big world

 Brought some of my work from last semester into my prints. I got a bit bored with these, especially the one below, I have alot of those done, trying to get it right. The photo quality of the one above isn't very good, but i rather like how it came out. I really like all the empty space surrounding the figure.. I experimented with using different colour etching inks for each part of the figure.

the death of ones ambition

'To my mother and grandmother children were the death of a dream.

The were the death of ones ambition.'

Another drawing taken from my personal sketchbook. I did one with text but decided i prefered it without. I think if i made the text less compact and had it spread out a bit more below the child. The composition would of  looked alot better.

The red on below is my favorite, its simple and the colour really works with the image.

Mother

'Mother had an attachment to animals and a tendency to humanize them.'

My third etching of one of my old bassets with her pups, taken from my personal sketchbook. The last image below is my favorite. The slight pink added with a mono print, really makes the child stand out.

Fia Fawn..

My second Print, again from my personal sketchbook. Dry point and mono print.

Text Says;

And There We Were, Both Air-Clad,

As Nature Intended.

Dressed Only In The Sin of Adam in a Living Room.

I miss spelled living room as lying room in the etching but I think it works spelled that way.

Printed three times, first the yellow background, then the orange for the deer, then the etching on top of that.

First print, no colour

Original Sketch

Here piggy piggy

I started print at the beginning of the week. And i have to say i am really enjoying it. The project is about space, shape, etc and how we use it. So we can basically use any subject matter we like. I've been using some of my project from last semester, but I am also using some personal work that I do at home.
The one on the left is number five of four that I have done. This one is the most successful.
Its done with dry point and mono print. The black is the etching, done by scratching out your picture with a pointed object (scribe) on a bit of acetate. The mono is done first then the etching is printed on top of it. I have to say I am really enjoying it. Its just a shame the white spirits and such set off my head!

The quote on the print was cut out of a magazine. Someone was being interviewed or something not sure off the top of my head. It says;

When Luck Comes You Have to Be Ready to Really Eat It,

And Chew Those Bones, Even Eat The Bones.

The first print, just the etching no colour added with the mono.

The Original Sketch

Tea Box Pinhole Camera

A Camera made out an old Barry's Tea box. Hole in the lid, inside painted black, and then made light tight with black tape.

Barbara Ess

Barbara Ess is a pinhole photographer, born in Brookyln, NY
She was educated in 1971 in London's School of film techniques and in 1969 B.A. University of Michigan.

She uses film camera and then alters them by removing the lense and replacing it with a lense cap with a pin hole in it.

I really love her work. I would love to try her tecnique with my own camera, but unfortunetly I dont have a battery for my film camera, and am unable to get a hold of one. Maybe another time..

I was luckily enough to come across her book, 'I am not of this body,' while looking in the college library. Its a book that is really worth looking up.

Large Cardboard Box Pin-hole Camera on Stand

"One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photo out of focus are an experimentation, one hundred photo out of focus are a style."

  -Author Unknown

Amazingly this bad boy got a great review from my tutor. It might also be the most successful camera I've made so far.

Its made of two cardboard boxes one slightly smaller than the other so the small one can be inserted into the big one, both of them have had there insides painted black. A hole was cut out of the bottom of the big one then covered in tinfoil, so I could create the pinhole. then I made a shutter out of a cereal box. Its light proofed with black tape. The lads downstairs made the tripod for me, since because of Health and Safety, I am unable to do these things myself in case I cut my fingers off.

They wanted to attach a regular tripod to it, but luckily they were unable to do this as I wanted something as rough and ugly as the box.

The picture I took with this camera is of a bathtub sitting in a field. Its the only photo were I can happily say whats going on in it, because you can see it for yourselves!

If you saw the original image you would notice that the tub is actually reversed. its a complete mirror image of what I originally took. Odd really.

Bathtub Photo.
Exposure time of 4 seconds.

The Camera in the Making

Honey Jar Pin-hole Camera

"Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness."

-W. Eugene Smith

The honey jar camera is painted black on the inside to light proof it, and the hole in the lid is made with a hammer and nail, with a bit of black tape over the hole to light proof it.

This was another time experiment, except it was done outside. You can see the strength of the sunlight compared to that of the photo taken with the artichoke camera with indoor light.

This one was also exposed for an hour.

1 hour exposure time, taken outside.

Artichoke Hearts Jar Pin-hole Camera

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are."

-Ernst Haas

An empty artichoke hearts jar painted black on the inside and hammered a hole through the lid.

I really liked the square shape of this jar.

As the hole was so small, I decided to experiment with time on these ones. I wanted to see how long I could leave the pin hole exposed. The image below has an exposure time of 1 hour. Its also important that it was taken indoors.

1 Hour exposure time (indoors.).

Butter Tub Pinhole Camera

"I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself first and foremost - that is important."

-Jacques-Henri Lartigue

This is the Butter Tub Camera. I got the tub from the cafeteria. Very simple really, hole in the lid made with a hammer and a nail, then widened with a pair of scissors, inside painted black, including lid, and a bit of tape over hole to prevent light going in.

The photo I took with this camera would of been successful If I had a shorter exposure time, as the hole is quit big. Its one I would really like to try again.

First photo taken
A 6 second exposure time.

Cat Can Pin-hole Camera

"It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness."

-Paul Strand

The Cat Can Camera (say that ten times really fast!) was obviously made out of a Kitekat cat food can. I hammered a hole in the bottom to create the pinhole and added a bit of card and black tape to seal the top, were the paper is placed. the whole inside is painted black.
All the images created from this camera are very under exposed. This is because the pinhole is to small, but I am also starting to wonder if it is also because of the cameras round shape..

The top photo had a 15 second exposure
the bottom photo had a 25 second exposure.
They have gone slightly grey cause I didn't develop them properly.

The top photo had a 1 minute and 30 second exposure, and the bottom image had a six second exposure, the pin-hole for this one was made a bit bigger.

Soda Bottle Pin-hole camera

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still."

-Dorothea Lange

This camera was made out of a soda bottle. I cut the bottom off so I could insert the photo paper. the I hammered a thin nail through the bottle cap to create the pin-hole. The inside is completely painted black, and after the paper is inserted at the end of bottle its wrapped up in black tape to insure no light gets in.

I don't know why but I really like this one and enjoy using it.

The top photo was exposed for 25 seconds,

and the bottom image was exposed for 10 seconds

Large Tin, pinhole camera.

"I never question what to do, it tells me what to do.  The photographs make themselves with my help."

-Ruth Bernhard

A tin that I found about the place. Had the lads downstairs cut a hole out of the bottom of it so I could then cover it with tin foil and create the pin hole.

Made a shutter at the front out of a cereal box and sealed the back with a bit of cardboard and more black tape. the end bit is were the photo paper also goes.

Again not  very successful camera photo wise. Made the pinhole bigger the second time to see if that would improve the image.

You can see were the hole was cut out and the I sealed the edges with black tape for safety reasons.

The circular image on top is the first image I took at a 40 second exposure. You can make out the rings from the inside of the tin ever so slightly.
The second image (bottom) was done with a larger pinhole with an exposure of 6 seconds.

Cardboard Box Scope Pin-hole Camera

"Everyone has a photographic memory, but not everyone has film."

  -Author Unknown

This pinhole camera is made out of a small cardboard box, a lou roll and a plastic cup. I over did it with the black paint since I though you had to paint the whole thing black in order to light proof it, but its only the inside. Annoying really as I would of liked it to be the same colour it was when I first made it.

The lid is were I place the 'light sensitive photo paper.' The lid was made out of the flaps from the original box and some extra cardboard I had lying around. The first photo I took with this camera did not come out very well, neither did the second photo. I think they came out so badly because I did not paint the tinfoil were the pinhole is, black. So the light reflected off of it, creating a black blotch.The cap for the camera is the plastic cup which is also painted black and sealed with black tape. The light sensitive photo paper has to be inserted in red or amber light, normal light will over expose the paper and it will turn black. Unlike film which has to be dealt with in complete darkness.

First Photo
35 second exposure

Second photo
Larger pinhole this time.
6 second exposure

Matchbox pin-hole camera

This is the first camera I made out of a matchbox, two rolls of film, tinfoil and a weird looking nail think to turn the film.
It was very easy to make and I have developed two films out of it. They weren't very successful, mostly over exposed. I have yet to make any prints out of them, but hopefully I will learn how to do that, so I will have something to show.
The first film I took, I reckon the hole was to big and my exposure time was way to long, there are only about two visible images on the whole film. The second film I made the hole smaller and shortened my exposure time. Its a lot less black than the other one but I cant really make out whats going on in them, I wont really know till I make prints I suppose. Its a very tedious thing. I think the camera in itself turned out pretty cool though even though the images it has taken may have not.

"Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be."

-Duane Michals