Assignment 5 - Blossfeldt

It has become a challenge to understand where I am going with this assignment. The Blossfeldt images that I am looking at are mesmerising with an undercurrent of suspicion that I am using the wrong reasons for studying them. Given the time I can spend on this, which is limited, I will not be able to present any of my work as "botanical" due to a lack of botanical knowledge. Blossfeldt was a botanist and his work was correctly catalogued and titled with the common name and the Latin name for all his specimens. The purpose of this assignment in any case is not to mimic Blossfeldt but create a new set of images, prepared using contemporary techniques that convey the same qualities as the original work. I will make a few images that look like Blossfeldt originals so that I can compare them with my newer work and question if he would have made similar work had he lived 100 years later.

Examples below from an ever progressing studio full of leaves and twigs

In the style of Blossfeldt
 

Contemporary Blossfeldt

 

Post Modern Blossfeldt

 

Experimental Blossfeldt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternative vertical shooting technique.

 

 

The studio has to have a different set up for the vertical shooting. In my contemporary Blossfeldt I am back lighting the subject with a studio flash. The attempt at using a light box failed due to lack of power. This has been overcome by using a D Lite fixed to the retort stand and layers of yellow paper laid onto a Perspex sheet just above the light. The light is set to minimum power and the number of layers of paper act as a neutral density filter when achieving correct exposure. The yellow paper when converted to monochrome is providing the correct texture and it allows enough light through to back light the subject and define the veins and structure of the leaves and petals. This is of course the primary purpose of the exercise, the discovery of the designs of nature. A top light is needed to stop the image becoming totally silhouetted. A D Lite with soft box is aimed at the white ceiling to achieve this. The camera is now fitted with a 90 degree finder/magnifier to allow the accurate focusing required. The initial tests are being carried out using f40. This is not ideal as the lenses (60mm and 105mm) may be slightly soft at this small aperture. I will consider later whether I need to do focus stacking where I can then reduce the f stop to maybe 11 and still achieve a good depth of field.

The back lighting is producing a nasty outline to some images. This is being treated with a small amount of Gaussian blur applied with a very small soft brush in CS5. Initially I was concerned about retouching, especially the images that are to serve as authentic Blossfeldt. During further research however it is come to light that Blossfeldt was the master at retouching. As he was using 6cm x 17cm glass plates he had plenty of area for painting the negative and examples are shown in Karl Blossfeldt 1865 - 1932, Hans Christian Adam, Taschen. 

The two photographs below show the studio set up for vertical shooting.

 

 

A break from Election Fever



EARTH FIRE ASH - Exhibition

Greyfriars Art Space in King's Lynn hosts an eclectic mix of artists throughout the year with the current show being no exception. EARTH FIRE ASH by Tom Thompson is mixed media exhibition using ceramic sculpture and photography. As I entered I was met by Tom who introduced himself and the conversation began. But, not wanting to tie him up with me I looked around for the usual Statement or Catalogue so I could put some meaning to the work. Nothing, he explained. He had made a conscious decision to not produce anything, instead he spends all day in the gallery and takes individuals or small groups around the work and explains the conceptual thinking behind his work and to the likes of me the workflow. This is a brave and somewhat admirable way to show your work. Far too many artists set up, have the PV, chat to the movers and shakers and leave. The remaining time the gallery staff sit and provide security, with the occasional smile, while you read the Artist Statement. Tom's story made me smile as he prepared me with a short biography of his life. He is in his 60's and started out as a welder, working his way into management through the long route and when his circumstances changed a few years ago he studied for a BA in Fine Art. He had also played some music and enjoys all art. So, so far almost a copy of my biography, so after I explained this we had a mutual understanding of life and we started to look at the work. Starting with three large figures looking at a sphere. Each represented the components of the title and as they looked at the sphere, which could be the world he recounted how he had felt when making them. He had spent some time in France at the town of Oradour-sur-Glane and from the photographs he explained this connect. The town was the scene of possibly the worst SS murders in WW2. The entire population were massacred or burnt to death and the town has never been rebuilt, remaining to this day a monument to those who died. Earth, Fire, Ash is the theme of the photographs and the relationship to the ceramics is tangible, especially when standing with Tom. The second area of work is photography made with a pinhole camera, constructed by himself. He was inspired to do this while on a walking holiday in Spain. One of those on the trip was the current Leica lens designer and explained to Tom how to make his lunchbox into a camera. The photographs, often of multiple images were not easy to read and I think I need to go again to understand what is happening there. The ceramics depicting thinking, cultivation and joining of people were outstanding. They would be fabulous to have and light for photographic purposes. The textures and shapes were so tactile and reflected the engineering background Tom has, which is possibly why they appealed to me. Time was not on my side so I had to leave but I would like to talk to Tom more and hear about his time as an educator with people having learning difficulties and as an assistant in the art department at the local college. Both areas post degree that I would like to explore.

 

 

 

 

Images from the exhibition

Exercise Part Five - The Vertigo of Displacement - David A Bailey and Stuart Hall

The final essay for analysis is from The Photography Reader and is The Vertigo of Displacement by David A Bailey and Stuart Hall.

David A Bailey, MBE (1961 - ) is a British Afro-Caribbean curator, photographer, writer and he was Co-Director of the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive at the University of East London. Bailey was awarded a MBE in 2007 for his services to visual arts.

Stuart Hall, FBA (1932 – 2014) was a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom. a professor of sociology at the Open University he was well respected in the world of cultural studies.

The module asks for me to look at the following questions.

1. In one sentence, what is the central argument of this essay

2. The discussion in regard to photography is set within a larger socio-political framework. Do you feel this is justified by the evidence presented.

3. To what extent is the argument limited to Britain in the 1980s, and do you think it would be useful to refer to related movements in other countries.

4. The essay raises the question of eligibility - in this case, whether or not a photographer of black subjects should be black themselves. What are your views on this ? What are the wider implications of this issue?


1.
Society and those who dominated it were predominantly white and the work of black photographers was not widely seen until the 1980s when black photographers due to their skin colour gave a legitimacy to their work.

2.
Yes. The issues of black photographers is one of many similar issues where a particular socio political group are being marginalised. The group that Bailey and Hall refer to though is narrow and I was concerned that the issue they are raising is not unique to black people. They justify their argument by including a small sample of other groups, such as gay and handicapped although their sample is very small.

3.
This essay is short and therefore deliberately confined to a small part of the world. To include movements from other parts of the world would have expanded the argument into other areas of culture. Predominately the treatment of black people in North America and Africa is at odds with the somewhat more liberal thinking in Britain. To widen the argument would be a worthwhile project especially in the light of how the world now merges multicultural groups much better than the 1980s. 35 years is a long time in cultural development.

4.
This is probably the most interesting issue of the essay. The concept that you would photograph differently as a black person is of course a relevant discussion when the genre is documentary and the subject a black related one. It is difficult to imagine a black photographer in the Soweto riots of 1976 making images that promulgated the views of the white people of South Africa. That however is no different than the actions of a white photographer. On a wider issue I am asking myself the question of how does a blind black person, or white person know they are their native colour. On the broader issue of black people photographing black people Bailey and Hall state that it is unlikely that a single photographer cannot capture all aspects of black culture.

The essay was interesting but I found the issues dated. We acknowledge the relevance of the history and how that as recently as 1980s the world was a different place. In contemporary practice we would not be suspicious of the colour of an artist skin making them prejudice. There may be practical issues when working in some neighbourhoods of New York or Delhi where being a non white would achieve better access. This is evident with TV news gathering where foreign correspondents are often chosen for their low profile look.

While annoying to the specialist (whose demands may be extreme) there is good reason to allow photographers to cross the boundaries of their natural comfort zone and work on subjects that they know little of. This editorial control will develop new images and a world seen from a different perspective and broaden our understanding of social and political arenas that we are curious of and maybe frightened of.

Assignment 5

After consultation with my tutor we have agreed upon the scope of assignment Five.

The assignment will centre around the work of Karl Blossfeldt. I will write a short essay as a background to his life and work and that will be followed by a small body of work along similar lines to his. The final outcome will be to enter some of the work in suitable juried exhibitions and gain exposure of the medium of macro botanical work in the local Press.

I have been carrying out some exploratory work, especially the setting up of a macro studio and collecting specimens. Specimens are hard to come by outdoors at this time of year so I may have to postpone this a few weeks. In the meantime the essay research can take place. Little exists about Blossfeldt outside of his books and they are in short supply new. I have managed to acquire a good second hand copy of Karl Blossfeldt 1865-1932, Edited by Hans Christian Adam - Taschen 1999.
Internet searching reveals a number of sites with biographical and technical content, but on inspection it seems that the primary source is Wikipedia, with minor changes.

There is still indecision on the technique I should use to make the images. Blossfeldt made his own camera and lenses and at the turn of the last century this was a considerable achievement, especially as he was making images with X30 magnification on a glass negative about the same size as modern medium format film. It is written that (no photographs exist) the bellows extension was in the region of 1 metre. I will not be making a camera or lens, or acquiring any further equipment for the assignment.

My options are:

1. Use a FF DSLR with either a 60mm macro or 105mm macro lens. Both of these can have extension tubes 12mm, 20mm or 36mm attached singularly or in any combination.

2. Use a 6x6 SLR with 80mm standard lens and 21mm extension tube.

The specimens can be very small, sometimes 10mm in diameter and 30mm long. The digital route will give technically better results, especially when focus stacking is employed. The purpose (as I will detail later) of Blossfeldt's photographs was so that art students could see (by projecting onto a wall) small botanical specimens in a drawing class. If Blossfeldt were given another chance of that today I am convinced he would use whatever technical advancement was available. By way of contrast and aesthetic considerations I may shoot a roll of 6x6 as a comparison.

The studio is now complete. It comprises of a 800mm x 800mm x 800mm light tent, 2 Elichrom Dlite 2 flash heads and a number of reflectors, honeycomb grids, soft boxes etc. The light rig is suspended so that the lights are above the worktop, and removes the need for light stands in a confined space. Various coloured cards are available as gobos and reflectors. A copy stand is also available if I need to shoot vertically onto flower heads on a close card background or the light box.

 

Macro set up.

 

Work space.

 

An early test to set up the lighting. There is considerable time spent with trial and error to get it anywhere near correct. The surfaces are so small and the positioning of lights, reflectors and gobos has to be millimetre perfect. Blossfeldt used window light and exposure times of 10 minutes and that soft round light is difficult to achieve.

 

Background colour and texture is under review. Blossfeldt used a variety, generally to suit the specimen's tones and the distance between specimen and background has an effect on the lighting set up and any texture.

 

More work is being carried out on this.

 

 

 

Apple Bud. (Early test shot)

 

Focus Stacking - Test

I have the need to revise my macro techniques for a future project. I have a 60mm and a 105mm macro lens, together with 3 extension tubes. Even at F45 the depth of field is very narrow, especially when at minimum focusing distance. A view camera or maybe a short tele tilt and shift on the DSLR would improve this but the cost would outweigh the benefits. One other item (given to me by a good friend) is a focusing rail. It is a rack and pinion device that allows movement of the camera to change the focus rather than the normal lens focusing. A few years ago I tried focus stacking, a technique whereby you take a number of images, starting from the front of the subject to the back, each in focus. Software, using layers stacks these, applies masks and produces a composite image of all the in focus bits. The result is a photograph with a very wide depth of field. In the image below I used a single Bowens strobe so there are too many reflections, but that will be rectified as my light tent has now arrived and a diffused light is now available.
The image is from 12 frames. Each movement on the focusing rail no more than 2mm. The images are then processed in CS5 using photomerge and align. An i7 with 32gb, 36MP frames and the processing took no more than 45 seconds so I am happy to make further stacks of up to 20 layers.
While just testing I have reverted to .jpg files rather than raw to speed this up a bit. This work continues.

Another experiment with the light tent and acrylic sheet lit from above and below. The paper weight is from assignment 2. Being glass it is difficult to not get reflections but here I think I have a reasonable effort.

Assignment 4 Tutor Feedback

The tutor report was accompanied by an annotated copy of the essay. The overall comments were good with some comments that require my attention before assessment (which will be in November).
The main concern was the title. As can be seen from previous postings, this was also a concern for myself. I knew what I wanted to say, but as with a lot of images, a title is not the easiest part to make.
I now see, with the help of the comments how I can change this and the new title will probably be: "How does Postmodernism impact photographic theory and practice ?" A simpler and far less cryptic version than previous. Much of the content will remain the same however. I had shown examples of Modernism and Postmodernism through the work of three photographers. This needs to be expanded upon and I will include something on The New Topographics and Mirrors and Windows: two major exhibitions of the 1970s. There was the inevitable problem of using "sweeping statements" without backing them up with sources and the praise you get for citing your own opinion. There is a fine line between the two. Upon reflection however I can see the error of my ways. Making a statement such as "It was a stark difference to the deprivation of the previous century" when describing changes from the eighteenth to nineteenth century does need to be backed up with some examples. Another example is when I have said " Artists said ..... etc" need to cite somebody as an example. The tutor suggestions on what should / could be included will have to be edited and a corresponding number of words removed from other parts of the essay. I had gone over with the word count but I am never sure if the end notes are counted or not. Also the bibliography will be included in the count but is not a part of the essay as such.

On a general note my tutor is pleased that I am visiting exhibitions and reflecting on my work. There is room for improvement in reading. This is always true but my lack of writing about what I read is at the nub of this. For this essay I guess I have read 3 books but only a handful of words get cited in the end product. With something as notoriously complex as Postmodernism there has to be background reading (that never gets cited) just so that a general level of understanding is gained, especially with a subject that is being learnt almost from scratch.

What the process has done, is given me an appetite for more, especially towards Post structuralism and a deeper understanding (maybe too ambitious) of how I am working in my practice and how concepts are formed and cemented. I was talking to a fine arts graduate a few weeks ago about her sculpture/installation work in an exhibition. We talked about postmodernism for a while and critical theory studies and I was interested in her comments that without that level of understanding she could not make any of her work. That was her base from where the work started, comments that I found very interesting and inspirational.