Sense of Place

When I think about the few times when I have truly felt that I am in a place and that my mind was not scattered in several different places, I remember those times with a feeling of peace. As I peruse the internet world of photography searching for images that convey the feeling I have when I am truly in a place I noticed that the ones that speak the most to me have a very specific type of "calm" light and most of them seem to incorporate water some how. Below, are the images I found which I can relate the most to a sense of place. When I am choosing my own images I will keep in mind that apparently I associate water and calm lighting with a sense of place.
 

Hugh MacRae Morton, 1997, Deer, http://www2.lib.unc.edu/dc/morton/

Mahesh Balasubramanian, Mystic Morning, 2013, http://www.maheshb.com/

Postcards

We are on the cusp of delving into the world of postcards and creating postcards. While on the surface this may not seem like the most exciting and creative assignment, we are spicing it up by making these postcards by making a van dyke print and a gum bichromate print. A little bit of alternative processing to our mainstream idea.
Gum Bichromate:
This is a process which came into use in the 19th century. It is a much more difficult and time consuming process compared to van dyke. Gum Bichromate is a process based on light sensitivity  of dichromates, also known as the emulsion you coat the paper with.
You go about creating a gum bichromate print thus:
1. Soak your paper in water multiple times
2. Mix the emulsion
3. Coat the paper in the emulsion
4. Sandwich the negative between the paper and two pieces of glass and expose for a while
3. Apply another layer of emulsion and repeat

Erin Mahony, instructor, 2015,  http://raykophotocenter.com

Van Dyke:

Van Dykes are a hand coated, contact printing process. The final image is very influenced by the type of paper the image was printed on and the toner used. It is an old process which is comparatively  simple when looking at other old processes. 

You go about creating a van dyke print thus:

1. In a dim room, mix your toner and paint it over your paper

2. Sandwich your negative between a sheet of glass and the coated paper

3. Expose it for 5-10 minutes depending on the intensity of the sun   

Brittni Ross, Bad Dream, 2010, brittnilr.wordpress.com

Hand Painting Attempt

After researching and experimenting with hand painting for a couple of weeks this was the result. I decided against mounting it and formally presenting it because I am just not crazy about how it turned out and don't want to waste matting supplies. In the future, I plan on working on my blending a bit more and choosing an image to paint that may be a bit more conducive to painting, that is to say, has more than just the sky to paint.

Japanese Bookbinding

We started learning/practicing japanese book binding in class. I think that it the beginning designs are pretty straightforward but look like they can get quite complicated as you progress in skills. However the more complicated they get the more beautiful they get as well. Here are some examples of designs that I found and liked.


 

Hand Painting

The first finished print I am panning on doing this year is a hand painted print. I have never done hand painting before so I thought I should do some research. I found two different artists who both do hand painting, whose work I like and whose work is very different from each other. 

Shae DeTar

Shae's use unnatural and out-of-place color makes the images very cool and interesting. Fun to look at and striking.  

Jamie Foster  

Jamie's style of color use is much more subtle than Shae's and makes the images look more natural. The combination of the images that she has shot in combination with the colors she uses make the images look rather ethereal and unnatural in a different way than Shae's.

Summer Bummer

This summer we thought it would be a good idea to go on a family backpacking trip in Steens mountain. The weather report said there was a 20% chance of light flurries with little to no accumulation. The first day was quite lovely and so was the next day until about 3:00 pm. Then, about a quarter of a mile up a 1200 ft high canyon wall headwall, we got caught in a blizzard. After a cold, arduous day we went to bed, tried not to freeze to death and then woke up to another cold arduous morning, which later turned into a beautiful day. Then we went home, a day early, because we were miserable.

Day 1

Day 2 pt. 1
False sense of security

Day 2 pt. 2
wow! snow is so much fun

Day 3 pt. 1
No way in hell I am doing this again tomorrow

Day 3 pt. 2
Alright, this is sort of pretty. Still going home