mentioned nephew, picked a Pokémon and started cutting.

Don’t get me wrong, this hurt my soul. Cutting up Pokémon Cards from my own collection but at least they’re just energies. I’ve seen people do these with more valuable cards that made my collection wince.

Guest Speaker – Justin Quinell

I rocked up to University, Monster in hand, expecting a long explanation on Cameraless photography and something to do with beer cans. We’d been asked to bring with us an empty 440ml can so I guessed something with Pinhole Cameras. I’d have the can ready in the next 15 minutes once I’d finished it.

So when I was greeted by a Bristolian man standing in the middle of the room, I was a bit lost. Don’t get me wrong, I got excited seeing a Bristolian so far north but…why?

We were told he was here to showcase Cameraless Photography to us and what it’s potential is.

It was great fun! We got to mess around with Pinhole Camera’s, Tumeric-based image printing and Camera Obscuras. It is now on my hit list, when next visiting the In-Law’s, to go see the massive one in Clifton! I’m actually quite excited!

I’m keeping an eye on Justin’s work and hope to learn off his style and techniques. The workshops he runs with children is definitely one I’d like to keep a hold of for later in life.

No Camera Photography

I really didn’t like this one. Not because of any reason in particular, It just didn’t kickstart the idea tank. It took some digging and looking at other methods before I found my thing!

1 – Photogram

I was planning to create a Watergram however, cocked it up spectacularly that I had nothing left to work with. I ended up accidentally creating this.

I’d been spraying water around and didn’t realise just how damp everything had gotten. I’d placed the paper down and you’ve ended up with my hand print across it. To be honest with you, I just thought this was cool.

2 – Scanography: A scene from a backpack

From the second I came across Scanography, I fell in love. It sparked so many ideas that let me play and create something weird and wonderful. On a related note, I have a horrible habit collecting random tat and junk in the bottom of my bag. I chucked it all on the scanner and prayed.

This was just fun to create, I felt like a kid bored at the dinner table trying to make silly words out of Alphabites. It let me just be weird for 20 minutes 🙂

3 – Scanography: Waterfall

I was using a screen cleaning spray to wipe down the scanners when I had the idea to scan with it. That the evolved into this waterfall idea using the ribbon and blue yarn.

I love this little concept, something so simple yet so weird and wonderful. That was mainly brought me through this whole Scanography bit, making something weird out of something else.

4 – Scanography: Wonderland Books

I go through phases of collecting random trinkets. I went through one a few months back of Mini Brands, specifically their book collection. I’ve got about 30 across my desk on mini bookshelves. I know, I’m a sad adult.

They look like they’re falling into the Wonderland Portal, being bent and twisted by reality into something else. Like time and space itself is collapsing in around it. So simple yet so creepy.

Mirror’s and Reflections

Reflections in photography have been the bane of my existence. They’re either in the way or not where I want them. This section gave me the time to have some fun and try a few new things.

1 – Second Screen Viewing

I’d been watching a Video Essay about the dangers of Second Screen viewing to content creators and the Youtube Algortithm. Ironically I was watching the video while building my digital journal on my Tablet, effectively second screen viewing myself.

Yes, that 1:13am. I’m an evening worker mostly. Taking this photo actually let me come across the images that inspired the Photomontage of Bulbasaur.

2 – Spoon

Spoon.

This was just a bit of fun to make and required a weirdly large amount of blu-tac. I wanted to see what I could do but no matter how I tried it, the reflection was always me!

3 – Koda

Home life at the moment means it’s just me and Koda a lot. He never leaves my side and always loves seeing what I’m working on.

I now understand why they say Never work with animals or children. I couldn’t get him to stay still long enough with out the bribing of food. I may be bias but he is best boy!

4 – Gems

I got in so much trouble for this photo. I was sat at a wedding reception where there were these little gems on the table. I kept seeing the LED lights bounce through them and tried to get the photograph. Problem? No Camera. Solution? Mobile Phones! ~~Hotel? Trivago.~~

The lights bouncing around the gems, shining through and reflecting in different ways. The indent in the one at the front causing the light to bend around and look circular. You can almost make out the walls and ceiling in them if you look hard enough.

No Rules Lighting

This was so much fun. I love using unconventional light sources to create images and light a subject. I’ve used fairy lights, lighters, even just screens before and it always creates something fun.

1 – Scanography – LED

Originally, I was just messing about while waiting for my Photomontage images to scan in. I’d got my LED Light Box in my bag and decided to turn it on and see what happens on the scanner. That’s how this was made

I can’t tell if it looks like a reflection in water or a sunrise but it’s weirdly beautiful. Happy little accidents are the best and sometimes, really blow your mind about what you can make when you do just mess about a bit.

2 – Koda & the Projector

Why does that sound like an Indie band name? We have one rule in our house, never use the big light. Because of this, we have a few light projectors around. I’ve got one that uses static images of the galaxy and projects them onto my ceiling. I saw Koda waiting for me to finish up and thought… why not?

His face is so emotive that he almost looks like he’s pondering the universe around him. What to do with his new power and creation! Being a black and white dog, you always get some fantastic shades of colour out of him too!

3 – Summoning Circle

I’m terrible for having something on in the background when I’m working. At this point, I’d been rewatching “The Chilling Tales of Sabrina”, a Satanic retelling of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and loved a lot of the symbolism in the show. So I grabbed some matches and and candle and, you guessed it, messed about.

This was so fun to make, let me play with fire and create some weird and wonderful shapes. It looks like I’m creating a spell or summoning a demon. I’m just glad there isn’t a copy of the Necronomicon in my house somewhere…

4 – UV Reflective

I have UV Reflective green hair. I’ve had it, on and off, for about 4 years. Ed has a set of UV reactive playing cards that came with a UV torch. Ed wasn’t home to stop me!

All that is lighting this image is the UV Torch and my hair. I forget how bright it can be sometimes. I’ve gotten in a lot of trouble for it before but that’s a story for later. I tried so many ways to show it’s reflectivity but this, the braid was the best way. The light sneaking through the gaps and loose hairs just made the image so much better!

Final Takes

This really throws you into the deep end and expects you to swim. I spent a lot of time explaining Uni expectations to younger students and, my god, did it get exhausting after a while. But in doing so, I did get to see where I could change and what I could do differently. Ultimately, the journal was my saving grace (Even if I did decided to restart it the week before deadline…). It helped me keep track, document and update as I go. Without it, this module would have eaten me alive.

It also just reminded me to have fun with Photography again. Not to take it so seriously all the time and enjoy mucking about, trying something stupid or just take a picture of the dog staring at me because I had food! Why, as adults, we forget to have fun I’ll never know.

Final Grade: PASS // Feedback at 2:1

Personal Rating: 9/10 – ^{_{Not all winners but some corkers along the way}}

AlphaRose Photography