color, continued

I'm continuing to play with color film, and I'm not entirely sure I like it. This is partly because I don't feel like I know what I'm doing, honestly, but we'll see what happens. I got attached to black and white film very, very quickly.

While I'm not entirely pleased with using color, the photos I'm getting are giving me ideas for photos to take with B&W.

cigar tubes

Photo of cigar tubes taken at Primo Cigar Shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Line in the image courtesy a scratch running the length of the whole roll. Hey, I think it looks cool.

color contact sheets

When I first got Maxwell (the Ricoh KR-5 Super II) earlier this summer, I loaded it with color film to see what would happen. The following are, essentially, the result of me derping around. I won't say which my favorites are.

These are the first color contact sheets I've ever seen; I'm very excited about that. I didn't do them, though. Obviously, since these are from a contact sheet and the photos were taken in different lighting, some that are darker can be made lighter and vice versa.

Please tell me which ones you think might make good prints-- specifically, good prints people might purchase.

Darker or lighter?

A store. It has happened.

Just opened up a shop on Etsy for my work. Check it out!


I am very excited. Maybe people will purchase stuff?


Yes there will be more than 4 things, but not right now. Tomorrow, perhaps.

axiophotography

I'm pleased to announce I've decided on a name for my photographic ventures, a name I can use as a watermark and for the new blog. It is, as the post title suggests, axiophotography. It was a close call between that and alethio(tography).

Axiology is the study and philosophy of values, the values we give things; alethiology is the study of truth. They are closely related, naturally, but one suits my projects better.

That being said, I'm starting to go through this blog, theBlagh, and watermark photos (finally, I know). If you see "(c) axiophotography" all over things, that's me, no I am not ripping myself off. I will put up a link to axiophotography on this blog, but I will not link to theBlagh from axiophotography.

imitation A 19

Here are some shots of the final version of my imitation of Moholy-Nagy's painting, A 19. I modified it a bit, as you can see (concerning the circles).

That bizarre texturing in the red there near the left was done by whoever painted the canvas first. Alas! I think it works though.

painting

I don't usually paint, but there was a stupid-looking mess of paint on a canvas that was lying around, so I emptied a bottle of gesso onto it and decided to try and imitate one of Moholy-Nagy's paintings.

Phase 1:

Phase 2:

The shading in those tiny triangles and rhomboids! I hope I'm getting it right. The Moholy-Nagy I'm trying to imitate can be found here.


Phase 3 tomorrow.

shuffling

I will be adding a second blog, one dedicated specifically to my photography. I'll probably continue with the daily/semi-regular photo thing here, but the other blog will be solely for photos that are absolutely well done and not just fun things; I mean it to be a portfolio of sorts. This will require an appropriately professional-sounding title, of course, so I will be thinking on this.

Suggestions?

Meanwhile I'll also be putting watermarks on all my photos. I have no idea why I never did this earlier, as now I have an enormous pain on my hands.

Visualizing Nothingness—Angst, Nausea, and the Overman through Photographs

Even if I'm technically finished with school (until I go back, anyway), it's incredibly satisfying to be finished with a final project and to like it. Following is my "mission statement" (in quotes because the credibility of such a name is dubious to me), the six photographs I used, the quotes that accompanied each photo and the set in general, and several photos showing the whole setup. I realize that sadly perhaps a lot of the context/presence of suspended photos is lost in blog format, but alas.

Why do we find ourselves creating meaning and structure for our world? We may find ourselves, occasionally, wondering why things are set up as they are. Existential philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre would challenge the assertion that our world has inherent structure. Indeed, they would suggest that such an assertion is a human fabrication designed to impose meaning and structure on an otherwise senseless world; it is precisely this imposition, however, that takes away our will to act as completely free agents.

The response to knowing one has complete free will and that all structure is meaningless can be overwhelming: Kierkegaard called this Angst, Sartre called it Nausea, Nietzsche classified it as the beginnings of the Overman—the person who has become their own master—and all are reactions to knowing one has complete free will and complete responsibility, all are reactions for when traditional points of reference are exposed as potentially false and taken away.

My purpose for this project, then, is to present the concepts of Angst, Nausea, and the Overman through photography. I intend to explore how the uses of shape, light, shadow, overall contrast, and perspective can create an understanding of these Existentialist concepts. To further aid this endeavor, I am not tacking the photos to the wall—I am, instead, choosing to suspend them in the air. While there is certainly a visual appeal to this choice, it aptly helps to illustrate the idea that we have no restrictions and hang in nothingness. Additionally, quotes from Kierkegaard, Sartre and Nietzsche accompany the photographs to help explain what the Existential undertones are.

Here are a few photos of the display (pardon them being cell phone shots):

 testing to see if the weight of the photos would pull down the hanger wires, plus sign asking the hangers not be removed... which they almost were

 testing, different angle

...and with the quotes

The following are the photos in the display. Some I have posted before, certainly without the intention of using them in the project until I realized that I could use them.

 ...one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have this chaos in yourselves. From Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche (this is a reprint of the accidental double exposure I made. took a while, but I had to get the contrast fixed)

 Once you label me you negate me. Soren Kierkegaard

 What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under. From Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche

 ...Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, which emerges when the spirit wants to posit the synthesis and freedom looks down into its own possibility, laying hold of finiteness to support itself. From The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard.

 Your bad love of yourselves turns your solitude into a prison. From Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche

 Freedom is exile. Jean-Paul Sartre

And, finally, the three quotes I had attached to the wall with the photos as a set. I wanted dearly to use them, because they help give better context to the set of photos and my project, and the last one not only fits the presentation of the photos but is simply beautiful. All are from Sartre:

Existence precedes and rules essence. 

From Being and Nothingness

Life has no meaning, a priori... it is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose. From Being and Nothingness

I exist. It is soft, so soft, so slow. And light: it seems as though it suspends in the air. It moves. From Nausea

鏡/visualizing Angst

One of the purposes (perhaps the purpose, given how things flow into one another) of my project is to try and visually represent Angst. Why I opened my big mouth I might never know, but here's one of the photographs I've chosen.

"Anxiety may be compared with dizziness. He whose eye happens to look down into the yawning abyss becomes dizzy. But what is the reason for this? It is just as much in his own eye as in the abyss, for suppose he had not looked down. Hence, anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, which emerges when the spirit wants to posit the synthesis and freedom looks down into its own possibility, laying hold of finiteness to support itself. Freedom succumbs to dizziness. Further than this, psychology cannot and will not go. In that very moment everything is changed, and freedom, when it again rises, sees that it is guilty. Between these two moments lies the leap, which no science has explained and which no science can explain. He who becomes guilty in anxiety becomes as ambiguously guilty as it is possible to become." Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety p. 61

 By the way, anxiety is the same as Existential Angst, pronounced "ahngst," not "aynkst."

hanging photos, 1

I decided that for Thursday's final I want my photos hanging away from the wall. There were several reasons behind this decision: It's different; It will hopefully help drive home the idea of Nausea/Anxiety and lack of restrictions; It's more interesting this way. All of these reasons are true, one of them is more sound than the others.

Since it would probably be more of a headache than I care for to hang the photos from the lighting rails 10" in the air, I rearranged two wire coat hangers that I can affix to the tops of the padded boards along the walls. I plan on hanging the photos from these wires using fishline and clips:

 Materials I'll use: Leatherman, fishline, electrical tape, binder clips, coat hangers.

Coat hangers, unbent and plied as I'd like them. Each is about 2.5' long.

 

Closeup of ends. I'd prefer not to accidentally tear whatever these might poke into.

Each photo is going to be framed in a white matt(e?), since any other color would be distracting in this case. I'll hopefully get some shots of the finished product, because sometimes I like to show off. Either way, expect a nice long writeup of what the final project is (I believe this is called a "mission statement," but that sends wild thoughts into my head so you can also say it's an attempt at explaining myself), replete with photos of the whole business as well as the actual photos I'm using in the project. So many photos, whatever shall I do.

I'm pretty sure this general project will be an ongoing theme.

Lockers

This is one photo I plan on using in my "Existential photography" final project. If you're wondering how this might at all fit, you'll find out next week when I write up a good long post about the 5 (or 7, we'll see) photos and Existentialism.

One of the comments I received today as per this topic was "Existentialism always has struck me as... depressing." Excellent, I say, because this seems to be the common response to Existentialism. Oh hey, Angst, didn't see you there.

The next few days will be busy with going through Also Sprach Zarathustra and existentialism is a humanism, and possibly (parts of) The Sickness Unto Death.

Windows

More stark lines, and as with the other photos of stark lines it's not necessarily clear if the photo's been rotated or not.

Ah, windows.

As a note, I've settled on the following topic for my photo final: restrictions, or lack thereof, and subsequently how we perceive our world. I figured I'd use strong light/shadow combinations. Specific thoughts on what to take photos of have, so far, involved photograms, overshadowed pools of water with cleverly used lighting, and silhouettes in frames. Note that this whole idea stemmed from my insane response of "Existential photography," and thus stems from ideas about Angst/the Abyss/free will/total responsibility/etc.

I am looking for feedback on the project, and if you have a suggestion for what to take a photo of or anything, tell me.

By the way, if you don't actually know what Existentialism is in any fashion, please look it up. I'm tired of getting silly responses for what is "Existential." People have no idea what it means. Don't feel bad, I didn't either until I started studying it.

B&W Portraits: Viola 1

When I'm carrying this thing around or playing it, I frequently hear people refer to the beautiful instrument in the following photo as a violin. This is incorrect. This is not a violin, but its sibling the viola. What's the difference, if they look the same?

The viola has the same tuning as the cello: C, G, D, A; this is a fifth lower than the violin, which is tuned at G, D, A, E. Additionally, violins have a maximum size of 14"; violas have no maximum size that I know of. Mine is 16". As you might guess, the larger size of the viola makes for a greater depth of sound, more resonance. It doesn't mince and shriek unless you try, unlike the violin.

It is also, I have been told, the hardest string orchestra instrument to play, because it is heavy (try holding one under your chin, propped lightly up by your wrist, for twenty minutes minimum). The width of the neck is harder to deal with than that of the violin's when it comes to bowing as well.

Now why on earth did I post this photo when the title of the post says "portrait"? Portraits are not always of faces; they represent a subject (like Georgia O'Keeffe's hands, for example). This viola in some way represents me, so consider it a self portrait.

I have a slightly modified version of this, which I may or may not post later.

Unedited B&W Prints 3: Basket and chair shadows

If I really wanted to, I could probably concoct some ridiculous name for this photo, like "Peace in the Darkness," or something, and make a lot of money because of it. I should try that, yes? Part of me loves that idea, and another loathes it, but so it goes.

 Using a no. 0 filter at 35s.

Using a no. 2 filter at 35s.

Using a no. 2 filter at 40s.

Using a no. 4 filter at 35s.

I'll be entirely honest-- when I took this photo, I didn't notice the "peace symbol" at all, but rather the shadows in the wood grain and the basket, and the shape of the chair's shadows with the shape of the tiles. I think the no. 4 one is my favorite, but then really a "favorite" would depend entirely on the context it's being used in, hmm?

Unedited B&W Prints 3: Best Friend Day

There's not much that can beat a day with your best friends, especially if that day involves observing tortoises, snakes, 20'-long alligators, lobsters, snow leopards and fish. Zoos are fun places.

When I printed this, which I obviously need to do again, I'm pretty sure I the enlarger I was stationed at was whack; I got two or three different negatives printed with the same problem, that being the left side's (the bottom left corner, particularly) all blown out. After I moved to a different enlarger, I stopped having that problem. Hurray for community-use labs!

I'm thinking that, when I reprint this properly, I'll do it twice. Aside from letting light onto the paper for more time in general/burning in the sky, I'll try one at a 1 and another at a 3.5 or 4 filter. The choices! I rather like having photos that "pop," but I also like saving the detail that's in darker spots, like in the shirt and shorts here. Perhaps I'll also have an enlarger that doesn't give the guy on the left a GHOST LEG, hmm?

Unedited B&W Prints 2: Dandies

I liked his hat.

After printing this, I realized there was a dude in the background photobombing the photo,  and with rad style.

I'm not quite sure why there's a line in the sky. It probably is the result of a crease in the filter... bother. I did edit this photo a bit already, but obviously I'll be redoing the whole thing, hopefully this time without a creased filter.

Unedited B&W Prints 1 and Existentialism?

After an hour and a half of fighting scanners, I have prints to share with you. Unedited prints, hurray, meaning they're really just tests.

Also, today I was asked what my final photo 1 project will be. The first thing to come popping out of my big mouth was "Existential photography," as if that was a very normal subject and how I'd do this was quite obvious.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Potential ideas are: pulling quotes from Thus Spake Zarathustra and taking photos to match up with them; taking photos of the Existential concepts if free will (Angst and the Uebermensch included, naturally), "...Man is not yet a self," and "Existence precedes essence."


What to do.

Here are some contact strips of photos I'd like to develop. Please note, as I have with great joy, that I got a photo of the baby engineer. I'm unreasonably excited about that; he kept moving so fast I had a hard time getting him in focus but I GOT HIM. I swear, he's like seven years old and is already very much an engineer. Note also the lovely pieces of strong, abstract lines.

First batch of B&W photos

Some of you may know that I've been learning the tricks to black and white photography, including the developing and printing of such photographs.

I finally cleaned off the scanner, and have the prints that I am pleased with ready to upload. Huzzah, it's about damn time. I'll be posting one a day, instead of a bunch at once... see if you can figure out which ones involved a light meter in any fashion.

Now, I like abstraction, geometry, and, obviously, modernism. Gotta love good clean lines, and making people ask "What the hell is that?"

The joys of photo-editing to make silly things

Break is upon me once again, and I have returned from over a week in Jurassic Park to the bitter cold of the desert. This means I have a good deal of time to be fat and lazy, which in turn means I tend to do more artish things.

In this case, a friend and I had a conversation about posole and how he'd put salsa on his first ever bowl of the stuff, and how he was glad that that was OK because "causing an international incident would be a bad way to start off the new year," to which I said that that would actually be pretty funny.

And this was born.


Here's the full version of Slash/Ozzy (ok, so I'm happy with myself even if it's not brilliant photo-editing). The original can be found on a Google search.