Working as a Team - Pin Hole Project (Entry 6)

   How we shared tasks throughout the process and thoughts about working in groups

     From beginning to end, we worked as a team which I found was alright, considering I usually am I lone wolf, having a preference for individual projects. Firstly, all members of the group provided a variety of boxes as  prototypes. All boxes were differently shaped permitting to obtain various results giving us options to chose from. We shared equipment such as black matte paint, scissors and tape to build the boxes in class. We also shared the materials in the darkroom.

   As for determining the project's concept, we spoke about our options, our methods and about every details of the lesson plan before engaging in the process. We communicated at school or via emails. All responded and participated equally in conversations, throwing their ideas.

   The tasks have been divided equally and according to each group member’s schedule. The majority of the group took pictures outside whenever they had time. Some returned for more tests. We took pictures over multiple weeks to get the best result we could achieve with the pin hole cameras. As for the developing process, it went similarly. All those available went to the darkroom in groups and perform the task. Since we did work mostly in groups, we were all present in most parts of the process.We used group work to draw on each member's knowledge and perspectives, frequently using people's different strengths. ( From darkroom knowledge to text formatting skills ) 

Working in group was motivational and forced us to be responsible and to put greater effort to satisfy the group’s expectations. I found that it was harder to procrastinate when working with others. Overall, the most beneficial aspect of working in group has been the breakdown of the work into chunks, allowing everyone to contribute while lightening the task.

Using Documentary Photog in the classroom (Entry 5)

I truly appreciated how Gina L. Wenger started her article on documentary photography by mentioning : ‘Art educators have multiple roles. We are artists, researchers, and teachers.’  That saying was inspirational for me and made me reflect on how to present and how the introduction of documentary photography as a topic in the classroom could be beneficial for the students. Wenger's article mentions that this particular type of photography can be used as a powerful tool that offers the students a possibility of learning about historical artworks that relate to contemporary topics.
‘By approaching historical artworks that relate to contemporary topics,students may learn more about themselves, their world, and history. students may learn more about themselves, their world and history. `

What I found particularly interesting is how the author engages students into a reflective practice about the role of the photographer and have them think about the idea of authenticity, a topic frequently discussed in class. I personally believe that documentary photography has to display the truth, it is one of its characteristics. But again, by selecting images with the most powerful compositions aren’t we slightly modifying the meaning of the image by amplifying emotions displayed?

In the article,Wenger highlights how the three photographers, despite photographing and documenting the same subject, each approached it in unique manner. In summary, Dorothea Lange was hired by the War Relocation Authority to document the entire evacuation process of the Japanese American internees. Lange documented the difficulties in the camp (death, illness, obstacles, etc.) and the narratives of its habitants. On the other hand, photographer Ansel Adams documented the positive response of the Japanese Americans in Manzanar. Photographer Toyo Miyatake was incarcerated at Mazanar and successfully hid a lense in his bag to record every aspect of the subject and the narratives of others prisoners to make sure “this would never happen again”

I believed as discussed in the article, students  would love to reflect about the content of the images and write down what they thought the photographers might be trying to say about the event documented. It is a great way to engage everyone and to share ideas.

Ulric Collette Identity and Photography (Entry 4)

During this week's class discussion, I discovered the work of an interesting photographer: Ulric Collette. 

At first glance, I thought they were silly, but the more I looked at them, the more the images interested me. It became very interesting to me when I understood the relationship between the faces that were being meshed together. The link with identity is obvious. Ulric uses the idea of genetics and by creating these mash ups make us realize how the physical body is simply an envelope destined to become similar with time to our parent's. Looking at the pictures he creates by merging portraits of two close relatives, you can see how their genetic overlap creates striking visual echoes across decades and genders. Strangely, some siblings morphed into one face appear to be more identical than twins Scary and interesting. My personal favorites are in fact, the photographs utilizing two faces from different adult generations. I find it less interesting when he uses children and adults combined because it lacks coherence and seems disproportionate. It is not as pleasing to the eye and take away the beauty of the look alike aspect.

Overall, he is a great discovery with original ideas and I would definitively show his photographs to students if we think of engaging in a lesson about digital art. I would use his work as an example of how Photoshop can be used to create interesting effects that not only are beautifully achieved but that are also not that complicated to do and possible for students to learn in class.

Pin Hole Project - Research (Entry 3)

http://www.lomography.com/magazine/reviews
/2009/10/14/home-made-pinhole-camera

The Pin Hole Camera

Before engaging in the assigned project about pin hole photography , I decided to do some additional research on the topic. Here is a summary of what I thought was interesting.

Pin hole cameras can be incredibly small or large. It is to me the most fascinating aspect about them. 
Cameras have been made of coffee cans, shoe boxes, coke cans, empty refrigerators, station wagons,
entire rooms etc. Pretty much anything can be used as
a camera as long as there is a tiny hole at one end and 
photographic paper (or film) at the other end.

Its special characteristics offer the users great experimental potential and a distinct possibilities. The pin hole camera is known to have an infinite depth of field. Also, exposures are long, ranging from seconds to several hours, offering the possibility of creating double exposure like images, or ghostly photos. The greatest thing is that pinhole cameras have widely differing image formats, permitting the photographer to create funky fish eye angles to better depict certain subjects or straight rectangular photos to illustrate the rigidity of a building's architecture.

Of course, every good thing has it's downsides. Those cameras are are not accommodating nor user-friendly and they require a lot of practice to achieve a good shot. A simple tremble or change in the sky can modify the final results.
Also, most likely, the pictures will be less sharp than pictures made with a lens.

Even if they are quite hard to use, they are still used by experimental photographers today such as Bogdan Chorostian , Brian Trevino and others. (http://www.pinhole.org/index.php/gallery)

It is believed to be on a summer day in 1827,  that Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first photographic image (called sun prints at the time) with a camera obscura. 
Prior to Niepce people just used the camera obscura for viewing or drawing purposes not for making photographs. Niepce placed an engraving onto a metal plate coated in bitumen, and then exposed it to light. The shadowy areas of the engraving blocked light, but the whiter areas permitted light to react with the chemicals on the plate. When Niepce placed the metal plate in a solvent, gradually an image, until then invisible, appeared. However, Niepce's photograph required eight hours of light exposure to create and after appearing would soon fade away. (http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm)

This is an enhanced version of Niepce's work entitled
View from the Window at Le Gras from 1826,
retrieved on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/File:View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras,_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce.jpg

The first published picture of a model of a pinhole camera obscura is apparently a drawing in Gemma Frisius' De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica (1545). Gemma Frisius, an astronomer, had used the pinhole in his darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. Thus this type of camera differed from the pinhole camera obscura used by Frisius in 1544. In the 1620s Johannes Kepler invented a portable camera obscura. Camera obscuras as drawing aids were soon found in many shapes and sizes. They were used by both artists and amateur painters. (http://www.obscurajournal.com/history.php)

http://photoluminary.com/2013/03/past-photographic-processes-and-free-huge-set-of-vintage-film-lightroom-presets/