evaluation

Well this project has been a bit unusual, in a way in which it doesn't feel complete because I don't have a solid final piece to show. What I've ended up with is a great selection of photographs, and £10 down. I think that it has been successful in a way in which I have learnt a lot from different types of technology, trying out new equipment and assessing its advantages and disadvantages of each, and when it will be useful to me in the future. I have also got to grips with programmes such as Flickr and geo-tagging which I shall now continue to use.

In this project I have explored different types of photography and cameras, different types of film and processing, and how these can then be published for everyone to see. I have come to the conclusion that even though I have had different problems with each type of camera, these can be overcome and all used to the advantage. Even if this may be using certain types of cameras in different light, and which type of camera I would use to achieve a certain effect or purpose.

I definitely could have improved my research with a wider range of cameras and processing, but issues such as money and acquiring types of film have held me back somewhat. With more time and money, and hopefully in the future, I shall continue to experiment with new types of technology such as PDAs and the interactive software available for these. I would also like to explore older technology such as my 127 film camera, as well as large format cameras which I am now aware are available to loan from college. I feel that this would widen my knowledge in the area of photography which is of an interest to me. 

web 2.0

As I use it a lot, thought I'd put a bit about web 2.0, "participatory Web" according to Bart Decrem, in comparison to web 1.0, "Web as information source".

Web 2.0 is the term used to cover the new type of websites coming back after the dot-com bubble in 2001, sites which can be interacted with by the user, in which they can control a certain aspect to as if it was their own rather than those which simply provide information. Web 2.0 sites can often also be accessed by the user offline.

Sites which I use which are considered web 2.0 are Flickr, social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook, and applications such as Google Maps and Earth. There obviously many thousands more available on the internet as it grows but there's no point writing a list. Web 2.0 is important to my project as it shows the constant advancements in the use of internet technology, even though there is a little controversy about whether this advancement is really as big as it's being made out to be.

Well heres a MASSIVE LIST of web 2.0 sites which are currently available, and I'm sure it's growing fair fast.

video

Thought I should write about this, as it's a different kind of technology we've been messing around with, but unfortunately I have nothing to show for it. 

A couple of weeks back we were exploring narrative alongside the use of video. This involved us creating a storyboard of a short piece of action we could film in an hour or so in or around college. After deciding on what to do in groups, we were then given the task of re-drawing the storyboard each using a different camera angle; extreme, long shot or close up. We then muddled these up to attempt to make an interesting piece of video. Me, Vic and Jon decided that for ours we would film climbing a tree and cartwheeling around it, as it was relatively simple and we could get squeeze lots of interesting camera angles into it (such as helmet-cam which was going to be amazing). Unfortunately Jon was ill on the day of filming so we had Anna as a super replacement. As Jon was meant to be bringing the equipment for helmet-cam, unfortunately we had to miss out on this, and we had to pretty much re-write our storyboard whilst everyone else had started filming.

Fortunately it was a success and we did some dead good tree scaling, managing to walk to Hyde Park, find a suitable tree, climb it, film it, cartwheel round it, and walk back in 30 minutes dead on time.

The rest of the afternoon involved swapping video footage with another group and editing it to show the whole class at the end. We edited Katy, Nicola and Laura's group of them doing a dance round college. Unfortunately I have no idea where it is saved and who's memory stick it might be saved on, and same goes for the video we made and someone else edited :(

photographiee

Some of the photographs we took in the studio today. We messed around with shutter speeds and flashes to create different effects. My favourite is probably the group photo below, which was created using a slow shutter speed, ISO 100, and err I can't remember the aperture. Relatively small I think. We used a honeycomb on the flash to direct the light, which was then fired several times whilst being moved around when the shutter was open. We also had blue light pens to create the light trails.

Below was made by firing the flash several times whilst the shutter was still open, as I flapped my arms.
This was also a long exposure, firing the flash once at the start, then drawing light trails with the blue light in the dark.
We tried our hardest to make our background look white as it was a bit grubby. This was actually one of the first shots when we were just messing around.
Same as the square, firing the flash once then drawing in the air with the blue light pen.
Overall, I had a pretty good day.

photomaphy induction

We had our DLSR induction today in the Photography department in college. I was kind of expecting to be given a camera, talked through it and then told to spend the rest of the day out in town taking photos, which thankfully wasn't the case. We were first talked through the basic functions of the camera, the benefits and negative aspects of each auto function and when we could use each and the reasons for this, such as how different settings use different set apertures etc. After being talked through these we were given 20 minutes to try and use each different auto setting in and around the college. Mine are below..

Macro.. coffee stirrers in the cafe.

Landscape.. views from the viscom balcony
Normal auto.. horrible flavoured water in the cafe.
Macro.. stunning close up of Rossitron's face.
Sports.. Tasha and Vic jumping down the stairs.

I think this induction was actually very useful, as it has helped my to understand how to use the settings on my own DSLR a little more. Unfortunately we didn't touch very much on the manual settings except for how to set it up for use with the flashes. I definitely want to use the photography studios again, especially to play around with the infinity curve, even though I'm not sure what I could actually use it for at the moment other than messing around.

Also, in line with my comm tech project, this has helped to point out some of the advantages to using a digital camera. The obvious such as how it is possible to delete rubbish photos instead of wasting money on getting them printed (when they don't even give you the photos anyway), and the availability of so many different settings. On my two 35mm film cameras, there are no settings whatsoever, so the photographer has next to no control over what the image comes out like, whereas when using the DSLR the photographer is presented with a wide range of possibilities, numerous settings to help achieve a successful image. As the image is also instantly viewable on the screen, if there are any lighting issues for example, it is possible for the photographer to rectify these before taking another photograph, unlike when using film when it can often be a bit of a gamble for the non-expert.

narrative

In college we had to do some work which would be the starting point for us to look at different types of technology. Apparently everyone's work was shit so we had to do it again (oh yes, bitter about this), but we barely had any time and they didn't warn us that the bluetooth takes ages. A shambles, completely. 

But whatever, this is what we came up with second attempt. Basically to come up with the storyline we played a large scale game of Chinese whispers, in which groups came up with an extra line to add to the story which we would then illustrate using photos from phone cameras(ha!). We are all tremendously immature, and so the story involved four eyed sausages, Michael Jackson, Mike and death (bearing in mind we had no idea about the phone camera bit at this point), which was fairly amusing. Our table spent this wasted half hour playing heads, bodies, legs which I shall publish when I get the chance, otherwise they are here.

When we had to remake our photo narratives, we jumbled up the storyline a little to make it more interesting and added some new parts in. The result: 

1. A delicious vegan sausage on a plate, piping hot and mm mm yummy.

2. The strange boy is most excited about eating his sausage, but all of a sudden..

3. The lights go off!

4. ... and the sausage is gone!

5. Obviously, the boy is inconsolable at the loss.

6. In his despair he notices that the window is wide open

7. ... and there is a smug ol' bird with his sausage in its beak.

8. So he takes his pistol with 'victory' already inscribed by the barrel.

9. BLOOD!

10. Tasty bird for tea.

The end.

I'm not sure what we are meant to have learnt from doing this.

diana+

I think my constant crap mood and short temper has been rubbing off on my cameras. Diana photos aren't so great this time. I blame the weather. I blame the lighting. I blame the processing. I blame my recent despondency.

Ach but it's cost me a hell of a lot of money too which could've been spent on cider or clothes.

Drinking cheap cider round at Vic's flat, the clearest photo taken on my Diana out of this set. I knew that it wasn't going to turn out well at the time because it wasn't bright enough in the kitchen but I took it anyway. In a way I do quite like it actually, it's a bit quirky in a way in which it is completely out of focus, and I like the numerous bottles of alcohol in the foreground.

The oh-so-pleasant view out of my window. I accidentally witnessed a car crash out of it yesterday which was actually quite interesting. And that doesn't make me sick, because everyone was blatantly fine and were running around pointing angrily at the car afterwards. There are 11 lanes of road out of my window.

Jon Jon Jon. With a cat face. And a massive bottle of cider in the foreground.

Conclusion: take photos with Diana when I'm in a good mood, preferably with a flash when I can afford one.

sampler

I am not very happy with the images produced by my sampler camera. As this was the first time that I had used the camera I had no idea what to expect, but I was kind of hoping that the quality would be ok. Unfortunately they are blurry as shit and it turns out that you need a super steady hand to get them vaguely crisp. Also, as yet another camera without a flash, this isn't the best time of year to be taking photos with it as I have to rely on natural light which there doesn't seem to be much of. Reckon I'll enjoy using this camera in the summer though as hopefully with enough sunlight the pictures should come out slightly better. Another factor contributing to the shit quality of these photos is the fact that I used colour film from Poundland, as I am on a very tight budget. The only film I could find was 200 speed so I guess that will have had an effect on my photo quality.

These are three examples of the images which came out slightly better. The first of Victoria in Hyde Park in the snow I think looks ok but could do with being slightly more crisp to bring out the details, I think its not particularly easy to distinguish between her jacket, hair and scarf...

I purposefully took this one facing into the sun to see what would happen with this camera. If you look closely you can see Ian's head but this is only just distinguishable. I was hoping for some kind of silhouette but I guess this hasn't really happened.

This photograph of the Parkinson building is definitely the best in terms of sharpness and colour contrast, but it is not the most interesting subject. At this point I had taken so many photos on different cameras I was running out of subjects. Nevertheless I still quite like it.

Conclusion: experiment with 400 film which maybe costs more than £1, take photos in bright sunlight. Sampler camera doesn't like the dark.

can-mera

The images from my can camera came out somewhat better than those of the Poundland disposable one, but still as it has no flash and is made of cheap plastic they have come out slightly blurry and darkened. I quite like the distorted effect though, as the colours have been altered a little from real life and similar to the last this has had quite a nice effect on the sky colours and the lighting. The way the camera is designed means that the image which is taken and what you see through the viewfinder are quite different, which makes it difficult to frame the images correctly. Some of these, on the other hand, have come out quite nicely.

The image below was taken on a walk which me and Lorna took around the bottom end of town, down by the river. I quite like it as the lamp post is almost exactly lined up with the building in the background. When I looked through the viewfinder, I'm pretty sure that it was completely lined up though but it still looks ok.

The image below was taken in Hyde Park just after it snowed, I like it how the trees draw the eye right into the distance even though it is not completely centred. I could crop it to center it but I quite like it how it is because it kind of looks like a mistake but it also makes the image more interesting than a dead straight photograph. In a way matches the thinking behind the camera, with its awkwardness.

The image below is probably the most successful with lighting and composure, even though it is my least favourite. I don't like the style of the building itself.

Overall, I think that this film camera has been quite successful with the images it has taken. Definitely better than the disposable, but I am yet to try manipulate some of the images on Photoshop.

pinhole

I don't think that I am going to be able to post some photographs from my paper pinhole camera in time for the deadline for this project, as I haven't had the chance to use it yet. Recently the weather has been awful with snow, wind, rain and horrible yucky cold, and as the camera is made of paper and very light I haven't dared use it incase it gets soggy or blows away. I'll see how the weather is in the rest of the week and if I get the chance I'll run out and use it when I can. Also, f I get a spare minute I might finish one which I am currently making out of film canisters and a cigarette box and use that one, as it'll be a bit more hardy.

disposabubbles

I bought this camera or £1 from Poundworld. It was THE worst disposable camera in the entire world, had no flash and a most peculiar viewfinder. You'd never know but these pictures were taken in pretty broad sunlight, especially the one of Lorna. Some of them have come out well enough to be altered on Photoshop for a nice effect; these below were taken on the balcony outside the Viscom studio. I placed the camera on the barrier on the balcony and took a series of photos panning from left to right, with the intention of sticking them together to make a panorama. It was pretty light when I took these photographs, but I think that the crappy lens and film has actually made the sky come out a very pretty colour.

The Image below has been slightly altered on Photoshop, I tweaked the colour balance a very small amount, and as the Parkinson building came out almost pitch black anyway I filled it in completely black to create a sihouette. Even though it was taken using the worst camera ever I think that this end product is pretty acceptable.

These three images below are from the panorama, taken from the balcony at college. As you can see they sky has come out a pretty nice shade, whereas everything else is barely visible. I am going to stick the images together in Photoshop and then decide whether to alter the overall colours and shading.

Below is almost the worst image from this camera, as the very worst I didn't even bother to scan in. This was taken at about 2o'clock in the afternoon, in broad daylight when the sun was pretty bright which is a great judge of the quality of this camera. 

I played around on Photoshop with filters to try and make the image as clear as possible and this is the best I could do because there is such little contrast. I found the most successful method was to adjust the colour filters and to crank up the blue as much as possible whilst using the least red. You still can barely see what is happening in the image but I think it helps a little. To get the most of this crap picture I will crop it horizontally just above the middle as I quite like the top half of the photograph, as the contrast is pretty good in black and white.

geo-tagging

Geo-tagging is the "process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media" according to Wikipedia. It is the linking of a photograph, video etc to the location of which it was taken or recorded, and allows the viewer to follow the path the photographer has taken.

Flickr allows it's users to geo-tag their images on the site, and I have recently done so with my images. You can view my Flickr images here, and find my map here. As my Flickr account is pretty new you can see that the images I have uploaded aren't from a particularly wide range of places, but I guess that'll gradually improve when I find the money to travel a bit.

tierney gearon

Tierney Gearon is an American photographer born in 1963 who began her career as a model, taking up photography after a Paris agent saw some of her Polaroids and encouraged her to take them further. She became famous in the UK after a great deal of controversy surrounded her work in the Saatchi Gallery exhibition "I Am A Camera", as it included naked images of her children.

Gearon's most recent exhibition was "Explosure" in the Philips de Pury & Company gallery in London, which contained a series of multiple exposed photographs of varying subjects. Gearon's work is highly influential, and I think that I'll try some of these using my Diana+, obviously they won't come out as crisp and set up as hers, but it's worth a go.

EDCO rage

I'm pretty angry about this. The Plaza, my stupid student halls, have changed the postage system so they won't take parcels any more, the post men are meant to call us so we can come down and collect them because the buzzers don't work, but obviously they can never be fucked to do so so they leave those little notes. I got a little red note for my 127 film saying that I had to pick up my package from a big depot in an unknown location, far far away. I can also only do this between monday and thursday 0600 till 1230, so hmm yeh I would be at college then. So after a couple of days of pondering I went to the Post Office in town and they told me I could get it sent there for 50p if I went on the website. When I got home I did this and after filling in 847645 forms I got to a part which said if my package was a recorded delivery they would only keep it at the depot for 7 days before posting it somewhere, and as The Plaza's so shit and they had kept my note at the desk before putting it in my postbox it was over 7 fucking days.

So I am now £10 down, have no idea where my films are and can't do part of my project. EDCO is out.

nikon D40x DSLR

This is the most powerful camera I own in the form of a Nikon D40x digital single lens reflex camera (I'll put a picture up when I can use another camera to take a picture of it). I have had it for several years now and am starting to feel the limitations of it's capabilities. It has 10million pixels and a 18-55mm lens standard to this model. I shall be comparing my film cameras to this relatively new technology as it is digital, and differs in many ways.

There are many benefits to using a digital camera such as the D40x instead of a film camera, such as the ease of viewing photographs as soon as they have been taken and being able to delete unwanted images. This can be particularly useful for taking long exposure shots, as these can sometimes be hit and miss depending on the effect aimed for (I should hopefully have some examples of this when I get one of my Diana+ films developed). There are also obvious benefits to this camera such as the size of the lens and zoom, which are available for SLRs but none which I own. The fact that it is digital technology also means that it is incredibly easy to upload photographs to a computer for editing and posting to the internet, as paper photographs or negatives would have to be scanned using more equipment and also compromising in the quality and sharpness of the images, unless very high quality equipment is used.

There are also several disadvantages to using a digital camera such as this, the main one being that they require a battery which without they cannot work, as many old SLRs and cameras do not need these. Digital equipment is also much more prone to breaking down and small electrical parts are extremely easy to damage, rendering them expensive to own. There are also downsides to the actual images being taken, as as digital cameras are so precise there is no spontaneity to the images, no quirky mistakes or light leaks. Whether this is entirely negative depends on the type of photography being undertaken.

dirkon

About a month or so ago, I was told about a website by Laura with a printable pinhole camera called Dirkon, which was originally printed in a photography magazine in Czechoslovakia. The camera isn't particularly practical, as most of the features such as the buttons and viewfinder don't actually do anything, but apparently it does work.

I printed and made my Dirkon in just under two hours as it was extremely fiddly to make as there are many tiny pieces and the instructions aren't very clear at all, but the final thing looks ok. I haven't tried using it yet as I have had trouble getting the wind on mechanism to work, as it requires strangely bent paperclips and I seem to have got through quite a few without success. As the camera is made from quite thin cardboard I also had to line it with black felt to minimise light leaks.

All I need to do now to get my paper Dirkon working is to find myself an empty film canister, as as this pinhole takes 35mm film instead of straight onto photographic paper, I need to find a way to gather the exposed film at the other side of the camera and to protect it from the light. I think I am going to run around the darkroom and scout around the bins for this!

ye olde canon

This is one of the first cameras I remember my parents using when I was young, I have no idea how old it is but recently my dad gave it to me. I'm not sure whether it is working or not but I have put film in it to find out. It is a Canon Sure Shot with auto focus and a 35mm lens. I don't really know what to put about this one as I have searched the internet to find out it's age with no success as it's name is pretty vague. I think I shall first ask my parents, and then use this camera mainly for comparison to the other 35mms, as it is the only automatic and also the only with a flash. 

I really hope that this camera works as it brings back memories of primary school trips and family holidays. The strap is tied to the case so I couldn't lose it when I borrowed it, and "WATERTON" is scrawled in biro in my handwriting in the case, so I guess it can't be that old.