Skills Rotation: Photography

Photography was the workshop that I was most excited to take part in by far. I had never had a proper photography lesson in my life, but I have had a passion of taking pictures for several years. I got a DSLR camera for my birthday last year (Nikon D3100), and I was eager to learn how to use it properly! 

We were given the theme of 'Street' and was told to focus on a subject relating to this. For the first two weeks we went on a self guided exploration in the town surrounding our college to take photos. On the first shoot I decided to focus on urban decay, and more specifically areas where posters / stickers had been put up then torn down:

I was moderately happy with my photos, I feel that I could've been more inventive with angles but I wasn't too fussed as the first shoot was only to get ideas going. On my way back to college I bumped into my friend, Dan, and he told me to take a picture of him walking. This made me think about fitting the theme of identity in with street, but in the end I didn't carry out this idea. 

The second time I went out I was photographing some more decayed posters near a park, and on the way back I came across a telephone pole that wires had fallen down onto a tree next to it. I thought this looked like the tree was wired up, and I could link the concept to my ideas in other lessons as I was looking at neo-futuristic imagery subjects and forests. Therefore I decided to create my street series around the tree on the street: 

In the third week we worked into prints of our favourite photos using art materials and techniques such as collage, paint and stitching.

The last week was probably my favourite part of the rotation, as we learnt how to make photograms. Our teacher showed us how to use an enlarger to expose objects onto photo paper by focussing the light and altering the aperture. For my photograms I decided to use the same barbie doll I used in the plaster moulds rotation (http://amberatlantis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/skills-rotation-plaster-moulds.html) as well as some ivy and twigs.  

Once the objects had been exposed to the light on F-11 for 10 seconds, I put the paper in developer solution and then into a series of water baths to wash off the chemicals. This was done under red light in the dark room, I just took the photo to the right after everyone was done. Since I want to incorporate photography in my career (I photograph live gigs outside of college), the tutor showed me some more advanced techniques, such as painting onto the paper with a paintbrush dipped in developer solution, and creating handprints with the developer too!

Here are my final photograms presented in my portfolio (apologies for the terrible quaility and horrible lighting haha) :

Skills Rotation: Plaster Moulds

In this two week workshop we were taught how to create plaster moulds to produce press moulded pieces from clay. Last time I produced a plaster mould was 3 years ago during GCSE when I produced latex prosthetic makeup wounds, so I was excited to repeat the process at a higher skill level. 

We were told to bring in an object that we wouldn't mind getting ruined, and all I could really find was an old barbie doll from when I planned on making my own prom dress. I decided to create a two piece mould as I'd only ever made a one piece mould before, and prepared the object for moulding by removing the clothing and I pulled her head off so the hair didn't get stuck in the clay. I rolled out a clay base, then built up walls half way up the doll's body and outer walls that were at least 1 inch above the highest point of the object. I ensured there was a pouring hole and no undercuts, as well as adding key holes so the second piece would lock together with the first. 

Next I mixed the plaster by sprinkling the powdered plaster into a bucket of water and mixing it with my hand - squeezing out any lumps and removing air bubbles. I poured this into my clay forma and left it to cure for at least 24 hours before de-moulding.

For the second piece I followed the same process, but before I could do this I had to clean the object, wall up undercuts and add 3 layers of a soft soap release agent as I was adding plaster to plaster. 

Finally I cleaned my two piece mould with a damp sponge and it was then ready for me to make a cast from the plaster. 

I really enjoyed this process and I would like to try including it in my other college projects. However, next time I need to keep in mind the few mistakes I made:

• I used the doll's neck as a pouring hole but and built the walls around the legs so when the cast was made the material I pour into the mould would go straight through, so I would need to fill these gaps with clay before casting.
• Do not mix the plaster to vigorously as it can add air bubbles and make the plaster set before it's poured it into the clay forma.