Contact Sheets and editing

This is more or less how the editing process works for me - it's an abvreiviated version.

Step One - Film; I expose the film and develop it - I don't bother to look at it at this time, and usually develop a dozen or so films at a time - it's not one of my favorite tasks.

Step one - Digital; After capture the shots are put into dated folders so that I can retrieve them at will.

Step two - Film; I make a contact sheet of the whole film onto a sheet of 8x10 photo paper. I tend to do this for 20 - 25 sheets at a time

Step two - Digital; Skip to step three.

Step three - Film; When I have 50 or more contact sheets unedited I put them all up onto a pinboard (or this year staplegun them to my studio wall) - I then go through all of the shots that I don't want seen at all and cross them out with black ink - then all of the ones that I can't print due to copyright considerations, permission, or ethical considerations (these things can change) and put a cross on them with a red wax pencil (chinagraph). From here I go through and mark all of the frames that I think look good enough that I want a closer look with a white line (all with waxpencils) around the frames that I want.

Step three - Digital; I change the folder properties so that the icons for the images are larger, thus I can consider the images at a slightly larger scale - i use preview to look closer at marginal images. I then select the images that I want to see as prints and copy them to a new filder before returning the folder back to a normal status and filing the folder - from this point on I work with the new folder with the original folder backed up externally.
Step Four - Film; I then print all of the selected prints as 4x5 prints on black and white proof paper (RC silver paper), and then tape them together as concertina books - I don't make a point of inspecting them at this stage.
Step Four - Digital; I then Go through the folders of selected files and photoshop them so that they make cohesive sets and are ready for printing (this is my least favorite part of working with digital images). I then print all of the selected prints using a digital printing service - usually for around 12 cents a print - I don't make a point of inspecting them at this stage. I don't make concertina books of these.

Step Five - Film; When I have several of these books I lay them out and go through them deciding what to label them as - the labels (apart from rejects are for each of the projects or subjects I'm currently keeping a file for - some images make it to more than one file)
Step Five - Digital; a good stack of these I lay them out and go through them deciding how to group them - the groups (apart from rejects) are for each of the projects or subjects I'm currently keeping a file for - some images make it to more than one file. I move them around in the folders for sorting and delete the rejects (this is why I work with copies).
Step Six - Film; I then break the books up and recreate them as selected subject books - I haven't gotten to this stage yet in my current project
Step Six - Digital; These are now ready for final selection and being ready for printing.
Step Seven - Film; I then Go into the darkroom and go through the process of making exhibition prints - I tend to make one print as an AP (artist proof) so that I can see how to print the final image and then two final prints of which one will be presented.

It's not so terribly exciting to see something like this laid out as a step by step process, in practice I find that neither digital nor film is cheaper to work with, and due to experience and a degree of procrastination I'm slightly quicker and more efficient getting silver exhibition prints done than digital exhibition prints.

Napier - Historical Photo.

I found this photo recently, it's of the memorial baths on Marine Parade in Napier, You couldn't get a photograph from the same location now as the trees have grown much much higher and the view is blocked, but it's put me in a mind to take some photos when I go up there in the next couple of weeks, I'll grab some copies of historical shots and see how much has changed - it's not an original idea, but it'll keep me occupied when I'm up there.

My mother as a child.

I found this picture of my mother when I was scanning old family slides, it really quite shocked me, after a couple of seconds of concentrating I realised who it was - My mother and her family at some point in the mid sixties (early summer 1964-5 I'm guessing - my aunty on the right tans a fair bit), this slide was in the middle of a box of several hundred slides from the mid to late 70's, hence the momentary confusion. But when I realised I instantly recognised every element in the picture, from my mothers favorite dog of her childhood, through to the fact that my grandfather was still smoking when my aunty (thirteen years younger than my mother and her identical twin, my aunty) was about two years, I even recognised the car from stories that my mother told of road trips. It was like a window to the past opened up and made sense of dozens of stories that I heard growing up.

Randoms.

Ink concept.

And I get the feeling that this might just be the reason that people often advise not to photograph into the light - might be worth experimenting with.

In progress.

A concept - intended as a diptych - I'm not sure how I feel about them/it.

More fujiroids.

View of my hallway - looks fancy, but you'd be better off thinking fawlty towers rather than the ritz.

A ghost conference room - mid meeting - this was just before I got evicted for interrupting proceedings with my concrete mixer/camera/sound and flash making device.

The view from my atillier window.

Fujiroids - sounds nasty.

I gots me an instax 20 (for like $10) - the round awkward orange and white model that looks astoundingly neat, but ergonomically I think was designed for a creature with more than one opposable thumb per hand. I do quite like the format of the images, little 6 x 4.5 prints (close as damn anyhow).

Playing with the flash (which can't be turned off) - it really wasn't that dark in this shot - no idea what the twin trails on the left are, they aren't on the pic, must be time to clean the scanner glass.

And photography in the produce department - the flash is kinda weak - this is not a subtle camera at all - Big, bright orange, flashing lights, and it sounds like it's warming up to start hovering when you switch it on - the bonus is that it's so odd looking that no one is sure what to make of it.

Stingrays - r neat!

I was down near the wharf area today and noticed a couple of stingrays in the lagoon where the rowers do rowing stuff (I know fuck all about rowing) - so I went home, grabbed a digital camera (not an obvious choice for me) and a polariser so as I could see under the water. Can you see the ray in this shot?

 

 It's not terribly obvious even at full zoom, but the tail sticking above the water level is as good a hint as the dark shape - if you did get it then don't congratulate yourself to heartily - there's about 7 - 10 rays in that shot.

  Like this chappie - taken from the same angle, but close up - it's not terribly impressive looking in this shot - that's what a 28mm does at a bit over 2 meters.

 

Zooming in a little does it more justice - it's about 75cm across I guess (fairly large - they get a bit over a meter in my experience), maybe slightly more - the waters about half a meter deep in that spot - as you can see (zoomed in) it was having a feed and tolerating me so long as I didn't make any sudden moves - I was maybe 2 meters away and skylined - it was watching me quite obviously - I was close enough to see that it was looking at me.

 After a bit it decided it had had enough of me and turned around and buggered off - they are astoundingly maneuverable for their size - they can effortlessly turn in their own body length from a standstill.

  

 As I walked back a waka pulled in and a guy jumped off - right inbetween about 3 stingrays - I quietly pointed them out to him and he hopped back into the waka - quite calmly as it happened - he was about 10cm from touching one of them - bonus points for cool :D - They were little ones, but they still could have probably hurt a person - they were maybe 30 - 40cm across.

 

 This last one was just perfectly happy to be photographed - it's maybe 40 - 50cm across - and made a point of just ignoring me - I saw some people photographing it after I had moved along.

Stingrays are neat - that is all :D

Beginnings.

With a few of my projects I'm lucky enough to know what triggered them, for instance the 'dead birds' one was actually triggered a year or so after I took the first shot.

The first shot was of the dead pigeon on the road, which I exposed just cos it was there and the blood made an interesting pattern. But it was a year later and another couple of shots that I actually had the trigger happen.

I was sitting in the photo room of my old school, just chatting and doing paperwork (2/3rds of my photo practice is filing.) when I looked up and saw a thrush flying straight towards me, I had enough time to say "No" before it slammed into the window.

I went outside and the bird was on the footpath, and the bird was lying there, still obviously alive, and obviously trying to get up, though it would never move again. So I very gently picked it up, and could immediately feel that it's neck was badly broken and it was only holding on by fighting like hell.

This whole time I had a girl from photo excitedly chattering and suggesting that I should break it's neck or something - I wasn't listening to her, in fact I was trying very hard to ignore her. I was talking to the bird, trying to tell it that it had reached the end of it's life and it was time to relax and let go.

Gradually the bird calmed down and stopped fighting, I was prepared to help it die, but it would not take it's life from it. When it said that it was ready I let it's head fall gently back and felt it's heartbeat start to slow down and a few moments later it passed over.

The last time I had felt that was holding my daughters hand while her life support was turned off many years ago, both of these things were playing in my head as the birds heart stilled, lying in my hands.

I put the bird in a garden, I didn't bury it, it didn't feel necessary.

Since that time my photographs of the dead birds have been part of my engagement with the possibility of a photograph being an eulogy, a moment of our lives and our history (or of a strangers) that can never be 'here' (in a psychological sense) again. It is an investigation of the fact that I can never go back to the places, or to be the person I once was.

Bits n' pieces of art.

Random bits n' pieces.

Some dry stuffs, just cos.


















Stencil stuff.
















Cos painting so it goes all dribbly is quite fun - and harder than it looks :D On camera flash is, as always, a pig.






















A new project - I like maps, they're like conquest or ownership in an odd way.