Below is the feedback from my tutor in regard to Assignment 3.
Part Three
Exercise 3.6 The Memory of a photograph.
David Bates essay (Bates, 2010) “The memory of photography” discusses lots of different aspects of memory aides from the written word on a notepad to the way we use technology to help us store memories. We tend to mimic our body parts to enhance our bodys functions, we mimic the eye with glasses or cameras and our ears with ear trumpets and hearing aids. Recent technology that allows us to store the vast numbers of images are hard disks and memory chips which mimic part of our brains function.
He catogorizes this in two way Natural Memory the brains natural capacity to remember and artificial memory any device developed to aide our memory.
This could be a page in a notepad about which he says “In that case the surface upon which the note is preserved the pocket-book or sheet of paper, is as it were a materialized portion of my mnemic apparatus, which I otherwise carry about with me invisibly. I have only to bear in mind the place where this “memory” has been deposited and I can then “reproduce” it at any time I like, with the certainty that it will have remained unaltered and so have escaped the possible distortions to which it might have been subjected in my actual memory.”
(Freud, 1925).
Throughout the essay he references Freud and his ideas around childhood memories effecting us throughout our lives. But he starts with Freuds ideas around the way humans try to improve on their body parts saying (Freud, 1925) “With every tool man [sic] is perfecting his own organs”. Using motors to enhance muscles lenses to improve sight and hearing devices to analyse sounds differently.
Talking about the cultures that employ photography Freud wonders how using these memory aides will effect our Phsychy “
Derida wonders if our internal memory (Brain) will be short circuited by all the new technology. (4)”Because of the upheavals in progress affected the very structures of the psychic apparatus, for example in their spatial architecture and in their economy of speed, in their spacing and of temporalization, it would be a question no longer of simple continuous progress in representation, in the representative value of the model, but rather of an entirely different logic.”
Once we create these technologies and begin to store images on them then a new problem arises. Just putting images on a hard drive creates an archive it is then up to us how organised this archive becomes. How do we organize? It has always been the most difficult part of photography for me. Derrida wonders (Derrida, 1995) “If these external sources are matched by the inside memory” or how we can make the two match in the future.
When we archive things we create Libraries, Museums and Galleries this creates a new issue. We must be careful how and what we show or we will influence our viewers thoughts.
Le Goff argues (Le Goff, 1992)Commemoration finds new means: coins, medals, postage stamps multiply. From about the middle of the nineteenth century, a new wave of statuary, a new civilization of inscriptions (monuments, street signs, commemorative plaques on the houses of famous people) floods Europe.
He then thinks about our family albums and says “The portrait gallery has become democratic, and each family has in the person of its head, its official portrait-maker. To photograph one’s children is to make oneself the historiographer of their childhood, and to create for them, as a sort of inheritance, the image of what they have been . . .
We can apply this thought to all manner of photography be it public, state, scientific or from any social group. We are creating archives of what has been then deciding how it is shown and therefore remembered.
Bates then discusses Mnemic memories and looks at one photo imparticular this photo is by Fox Talbot and is of Trafalgar Square being constructed Bates states it appears in a book he remembers called (Talbot, 1844) “The Pencil of Nature”. He chose it as it shows Le Goffs principle of memorializing people and incidents and the photograph itself being a memory device. He links it to a childhood memory of living in Portsmouth and visiting Nelsons flagship victory. It is interesting to learn later that the photograph doesn’t appear in the book at all.
On my recent visit to Port Stanley I walked to the memorial for the naval battle in world war one. I remembered it from my time there in 1982. As I walked along I had a memory of a photo of the marines lying on the ground having surrendered. I took a snapshot and was amazed to find how accurately my mind had positioned the shot not seen for thirty years. My memory knew I was in the right place.
On a subsequent visit the Gorse had been on fire and whilst destroying part of the house just visible the greatest danger was from exploding ordinance left by an Argentinian anti aircraft gun where the gorse now grows. Once more man makes a mess and doesn’t cleanup after they have finished.
Works Cited.
Bates, David. “The memory of photography.” Photographies 3:2, 2010: 243-257,.
Derida, Jaques. Archive Fever A Freudian Impression. Chicago and London: Chicago and London Press, 1995.
Freud, Siegmund. “The Mystic Writing Pad.” 1925: 429.
Goff, Jaques Le. History and Memory. London: Oxford, 1992.
Talbot, William Fox. The Pencil of Nature. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1844..
Exercise 3.5 Local History. The Black Lane Ends Murder.
When we moved to our new home three years ago we wanted to find a local Public House to have a meal. We found the Black Lane Ends on trip advisor which had just changed its name from The Hare and hounds.
When I looked online for hostelries in our area I noticed mention of a murder at the pub, I decided to do some research to find out about the story.
In 1862 Betty Moore left her husband Walker and moved into the pub to work for her cousin. After six weeks Walker went to the pub to plead with her to return home when she didn’t he slit her throat and she bled to death yards from where I ate a meal.
Walker was sentenced to death and his executioner was to be one William Calcraft who used the “Short Drop” method of execution. This meant minutes of agony strangling to death.
On August 30th 1863 the sentence was carried out but the rope snapped so Moore was returned to his cell. He requested a visit to the toilet where he drowned himself in the cistern.
So robbing the public of the spectacle of a public hanging, which Calcraft would prolong to give a better spectacle. Even riding the backs of the dying to finish them off.
Charles Dickens was instrumental in having public hangings abolished on the strength of these performances.
My research went from internet where I found out the story, to Colne Library where I read newspaper accounts. Then Calcraft`s journal led me to Charles Dickens who attended several of his executions. These were confirmed at the British Library.
I think a photo project of the details still in the landscape would support the story well. They would fit still today as our government talks of stronger sentences for those found guilty of violent crimes.
Work Cited
advisor, Trip. 2013. (accessed 2015).
Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge. London: Museum of Published Literature, 1859..
Library, British. “Journal of William Calvert.” 1875
Library, Colne. “Newspaper Archive.” Colne Herald. Colne, August 13, 1863
Wendyf. OneGuyfromBarlick. August 11, 2012. https://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=8020 (accessed April 2nd, 2016).
Exercise 3.3 Late Photography
David Campany wrote an essay entitled “Safety in numbness”. In it he talks about Hot and Cold images. Hot images are the images captured recording the event and cold images are images that capture the aftermath of the event. Comparing the moving image to the still image Campany states “It is not that a still image naturally say a thousand words, rather that a thousand words can be said about it”.
He says that the moving image when accomapanied by a freeze frame has more power. Cinema uses this to emphasize the power of a memory. He warns us that documentary photography shys away from this type of “Cold” photography as it hints at stillness whereas the “Hot” photo of an event shows the event and its movement and emotion.
Campany discusses three stages of photography 1. Good reportage photographers followed the action in the 1920s to the 1960s. 2. 1960s and 1970s portable video cameras the images were still caught at the point of action but could be punctuated with still images perhaps of the aftermath. 3. 1970s onward changes in media have led to Journalists showing the aftermath more than the event.
In the early days the event was photographed and then censored later so control was in the hands of officials. Then in the second period Photojournalist had more freedom to show the event. Finally in the 3rd period media technology primarily the internet allowed so much freedom that the censors restricted access to the event encouraging this aftermath photography further. “Today it rare that a still image breaks the news”.
The Vietnam War is quoted as the last photographic war being messy and chaotic both making for interesting photographic situations. Journalists were allowed in to the thick of the fighting and although censored they got many images out that told the story of the war. The Gulf War on the other hand was different the images shown were from satelites Journalists were excluded. Showing the aftermath of battle such as “Shell shocked Iraqi troops” or burnt out vehicles on the Basra road. The former allowed the photographer in on the action the latter kept them on the outside.
He claims that a third of photos are video stills so the role of the photographer has become blurred in the arena of news. This all influenced how Joel Meyetoritz approached his work with 9/11 he had started influenced by Henri Cartier Bresson and his “Decisive Moment”. For this project he went back to a camera made in 1942 which demanded a slower approach with more thought.
Part of the appeal of slowing down is the depiction of detail, recording with a patience not allowed in the heat of the action. They are a new kind of Pure in which we are shown how the events have effected people. Using large scenes, closer details and portraits the mood of the aftermath of the event is recorded and shown to the viewer. This gives the photo longevity where the “Hot” photo is emotional but its effect is fleeting.
We are then warned of the danger of this “Late” photography, it can make us just see the beauty of the images and make us reject the original meaning of the image Campany likens it to “A Vampire rejecting Garlic”.
I read this and thought of all the images I have seen in my life there is a clear line in the late 70s when the still image became trapped on the coffee table in the supplements of newspapers and the books we glance through. It must be my aim to elevate my photography to new levels to tell the stories I see.
Part Two.
In this second part of the exercise I have looked at Joel Meyerowitzs work Aftermath. I will discuss how the images make me feel and how they compare to my memories of the news images of the day.
What do I see? I see three types of photography the big scene, the detail and the portraits of people. They have one thing in common they are all considered and you can see time has been spent recording these images.
The photographer must have spent time walking around the scene planning his shots and getting to know the people working on this tragic site. The big scenes are well lit and look almost like film sets when compared to the on the day newshots which were mainly moving images captured on poor quality video cameras so the quality of the image is very different.
The details have been considered to almost punctuate the story. To take us back to the images burnt into our memories no matter what you felt about this day.
The portraits are mainly shot showing the care they took on the site whilst shot from below to give each image power. This shows the care and thought that was taken to record the work going on on the site.
The lighting is perfect and whilst it isn’t studio lighting it is considered and adds to the feeling of the shot shown to us the viewer. They are a different approach to showing us the “Late photograph of an event”.
Exercise 3.2 Postcard Views
I have a personal collection of postcards from places I have visited but chose to complete an internet search for postcards of the town I live in Skipton. I did this so I could make an evaluation of what is shown of an ordinary northern market town and then think about my experience of living in it.
They all show celebrated places within the town, places that draw visitors in to the town to enjoy a visit. Be it the Parish Church, the War memorial, Canal, Castle or the High Street.
The majority show the streets empty or nearly empty of both people and traffic. Some show a few people going about normal business. These people are well dressed prosperous but small within the frame, the main thing is to show a cohesive space being well used.
The one that is different is the postcard showing fair day in Skipton High Street. It is a coloured/painted photo of a scene full of people enjoying a fair. Livestock is on offer and people again well dressed are buying the livestock or at least judging it. This card celebrates the cohesive nature of the society.
All show tree and plants in full bloom giving the impression of a leafy town full of bloom. They also show blue skies mottled with cumulus clouds. Some of these look manipulated.
My experience of the place is that it is like the postcards for a quarter of the year. The rest of the time it is a Northern market town with its share of terraced housing lining the hills. These are worthy of a postcard themselves. The Mills, Canal and Farm Market are working places that all produced pollution in the past but would be worthy of a collection of postcards to show the nature of our town. All have fine interesting people making their livelihoods these would make a superb study to show the soul of this place.
The postcards I found are attractive to the brief visitors who have visited fleetingly by coach for the day or passed through on their way to days walking in the day. They don’t show the soul of the place.
Graham Cross says of Friths postcards from Egypt “Francis Frith’s images of Egypt, for example, for all their concern with foreign lands, retain the perspective of an Englishman looking out over the land.”
This statement applies to the postcards Frith produced of Egypt. They follow a formula. All are shown from the perspective of a tourist an outsider. They celebrate the fact that you visited this place. They show it factually, as a record of what is there.
People are only used as a reference of scale. Like the postcards of Skipton they could have been made interesting if the photographer had got involved with the people and shown how they related to the shown objects.
All are like painting from the Grand Tour gentleman took to broaden their horizons. Taken from above or using perspective to draw the eye across the vista. All are good pictures but lack depth and only invite a fleeting glance. They could have been much improved if the recorder had got involved with the landscape and shown some of the details or the effect tourism had on it.
When I went to the Pyramids I thought the interesting scene was if you turned around to see Burger King and KFC. Certainly not how Frith wanted us to see the Pyramids.
In 2020 we have been in a state of lockdown I looked at Whitby on a webcam the first Sunday of lockdown. Then I looked at other places around the world and every place was devoid of people, I had never seen any of these place like this. The captured photos reminded me of postcards. So I have tried to make the images into postcards.
Exercise 3.1 The Picturesque
When I think of a picturesque painting I see a calming scene one which shows gentle curves with smooth water or perhaps a gently running river. Trees will be somewhere in my picture but they will be in their prime unruffled in bloom. (1)John Constables Haywain is a perfect example of what I would have in mind.
Having read (2)”Landscape and Englishness” by David Matless I realise that I have been pre-programmed to have these visions in my head. This vision of the picturesque was implanted in both the world wars to give the combatants something to strive to return to. The cartoon showing William Smith returning from the war is a great example of the kind of work used to get men to question this idea on their return from the war.
I don’t think about picturesque photos being of urban areas or god forbid industrial areas. But why not? they are part of our picturesque landscape. Artists have captured great images of both the urban and industrial areas of our cities. (4)Peter Mitchell traveled around my home town of Leeds and took photos of the change coming to the city. Recording the old and the new with a none judgemental eye. His work is an important document of the city and whilst not my initial idea of picturesque, it is stunning.
All of these photos are challenging but are picturesque. I have focused on them because they are the opposite of what I would have thought of when I began this course.
They work so well because they are challenging like the face of an elderly person with all the wrinkles and lines. These lines make the portrait more interesting. Likewise the derelict nature of the sites photographed make them picturesque.
I will challenge my work going further into this course to show images which challenge whilst being great pictures.
Bibliography
(1)Constable, John. “The Haywain.” National Gallery. 1800. London, 1745.
(2)Ellis, William. “William Smith comes home from the war.” Punch Magazine. England and the Octopus. London, 1928.
(3)Matless, David. Landscape and Englishness. London: Beakton Books, 1998.
(4)Mitchell, Peter. “Photos of Leeds.” Strangely familiar. Leeds Books. Leeds, 2018.
Assignment Three A space that becomes a place.
After completing my research and experiencing the end of our trip witnessing the indifference the place we were inhabiting showed to mankind I want to show the following things.
1. The many states of the sea.
2. The ease in which nature inhabits this space.
3. The indifference I feel this space shows to mankind.
This space becomes a place when someone or something passes through and briefly becomes part of its existence. Humans have technology that they rely on, This technology soon becomes useless when we over rely on it.
Helen Keller said “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.” (1903) We have GPS, EPIRB, Immersion suits not to mention ships and aircraft however when the elements want to take us they will.
When a wilderness takes us we use terms such as “Evil” or “Violent”. After my experience I think the best way to describe the conditions we encountered is indifference, it has no emotion it just is.
It seems strange now that I had been researching Peter Breugel the Elders painting “Landscape with the fall of Icarus”. (Breugel) A painting depicting the way humans show indifference to the suffering of others and how no matter what technologies we employ (Wings) we cannot master the elements we encounter.
The paintings I have researched show the sea in its different states and use it to embroider the story they are depicting.
Picasso described his art thus “The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web” (1928).
I want to to show some of the emotions I experienced during the harrowing hours searching the sea for the 38 lost souls. Lost in a plane crash a few miles from the ship I was on. See my research here https://wordpress.com/post/michaelgreenlevel2landscapeblog.photo.blog/560 The inhabitants of this space were indifferent to the suffering of the poor people.
My twelve seascapes all show flight and mastery of the elements we humans with all our equipment, skills and endeavours can never hope to emulate.
This space is one of the largest on the planet it is the Drake Passage part of Southern Ocean below the tip of South America called Cape Horn. Named not because it looks like a animals horn, but after the town in Holland that the explorer William Schouten came from Hoorn in 1616 (Schouten).
This massive space becomes a place when the planets animals including us inhabit it even the most fleeting moment. The position we inhabited on the fateful night of the 10th of December 2019 became the resting place for 38 souls when their C130 transport plane crashed on its way to King Edward Island, Antarctica. This work is a tribute to these lost people.
Bruegels painting shows the indifference of man to the suffering of others. I was amazed by the indifference the worlds media showed to this disaster. I could only find two small articles about the crash one on the BBC news website and one On the Chilean government site. Again showing the indifference of the suffering of others.
Words taken from William Carlos Williams Poem “Landscape with the fall of Icarus” (1962).
Work Cited
Keller, Helen. The story of my life. Tuscumbia Alabama: Ladies Home Journal, 1903
Elder, Peter Breugel The. Landscape with the fall of Icarus. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels.
Picasso, Pablo. “Quotation.” MoMA. Madrid, January 12, 1928.
“Cape Horn.” Cape Hoorn William Schouten. Amsterdam: Globe Press, 1618.
Williams, William Carlos. Landscape with the fall of Icarus. Performed by William Carlos Williams. Pictures from Breugel and other poems, New York. 1962.
Research for Assignment 3 Spaces to Places.
For my research into this assignment I considered a journey I was about to make across the Drake Passage in the South Atlantic one of the biggest spaces on this planet. I thought there must be something about this space that could inspire me.
I looked at Maritime landscapes and liked three (1)JMW Turner The Fighting Temeraire. (2)Theodore Gericault The Raft of the Medusa and (3)Peter Breugel the Elder Landscape with the fall of Icarus
The Fighting Temeraire is a peaceful painting at first glance however on consideration it shows what must have a been troubling time for the Victorian people as sea travel transitted from sail to steam. The real scene should show two tugs but Turner showed this leviathan being towed into oblivion by just one. Hinting at the might of steam over the fragility of wind and sail. It is much smaller than the Temeraire which served Britain well at the Battle of Trafalgar. Turner was getting old when he painted it and it could show that Turner was thinking about his own mortality. Turner painted the Temeraire with its sails and masts when it fact it was a hulk with no masts. He wanted to depict her in all her glory. The painting clearly shows the end of the old system and the rise of a new industrial age. Depicting this with a setting Sun and a Rising moon. However this picture is too calm to inspire work from where I am heading. The sea is like a mirror reflecting the calm sky and the sunset.
The second picture I considered was painted by Theodore Gericault entitled The Raft of the Medusa. It shows the crew of the French Frigate Medusa at the moment of rescue. The survivors are deranged with thirst and starvation. Suffering so badly that they have resorted to canabilism. One suprising thing is the negro at the head of the mast leading the way to salvation. Gericault was showing that if you persevere you can move from despair and no hope to salvation rescue and hope. The sea is shown menacing, rough and the violent sky has menace also .One amusing thing clearly on show is the fact that the artist couldn’t paint feet so you will not find any in this painting unless its covered by another person or bandaged. If I was to pursue this for Assignment 3 I would need to use models and probably wont have time to pose them.
The Third painting I looked at was purported to be by Peter Breugel the elder. Whether he painted it or not it is a superb painting with humour and a story.
Icarus the son of Daedlus stole his fathers wings made of feathers stuck with wax. He ignored his fathers warnings as he tried to climb higher than other men and crashed into the sea and drowned.
The painting shows the figure of a farmer in the foreground his red tunic hints at danger. Then you see a sheperd tending his flock. Your eye searches for Icarus but next you see a fisherman fishing from rocks on the shore and a ship with full sails and the crew working to control the ship. Where is Icarus? He should be by the setting sun the heat of which makes the drama unfold. Then under the ship you see a leg stuck out of the sea. At last Icarus and his demise are visible. A shock to find the main player shown as an insignifant bit player in a corner.
It is beautifully painted with strong colours and detail on every part of the canvas. It has humour all the people your eye sees are indifferent to the plight of Icarus. This is the paintings message it invites us to consider how we are indifferent to the suffering of others. With a second message of men who try to climb to higher levels than ordinary men usually take a tumble back to earth. The sea is depicted symbolically in a state of calm, it has played no part in Icarusses demise.
You can, I am sure think of men/women like this politicians, officials, colleagues at work. All try to climb to heights and most fail, then if we are not careful we are indifferent to their suffering even turning our backs on them.
The artist is extremely clever showing the whole story in one scene, (4)John Berger describes this process “In a painting all its elements are there to be seen simultaneously. The spectator may need time to examine each element of the painting but whenever he reaches a conclusion, the simultaneity of the whole painting is there to reverse or qualify his conclusion. The painting maintains its own authority”.
DISASTER
As I was considering this assignment onboard the ship a Chilean C130 Hercules crashed twelve miles from the ship. We spent the next 24 hours searching the sea in 60 mph wind and 5 metre waves in the pitch black of night and gloom of the Drake. We saw a light flash 4 times over a couple of minutes. 38 souls were lost in an instant. After the Chilean navy had taken over the search it seemed to fit into all my thoughts and research I had completed for this assignment.
In my work I want show the space of the sea and how it becomes a place to the birds that inhabit it. The different states of the sea will show its different moods. Combining the two will show it is indifferent to human efforts and the technology we use to go into this space. These animals fly all their lives and look to be most relaxed when the elements are at there most extreme. I want it to be a tribute to these 38 lost souls.
Below is my contact sheet of 30 exposures from which I chose 12 in tribute to these 38 lost souls.
Bibliography
(1)Turner, JMW, and John William Turner. The Fighting Temeraire. National Gallery, London.
(2)Gericault, Theodore. The Raft of the Medusa. The Louvre, Paris.
(3)Elder, Peter Breugel The. Landscape with the fall of Icarus. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels.
(4)Berger, John. Ways of seeing. London: Penguin, 1972.
Research for Assignment 2 A Journey.
Researching this assignment I want to consider the work of Anna Atkins, Washington Teasdale and Bernd and Hilla Becher then I want to look at types of text I could use to complete this work. I want to try to present all the subjects covered in this second part of the course.
(1)Anna Atkins was born in 1799 and was a botanist and photographer. She made impressions of British algae using the cyanotype method in 1843. The detail in these impressions is amazing almost looking three dimensional. She was a great scientist and created work on algae, working mainly in biology but also studying marine shells. Copies of her work on algae are kept in institutions across the world and are still a great reference point both scientifically and in the art world. Making her one of the few who have crossed across the two. Earlier this year I saw one of the cyanotypes in the Victoria and Albert museum in London and it was breathtaking. She worked closely with William Henry Fox Talbot who was a close associate of her husband so both were at the forefront of the new technology of photography.
(2)Washington Teasdale was born in Leeds he worked in India developing the rail network. His early photographic work was creating slides for magic lantern shows. He was interested in cyanotypes and created high quality work. He was a founder member of the Leeds Photographic Society. Familiar with many disciplines within photography but specialising in three Cyanotypes, Silver Gelatin print and Collotypes.
His interest in lenses led him to develop an early field microscope and he subsequently became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
He took several exposures at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds these plates allowed him to make a contact print using the cyanotype process. Whilst not as strong as Atkins work they are still strong prints.
(3)Bernd and Hilla Becher produced some of the greatest photos of the most mundane subjects ever. The way they composed the separate components of the typological works is mind blowing. Take the poster of photos of pit workings. They are all exactly the same composition but showing separate sites. This must have been so hard to achieve. The amount of work to capture each must have been immense. They met in 1957 in Dortmund at the Kunstakadamie. They first worked together taking exposures of mines and steelworks. They did this as their families had worked in these industries.
They had thought of everything they shot on cloudy days to stop shadows, but went further by shooting only in the same season either spring or autumn. They moved around the subject to ensure no distractions are in the frame. Whilst the shots look simple you can see the attention to detail in the simplicity.
In 1965 they came to Britain for a six month project travelling around the country repeating the process on the industrial sites here. In the seventies they repeated the process in North America.
After Bernd died Hilla worked mainly with the existing photos they had captured and continued doing so until her death in 2015.
Creating a poster is new to me so I thought of the four that came to my mind. First to pop into my head is the First World War poster which just says (4)“wants you” with Field Marshal Kitchener pointing right at you. This is a strong image with the finger pointing right at you and the eyes looking straight into you. In 1914 how could it not call to whoever looked at it.
Second I thought of the posters used by (5)British Rail to show destinations to get the public to use their leisure time to travel by rail for their holidays. One I have seen shows Scarborough in all its sunny glory to entice you to spend some time at the resort. They all show depictions of the landscape of the place and are works of art in themselves. This one was produced in the 1930s.
Next I thought of the (6)Wonder Bra poster I remember this poster and the car crashes it caused in 1994. It has a slogan of “Hello Boys” and was extremely provocative. It was withdrawn not because it objectified women but because it was causing lots of rear end shunts so damaging vehicles.
All of these posters have an accompanying image; I don’t want this for this assignment. The image will detract from the main part of the work offered. I want to create just text on my poster so I looked at posters with only text.
First I found a poster from (7)Belfast University which was posted in Belfast in 1973 to recruit women to campaign against the troubles. It follows a very similar format to the “Wants you” poster from the First World War. Without the image.
Next I found a text only poster for the (8)“Sydney and Harriet Janis Collection” an exhibition in 1970. This is a beautiful design. Simple but strong with just two colours Black and Red. The words form a cube the clever part is the words still work being easy to read. I don’t have the skills to do this…….Yet!
Finally I thought of the (9)“Keep Calm” poster which has been popular on all kinds of products from posters through t-shirts and mugs. One I have seen recently said “Keep Calm, drink Gin. I wonder if the purchaser realised this was an information poster used in WW2 by the ministry of information. It simply read “Keep calm and carry on”. What many don’t realise is it was designed to be used if Britain was invaded as it wasn’t, the public never got to see it until one was discovered in 2005.
This is the design I will use I like its simplicity and it won’t detract from my main body of work.
How do I make the cyanotype process work. I learned the process from a (10)Thames and Hudson Book it is simple but you need to follow each stage carefully.
So mixing 10g of Potassium Ferricyanide with 100ml of distilled water we create the first solution called A.
Then mixing in the cleaned glass bowl 25g of Ferric Ammonium Citrate with 100ml of distilled water I create the second solution called B.
These solutions can be kept in Brown bottles in a cool dark place for several weeks. When I am ready to coat the paper I mix equal quantities of solution A and B. The size or number of sheets of paper dictate how much I will need to mix. 5ml of each will coat two postcard sized sheets of watercolour paper.
Then you allow the paper to dry in a dark room. Again you can store the paper for a couple of weeks once dry in a envelope or a black photo paper bag.
Then place your paper with the subject on top of the paper. Place the glass on top and ensure it holds the subject as tight as possible. Then expose to sunlight, exposure time differs but on a cloudy day 20 minutes suffices. I look for the coating to gain a metallic grey colour then I know it is exposed.
Rinse in cold water under the tap until all the yellow coating has washed off and leave to dry. If you want to change the tones now is the time to play. I have tried Red wine, Tea, Coffee and Cocoa so far. The mid tones change slightly and improve the detail in the exposure. Tea seems to work best of all.
One last point is the finished print will change colour darkening and allowing detail to sharpen as it dries. It will bend also as it dries so placing the dry paper between kitchen paper under a large book this will help flatten it.
Works Cited
(1)Atkins, Anna. “British Algae.” Victoria and Albert Museum. British Algae. London , 1844.
(2)Teasdale, Washington. Kirkstall Abbey. Museum of the history of science, Oxford.
(3)Becher, Bernd and Hilla. Watertowers. MoMA, New York.
(4)Leete, Alfred. “Your Country Wants You.” War Office. Your Country Wants You. London, 1914.
(5)Broadhead, William Smithson. “Scarborough LNER Poster.” LNER . Scarbororough Poster. York, 1930-1955.
(6)Rose, Nigel. “Wonderbra Poster.” Victoria and Albert Museum. Wonderbra Poster. London, 1994.
(7)(?). “Women do you want peace?” Belfast University. Women do you want peace? Belfast, 1973.
(8)Arx, Peter Von. “Kunsthalle Basel.” Theo Kabel. Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. New York, 1970.
(9)Servant, Unknown Civil. “Keep Calm and Carry On.” MoI. Keep Calm and Carry On Poster. London, 1940.
(10)Gomez, Anthonini Minniti, and Lunganella Bendandi. Experimental Photography. London: Thames and Hudson, 2015.
Michael Green Landscape Studies 