Red red wiiiiine.

AHEM. Sorry about that. Couldn't resist.

So as well as my experiments with lemon juice soaking I did try a red wine soak too as encouraged by the 'InCamera Arts' group. However it was pretty uneventful. I did everything a little last minute to tell the truth. The shots themselves were just quickly done on the land behind our house. I'd picked up a little bottle of red wine on the way home. Nothing was especially considered for this. Which perhaps accounts for the poor results. I soaked the film for about 24 hours but I think the cold conditions of my room meant it had little effect on my film.

As you can see for some of the photos there's an obvious purple stain to the image and for others it has an almost tungsten type colouring to it. I'm tempted to give this another try but with the red wine boiled and maybe leaving it on top of the radiator whilst it's on for a few hours. But who knows. I'm a little torn between whether I like my experiments or whether I prefer to see what others do. The unpredictable outcomes is maybe a little too much for me especially if it doesn't feel like it's been damaged enough. But then again I'd probably be upset if they were too damaged. Don't think I can win here.

If you want to see the rest of the roll the Flickr album is here.

What do you think? Are you into the idea of film soaking experimentation?

Laters,

P x

When life gives you lemons...

All this talk of lemon juice soaking experimentation and I didn't even show you guys the rest of the shots I purposely damaged. How silly of me. Admittedly a lot of the shots didn't have very strong results. The woefully cold conditions of my room probably doesn't help that. I think heat plays a really big part of this kind of experimentation so maybe I'll introduce more heat should I try it again.

Some of these I like just because of the shot and some I like because of the effect the lemon juice has had. It's a pretty mixed bag overall. I've found lemon juice soaking fun and would maybe try it again but it isn't something I'll do on a regular basis. I think I enjoy my own photography more in its original state. Unless I had a specific project in mind that required film damaging then I won't be doing it to nearly every roll I shoot. I'll leave that to those who are far better at this than me.

If you haven't had enough of these then you can find the whole album here on Flickr.

Laters,
P x

InCamera Arts

In my last post I dropped a line about the fact I've been attending a little photography group here in Manchester called 'InCamera Arts'. Run by the lovely Jenn Brookes it's a monthly meet where photographers who enjoy the analogue side of photography can sit round, have a chat and show some work if they like. The first two meetings I attended had guest speakers, Michelle Waters and Jonathan Stead. Both different artists working on film and both very inspiring in their individual ways. Tonight was a little quieter with a smaller group than I've seen previously but it gave us a chance to show some prints. I think it was a nice way to quietly celebrate the group being a year old. I hope I'll be around to see its 2nd birthday.

Near enough everyone showed some of their work in one way or another. There was one print of Jenn's that I was especially fond of which I hope she doesn't mind me sharing here. If you click on the photo you'll go through to her Flickr where she has tons of great photographs. I know there's pretty much no way of controlling how the purposely done destruction to the film turns out but the way the green is almost in line with the buildings and the bridge just looks stunning.

There was also this picture by Julian Dyer (check out his website too for more of his work) which I think looks fantastically timeless. He shot it on a Polaroid Land Camera a few months back but given the subject and the camera used if you gave this shot a few years to deteriorate a little then I doubt you'd be able to date it at all. How great is that?

And as for me, well excess is usually my thing so I took along a whopping 18 prints to show. They were little 5x7s to be fair. Considering I don't think I shoot in any particular style or have any kind of distinct signature to my photography, when I was looking for stuff to print I did notice from my recent Barcelona trip that I do have a fondness for shooting into the light. And within the Barcelona shots alone I found these 18 shots that all near enough come from shooting into the light.

I've never really reflected on my photographs in this way and it's funny to see that there is something of a trend within my shots. It's been good for me to pull them up in this way really and now I have a nice little collection with this theme. It'll be interesting to see what comes of it in future. Whether I'll find myself gathering a whole heap of these shooting into the light shots. I must say just having some physical prints makes for a nice change. I've been slowing gathering a collection of shots to get printed out so I can have some up around my room as miniature LomoWalls. Will definitely have to get that organised and begin the printing process soon. I've also been considering making a book from the shots I took in Barcelona, I really like the idea of the best being collected together in such a way and presented in a format which people can flick through. It seems a little more refined in comparison to your bog standard photo album.

Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. The next 'InCamera Arts' is in December and we'll be looking at cameraless photography which is pretty exciting. Going to have to get some research done for that one!

Laters,

P x

Carefully Careless

I cannot deny that I am having an incredibly difficult time finding the motivation to blog these days. Going from unemployed to employed back to unemployed, single to unsingle, bored to unbored has left me with a gathering of dust on my laptop whilst my diary is wearing out. My relationship has changed near enough everything in my life. It's really great.

However it means finding the motivation to sit down and write up a simple blog post isn't a priority. Instead I've been out doing a lot living and a lot of shooting. And eventually I got all those rolls of films developed. And now I'm overwhelmed with how much I have to blog about.

There is one thing that I am determinedly finding the time to sit and blog about though and that's my participation in another exhibition. My second of the last few months! How exciting.

It wouldn't have been possible without the help of two people to tell the truth. Firstly if it hadn't been for my boyfriend ending up as something of a co-curator I doubt I would have gotten involved in this exhibition. He was asked to help out and from there he pretty much said I had to submit something for it. So I was lumped into a Facebook chat where I received the very vague brief for the exhibition. You see the exhibition itself was a part of a music festival that was due to take place here in Manchester called A Carefully Planned Festival. I brainstormed, I came up with ideas, I came up with action plans. But one night on Flickr and a link to a piece of work I admired led to an excited boyfriend suggesting I try something similar.

And that brings me to the second person I owe thanks to. You see the other month I began going to a photography group called 'InCamera Arts' run by the lovely Jenn Brookes and it was her Flickr that I shared with the boyfriend. I really like the way Jenn experiments with destroying her films using various methods and the beautiful results she gets from doing so. In particular one shot caught my eye and it was this shot that led to my boyfriend excitedly encouraging me to try a similar technique.

I mean how amazing is that? Those colours are just insane. You couldn't replicate them at all. Jenn's dedication to experimentation has left her with a pretty niche style and I really admire her work. Now kindly enough Jenn shared her technique with me so I could try this for myself. I won't post it here in detail but will say it involves soaking the film in lemon juice. I should also say she kindly developed my destroyed films as well for which I'm eternally grateful.

So one day I went out on a great big walk of Manchester with a list of shots I definitely wanted to get and some general ideas of what I wanted to shoot. Having been given something of a brief for the exhibition I wanted to make sure my work somewhat related to it. I planned to shoot the venues involved as well as some iconic Manchester buildings and sights. After two rolls of film I believed I'd shot everything I could shoot and now it was time to experiment. Following Jenn's guidance I carefully destroyed my films. And from 60 carefully destroyed shots, here's the final 9 I presented.

My own version of the birds flying was directly inspired by Jenn's but mine doesn't work half as well as hers for sure. To tell the truth as much as I enjoy the shots I don't think they compare to what Jenn produces so her crown as Queen of film destroying is firmly in place. Quite frankly my shots pale in comparison to her work so if you want to see how film destroying is really done then check out Jenn's Flickr or her website.

As for my future in experimentation. Well maybe I'll try this again sometime but I don't think I'll make it a regular thing. I do have some other experiments I want to give a go and if I ever get round to them then I'll try share them here. But for now, well actually I'm having a bit of a quiet period of not shooting at the moment but when I do make my return then I'll stick to what I do best. Whatever that is.

So thanks again to the boyfriend and Jenn. I couldn't have done it without either of you. To anyone still reading this blog then as always feedback is appreciated.

Laters,

P x