the photography side of the shed

ok- need to just reflect as in the mania of shed building am needing to just clarify/question my thinking on the photography side of the fence :)

• introducing nanny- cat photos. considering how an image is given status/made precious through framing or putting in an album; here i am to introduce nanny through a photo taken from a pile with a rubber band round it and place in front of the audience giving a sense of ambiguity- is this my nan/who she wanted to be/who i wanted her to be or how i saw her or is it unknown- saying how the context completes the 'utterance' (burgin) and what happens when this is not factually stated
  

• erasing the cat wreath image in a family album. the photo was the iconic thing that caused me the sadness, guilt and embarrassment in the story i no longer wish to be reminded of. by this erasing of the record of the photograph of the cat wreath, questioning, due to a traditional assumption about photography, whether it happened, i have removed its presence (barthes.) the photograph was created as an aide memoire as an iconic document to hold onto of nanny's last request although the floral realisation of that request was not i would have thought as she would have wanted for people to have laughed at it, felt uncomfortable by it. this is doubled up with the fact that aunty joan was taking photos at a funeral which is highly inappropriate as a private event. Removal of image through nail varnish remover in a nan bottle with nan handkerchief- appropriate tools to do this act as nanny would not have wished it her request to have caused pain. this makes photography temporal not surviving the performance. as though that was the last utterance of that memory. the being amongst strangers sharing something so intimate is interesting- a forced intimacy- i need to be aware of this in part two making sure people only feel they say what they would like to share and don't feel pressurised- needs further thinking. some may choose to say who the flower reminds them of and little else which is fine.
  

• camera obscura to shift the audience's perceptions from being immersed inside my sharing of nanny story in the big shed to the real time world beyond when i'm in the little shed and outside sharing granddad's story. discovering the magic of light forming an image, as though stumbled across in a knot in the wood, it doesn't feel photographic as such, its the marvels of light like a rainbow (although technically realising this as appearing such a simple thing is proving hard and could be rather false and not like a real discovery.)
  

there are a few issues here to work on which i am realising rather late in the day- arrghhh:

that the inversion of the image through the hand held mirror by participant is too problematic- if they can't do it this section of the performance is lost and need a more finite way of doing this that will always work. adapting/using principles of the SLR pentaprism/pentamirror as though a box which could be placed on the wall. am working on this box idea to test out next week. i like the idea of it being like a shed scientist- reusing old bits of broken camera though :)

the handkerchief idea may need to go??? am working on the idea of a piece of hung muslin like a tent door held up with ties in the ceiling above where i was sitting, which is undone and flops down. needs weighting on the floor, maybe a guide on the floor to ensure the image is crisp? at what point does the screen happen? the least left to chance idea is that i set it all up before i leave, but this means less of the ideas about creativity, discovery in sheds, and imposed conviviality amongst strangers working as a team (!) which i liked.however, i could maybe set it up, with a cat photo stuck on a post in the floor outside in front of the hole which projects onto the screen, which i then remove from the outside of the shed when i leave- from photographic past into the real, moving present??? how important is it that the participant controls the photographic element here? there is also the issue of time, things left to chance invariably add time. this needs setting up and rehearsing. the temporal projected image disappears when the door opens- the moment has passed.

• part two feels photographically like old ground from previous shows- image not fixed, temporal, it dies. however, this time, the image is developed through shed technology, old jar of solution and paintbrush, with a battery operated lantern and safelight- no electricity. the mortality of the image (barthes) and the suspended life of the flower temporarily removed from its pot to be replanted, continuing to grow, whilst the photogram image, its shadow, dies reacting to light. i like the fact that this is outside so the light will cause the images to fade quicker than for example at the nunnery show on the wall, so throughout the duration of the show the array of flower images will fade- a good one to document, maybe time lapse alongside the lifecycle of the flower ;) the areas for consideration with this part two is how to frame the experience (make a floral tribute or story about a flower?) match the mood to part one (eg cat presence),flowers to choose, how to replant with ties, sticks,naming etc

not sure all this sounds coherent or practical-am trying to get things clearer before heading to cardiff to interview paul jeff. comments on this post especially welcome :)

better pentaprism diagram- am asking around on photo forums about the possibilities of using this idea to invert the camera obscura image- need to try a mock up as a light tight box with holes in either side for light to enter and leave.

OR- how about finding a medium format pentax 67 for example where the prism housing could be adapted?? like the idea here if i could beg/borrow/steal a bit of a camera body itself and craftily/DIY playing around, giving it a new projected life- image breaking out of it if remove the viewfinding part?

MA Scratch Show Two- PART ONE- cat wreath story- PERSONA OF SELF

ok- so this time more natural persona from tuesday scratch one, but story bit muddled, bumbling along. need to really focus on persona for the final show, and look at non-matrixed ideas, autobiographical self, conversational self, spalding gray. what to take from stand up- yes, elements of polishing up the story itself, but not the way it is told. work on developing and rehearsing a more structured script, editing some areas and more details in others, recording self over and over again so it feels entirely natural. the problem i'm having is its not the first time i've said it and its losing something in the re-telling; in places i think i sound bored even in places , too many, 'er, em', if I try to script it I can build in some of these elements. It was pointed out that I was more natural in the flower story part two (photograms) that's probably because it flows in natural, spontaneous real time, I'm not remembering lines or worried about saying the wrong thing, I just respond directly to the participant- i feel much more comfortable with this in this situation. Would it help me if the part one was less me speaking uninterrupted? The 6 to 1 ratio is also harder to work with- eye contact was something I didn't do very much and it was picked up by most people in the feedback. So, script development and practising into a dictaphone. The post grad forum cat wreath story was still the tidiest storytelling, easiest to follow and less tangential and hyper....it shouldn't be perfect and should allow for natural flaws in delivery but still be able to conjure up an atmosphere of round a campfire, enticing you to keep listening. i'm wondering if its a bit too formal in this part- especially the opening- 'my nan's last wish was...' and think of a more relaxed first line?

• possible use of photo of nan in album to introduce the photo album at the beginning which is brought out later for the cat wreath erasing? is this too obvious though- i quite like the mental visualising. Try it and see!
  

i feel caught up in my approach to writing stand up- a few key headings and the sequence to tell them, and then just improvising naturally as it feels, keeping it entirely fluid, although hyper. need to find a happy ground to keep it fluid, engaging, yet appear unrehearsed and natural for the MA work, to keep it fresh.

THE BIGGER QUESTION IS; DOES THE MOOD NEED TO MATCH FROM CAT WREATH STORY TO FLOWER STORIES?? THINK BACK TO SHED AS A VERB/NOUN/SAYINGS- SHED LOAD OF LAUGHS AND SHED YOUR TEARS??

For post grad forum 19th june cntd- photo destruction- experiments after Decasia/Dave McKean

ok- working with the idea of reason to eradicate an image live in a performance (as opposed to being developed, here it is being destroyed), i have selected a nanny's funeral (stand up ) story related image, the inappropriate event to photograph, therefore destroying it (interestingly, this is a popular topic on flickr, see here for floral tributes with some great examples of floral remote controls and cross-words ) and here for funeral photos as my great aunt was photographing my nan's funeral and i remembering feeling very uneasy at the time- under the spotlight of how to behave/react further emphasised by the intruding camera lens on personal and collective grief but its also seems inappropriate to smile- hmmm? or alternatively as its a celebration of life- maybe its not? life goes on)

so here am trying to see how i can remove the inkjet printed image found on flickr this already feels disposable- image found on the internet through a search- (onto satin photo paper) using various solvents;


top to bottom- Vanish stain remover, upholstery stain removing spray, nail varnish remover, Cillit Bang, and timed to see how each solvent reacts with the photograph. Applied the nail varnish remover with a cloth (could this be a handkerchief? put the nail varnish remover in an old style bottle?) so image is pulled off- wiped away onto the handkerchief. i like the handkerchief as it references the sadness of funerals, how you pull it out from your pocket

Interesting to watch how the solvents sit on the surface and silently eradicate. the upholstery spray gave globules which then looked quite cellular after 2 minutes. cillit bang removed the most with a clean wipe back to the white paper (the most instant removal), the nail varnish removing pulled off the inkjet ink slowly and you could move the ink around- needed a lot of care to remove it in layers- slow, methodical action required- destruction is slower


Cillit bang caused the ink to separate, see above


in this video i have purely worked with nail varnish remover- immersing like in a darkroom tray (where nothing actually happened) and then wiping with the cloth- obliterating the subject form its surround. paper, however as its not as durable as the resin coated photo paper, gets soggy and the surface rather than the image starts to be removed. probably don't need to put it into a tray, i like the nail varnish as its a personal item rather than household- scraping back the layers of made up beauty back to ordinary self.

DIGITAL EXPERIMENTS
i am now coming back to my earlier experiments for the nunnery using the idea of digital projection killing the traditional photo in development- by trying a still photo feed straight to projector of the image reacting to light, which then projects back over the image- repeatedly to see what happens to the image when no chemicals used. the sunprint method gives a pale pink feminine colour- (i once used this technique with young students to make a mothers day card) i like the DSLR still image rather than video as it comments on the temporality even more- as it appear on the projector, it is of the moment already passed- and snatched away again to be replaced by another- not a constant feed

idea for the forum- NB this work-in-progress is one sided, non participatory only at this point to test ideas- but the work is intended to be participatory when developed- eg 'bring a flower' or 'bring a photo you no longer want' )

announce this work-in-progress performance has 2 possible photo methods so not intended to use both but done for purposes of forum discussion.

Resources
Table, chair, multi-media projector, DSLR, RCA cable, photo paper, flower (TO BUY), plate of glass, old box/suitcase (TO BUY/FIND) containing old bottle (TO BUY/FIND) with nail varnish in it, old photo album containing cat wreath photo, handkerchief in pocket)
Projector is set up on the floor in line with the flower on the floor.

1. lay out the flower onto the photo paper on the floor at front. put glass on top of it to push it flat onto the paper
   
2. sit in front of the group behind a table and tell the cat wreath story - live OR pre-recorded on a video projection so can be short and timed exactly as forum is short- max 3-4 minutes (also be good to see response to prerecorded?)
   
3. get out old box and lay out bottle, and photo album. handkerchief from pocket, neatly unfold on the table.
4. open photo album towards self only and take out the photo of the cat wreath
5. wipe nail varnish over the photo flat on the table removing cat wreath subject of the image.
6. remove the glass from the flower and remove the flower and put to one side.
7. Using the DSLR, photograph the sunprint trace left
8. image projected across the sunprint
9. repeatedly photograph it- see what happens! how dark does it go- does the flower disappear?
10. as it goes, destroy the flower (carefully or violently)
    

i have mega tutorial day (geraint and doug) thursday before the forum so need to be quick setting up on thursday