Here is the poster for the end of degree show:
It was a great exhibition, very well attended. Here's a few images of my space (which was very small!)
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Lack of updates!
Well, I've been too busy to update this blog in May, June, July, August and September. Not that nothings been happening - quite the reverse. This was the end of my degree at Sunderland University so things were hectic. Add to that, the birth of my daughter, Jessica, in June and the end of degree show a week later and you can see how busy I have been. No competitions were entered during this time but I intend to enter Octobers comp.
Here is the poster for the end of degree show:
I also had a small table with a portfolio of images in the centre. I was dissapointed that the space would only allow me to display 3 images but there you go.
Here is the poster for the end of degree show:
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Competition Success
The results are in for April's SWPP competition and I got a gold, well pleased! I entered this image in the contemporary portraiture category:
It's another polaroid portrait using Impossible Project film.
Link to the posting: click here
I also got a bronze in the family and groups category with this image:
Link to the posting click here
So pleased to get a gold, it's been a while!
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Competition success
Well, March's SWPP competition has been and gone. I entered this image :
It got a Silver, awarded in the Contemporary Portraiture category. Link to the posting: here
It's a collage of polaroid images at different focal lengths. It was made using The Impossible Project's PZ 600 Silver Shade film, which is experimental. In contrast to the old polaroid films, this one should be developed in the dark. It's not something I could do at the time so as soon as it ejected the camera, I put it in the camera case (which was relatively dark). Each one shows an effect which looks like solarisation on the darker edges. This film is monochrome and has a sepia like tint - sometimes going bluish under the right conditions. It can be manipulated and the original intention was to do an emulsion lift - something I still may do! They have now brought out a much more stable version of it.
If anyone is interested the camera used was the Polaroid Macro 5. It's a specialist camera and was used by dentists or skin specialists etc. It has 5 fixed focal lengths available at the flick of a switch. Right in the middle is 1:1 lifesize, the next one up is 2:1 and the closest 3:1. There is no manual focus, the shutter is set by the camera and there are 2 independantly controlled flashes. It is a superb camera but I wish it had a longer focal lenght to use for more 'normal' images. Here it is:
It got a Silver, awarded in the Contemporary Portraiture category. Link to the posting: here
It's a collage of polaroid images at different focal lengths. It was made using The Impossible Project's PZ 600 Silver Shade film, which is experimental. In contrast to the old polaroid films, this one should be developed in the dark. It's not something I could do at the time so as soon as it ejected the camera, I put it in the camera case (which was relatively dark). Each one shows an effect which looks like solarisation on the darker edges. This film is monochrome and has a sepia like tint - sometimes going bluish under the right conditions. It can be manipulated and the original intention was to do an emulsion lift - something I still may do! They have now brought out a much more stable version of it.
If anyone is interested the camera used was the Polaroid Macro 5. It's a specialist camera and was used by dentists or skin specialists etc. It has 5 fixed focal lengths available at the flick of a switch. Right in the middle is 1:1 lifesize, the next one up is 2:1 and the closest 3:1. There is no manual focus, the shutter is set by the camera and there are 2 independantly controlled flashes. It is a superb camera but I wish it had a longer focal lenght to use for more 'normal' images. Here it is:
Friday, 4 March 2011
Finished 'Zink' emulsion lifts
Well, my test lifts were with the image of the peacock. I have the finished lifts dry now, here they are:
They worked very well. My next task was to devide an image into 9 pieces so I could print 9 parts, lift the emulsion then put them back together on a sheet of watercolour paper. This is for some uni work I'm doing on face transplants and cosmetic surgery. The image I started with was sized correctly to be devided up into nine 2x3 inch rectangles, this being the size of a zink print. (if you send it an image that is not 2x3, it will be cropped somewhere, and you may lose something from your image so best keep them that size). Here is the image I started with:
I had not used the printer for a while and as is normally the case, the image was printed wrong. The 'print head' had to be cleaned. Insted of wasting these 'streaky' images, I decided to use them anyway as it's just a test of the technique. Here are the zink prints:
They worked very well. My next task was to devide an image into 9 pieces so I could print 9 parts, lift the emulsion then put them back together on a sheet of watercolour paper. This is for some uni work I'm doing on face transplants and cosmetic surgery. The image I started with was sized correctly to be devided up into nine 2x3 inch rectangles, this being the size of a zink print. (if you send it an image that is not 2x3, it will be cropped somewhere, and you may lose something from your image so best keep them that size). Here is the image I started with:
I had not used the printer for a while and as is normally the case, the image was printed wrong. The 'print head' had to be cleaned. Insted of wasting these 'streaky' images, I decided to use them anyway as it's just a test of the technique. Here are the zink prints:
As you can see they are very badly streaked. I used them and here's the result:
There are a couple of bits of the yellow layer attached to some of these, that's what I get for not taking it all out! I'll make sure I clean the equipment before doing the blue layer. Here it is:
This one turned out rather well considering. They both have the look of a polaroid emulsion lift even though it's not photographic emulsion. Apologies to Martin for not doing him any favours in the finished images.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Competition Success
Well, the results are in for Februarys SWPP competition. I got 2 bronzes. I must say, the judging was very harsh this month, not many awards given out and some questions being asked about the process, not by me but I do think it was harsh. Anyway, these are the images;
This one got a bronze in the Open category. I put it there as the wildlife category is for wild animals only and I don't think peacocks are wild in the UK, not sure mind but I did take it on a farm so there you go.
This one got a bronze in the Open category. I put it there as the wildlife category is for wild animals only and I don't think peacocks are wild in the UK, not sure mind but I did take it on a farm so there you go.
Link to the posting: click here
This one got a bronze in the Contemporary Portraiture category
Link to the posting: click here
Polaroid Zink media
Well, it seems I'm wrong about the yellowish layer being the top protective layer on a zink sheet (see 2 earlier posts). It is in fact a yellow dye layer (should have known really, yellow, magenta, cyan), but it is under a protective layer. This must be very thin indeed as I have not managed to get it off in one piece yet - will try again though. If I do manage to get one off intact, I can't imagine it showing up very well when transfered onto white paper, we'll see.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Second attempt at ‘Polaroid Emulsion lift’ with polaroid ‘Zink’ media.
Second attempt at ‘Polaroid Emulsion lift’ with polaroid ‘Zink’ media.
This time I used this image:
I’m using a plastic dish with about 1 cm of water in. The water was at about 35 degrees when I put the image in. I also put a square of 350 gram watercolour paper in to get really wet. This is going to be the backing for the lifted emulsion. This is how it looks after 15 minutes.
After about 30 minutes in the water, the image looks opaque. It’s the top layer which nearly peels off by itself. It’s very, very thin and has no image on it – I think it’s the protective outer layer. As soon as you touch it, it comes off the image and sticks to itself.
If you attempt to take it out of the water it just clings to itself and it won’t unravel. You don’t need it anyway, so can discard it. I left it in the water but next time will remove it as soon as it’s off.
The next layer is the main image layer – it will be red when it comes off. This layer will be lifted off and transferred to the watercolour paper. From one side you can push it across the image with your finger – don’t use your nail as it will tear.
Do it in small parts, up and down the image until you get it off all the way across. Once it’s free of the image, it will float about in the water.
When you try to pick it up it seems ok but as soon as it comes out of the water it rolls together and is very difficult to unravel. When you try to push it around the edges seem to stick to the paper and then the rest of it sort of rolls over the edges and becomes very difficult to move.
I decided to put it back in the water and try again.
If you get it near to the paper and then on it (in the water) then hold 2 corners with both hands and lift them out of the water. Tip it up as you do it so the water is running away from your fingers and the image will not roll up as much. Put them down flat in another dish and sprinkle a few drops of water on top.
I am using 2 stiff bristled artists paint brushes to move it about. The best way seems to be to try and get an edge of the layer over to where you want it then work on spreading the rest out evenly. The edges still want to go under the layer, so keep sprinkling water on it. Once in position, carefully tilt it up so that the water runs off and stand it up to dry.
Seperating the previous (red) layer and the blue one is a sheet of plastic that you don’t need. It should peel off in one go.
Now I’m left with the blue layer and attempt to get it off. It would not come off but small bits of it did. I cut 2 corners off so I could try and start the peel but it would not come off. Using my fingernail I scrape the corner to try and get it started but it won’t move.
I decide to leave it for another half hour. Going back it comes off quite easily, but seems even thinner than the red layer. It peels off quite easily.
If you attempt to pull it out of the water it sticks together worse than the red layer so use your paper to place it on before lifting out of the water, using the same technique as before. (If you get it right to the edge before pulling completely off, you have to flip it on to the paper or it will be the wrong way round). This image should explain it.
Once out of the water and onto the plate it seemed easier than the red layer to move around.
That’s it. Stand it up to dry. Here’s both, standing next to each other, the red one is nearly dry.
Actually, they are better off drying flat as they will bow.
This time I used this image:
I’m using a plastic dish with about 1 cm of water in. The water was at about 35 degrees when I put the image in. I also put a square of 350 gram watercolour paper in to get really wet. This is going to be the backing for the lifted emulsion. This is how it looks after 15 minutes.
After about 30 minutes in the water, the image looks opaque. It’s the top layer which nearly peels off by itself. It’s very, very thin and has no image on it – I think it’s the protective outer layer. As soon as you touch it, it comes off the image and sticks to itself.
If you attempt to take it out of the water it just clings to itself and it won’t unravel. You don’t need it anyway, so can discard it. I left it in the water but next time will remove it as soon as it’s off.
The next layer is the main image layer – it will be red when it comes off. This layer will be lifted off and transferred to the watercolour paper. From one side you can push it across the image with your finger – don’t use your nail as it will tear.
Do it in small parts, up and down the image until you get it off all the way across. Once it’s free of the image, it will float about in the water.
When you try to pick it up it seems ok but as soon as it comes out of the water it rolls together and is very difficult to unravel. When you try to push it around the edges seem to stick to the paper and then the rest of it sort of rolls over the edges and becomes very difficult to move.
I decided to put it back in the water and try again.
If you get it near to the paper and then on it (in the water) then hold 2 corners with both hands and lift them out of the water. Tip it up as you do it so the water is running away from your fingers and the image will not roll up as much. Put them down flat in another dish and sprinkle a few drops of water on top.
I am using 2 stiff bristled artists paint brushes to move it about. The best way seems to be to try and get an edge of the layer over to where you want it then work on spreading the rest out evenly. The edges still want to go under the layer, so keep sprinkling water on it. Once in position, carefully tilt it up so that the water runs off and stand it up to dry.
Seperating the previous (red) layer and the blue one is a sheet of plastic that you don’t need. It should peel off in one go.
Now I’m left with the blue layer and attempt to get it off. It would not come off but small bits of it did. I cut 2 corners off so I could try and start the peel but it would not come off. Using my fingernail I scrape the corner to try and get it started but it won’t move.
I decide to leave it for another half hour. Going back it comes off quite easily, but seems even thinner than the red layer. It peels off quite easily.
If you attempt to pull it out of the water it sticks together worse than the red layer so use your paper to place it on before lifting out of the water, using the same technique as before. (If you get it right to the edge before pulling completely off, you have to flip it on to the paper or it will be the wrong way round). This image should explain it.
Once out of the water and onto the plate it seemed easier than the red layer to move around.
That’s it. Stand it up to dry. Here’s both, standing next to each other, the red one is nearly dry.
Actually, they are better off drying flat as they will bow.
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