Secrets

This assignment always makes me think about this OMD song titled Secrets:



First, I would like to thank you for agreeing to participate in this assignment by sharing your secret. I appreciate the trust that you have given myself and your classmates.

For this assignment, you will create a series of 3-5 images in response to learning a classmate's secret through a random selection process.

Please do not try to determine whose secret you have drawn. Please respect their privacy. 

This assignment is primarily about empathy. Empathy is "the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions." It is very easy to become consumed by our own life and issues. It is easy to be critical of others. In this assignment, you will try to relate to other people's issues rather than your own. In the process, you may discover that you have much more in common with each other than you may have realized.  

You can respond to the secret in anyway that you wish. You do not need to depict or re-enact the secret. You can interpret the secret very literally or very loosely. You might want to think of what situation led to the secret, how the secret changed their life, how they are living/dealing with the secret, what it would be like after the secret, etc. You may choose to think how you have dealt with a similar issue in your life or how you might deal with such an issue. You may think of what emotions or event may have led up to the secret.

Also, feel free to choose whatever sex you want for the characters. For example, let's say a hypothetical secret is "I am ashamed of how my girlfriend dresses." You could choose to take a series about living with a poorly dressed boyfriend.

Please take this assignment seriously with the belief that the secret you received is sincere. Please be respectful of one another. Remember, you don't know if they are sitting right next to you.

Please begin by reading this short NY Times article titled Fiction is An Exercise in Empathy. The author writes, "Reading fiction is and always was about learning to see the world through often quite alien perspectives." That is the challenge of this assignment.

What's Due:

Series of 3-5 Prints. If you feel you can tell your story in 3 images, then feel free to do so. If you need more images to do so, then make more. Let the story you want to tell dictate the number of prints to make.

These images are to form a narrative structure. The sequencing is important. Each should have some narrative threads that link it to the other images in the series. Ideally, each should work as an image unto itself. This is to say that it is a nice image even when viewed outside the context of the series.

You have full creative freedom with this assignment. You can work with black and white or color media. You can work with a process that you have already explored or try something completely new.
That being said, I suggest that you determine the process and technique after contemplating the secret for some time.

As this is your final assignment, I have very high expectations for the quality of work. The final critique for this assignment is your scheduled final exam session.

If you aren't familiar with PostSecret, you should check it out. It often comes up in the discussion of this assignment.

Below are a links to a number of former students work who completed this assignment. Please keep in mind that they completed the assignment in different courses. In particular, they were all in digital photography courses of varying levels with restricts on how they could edit the images. 

Hannah's series

Yang's series

April's series

Nick's series

Matt's series

Leila's series

Clyde's series

Emily's series

Ashley's series

Kyle's series

Alec's series

Liz's series

Victor's series

Kasia's series

Dyann's series

Rachel's series

Carly's series

Danny's series

David's series

Kelsey's series

Amelia's series

Jamie's series

Mark's series

Sara's series

Nizzi's series

Kristen's series

Eric's series










































 

Solarization - mini assignment

For this assignment, you have to make 1 solarized print that you are happy with. Not all images will work well for solarization due to the contrast of the negative or the image itself. High contrast negatives work best. You can use any negative that you want. It will likely take you at least 5 full sized prints to get a single, final print that you are happy with. It may take many more than that.
Expect to spend a three hour block of time in the darkroom to complete this assignment.
 
Your textbook has a nice write up on the process on pages 300-301. 




Here is a nice little write up on a different approach to Solarization. Another different approach write up. A very, very detailed write up on the process. Probably the best write up of Solarization can be found here. A write up on a selection of alternative printing methods. 

There is a lot of 'luck of the draw' with solarization. Things don't always come out like you expect them to. Be prepared to burn up a lot of paper in order to get prints that you like. 

PLEASE DO NOT TRASH THE LAB DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT. YOU HAVE TO TAKE A WET PRINT IN A TRAY AND SET IT ON THE BASEBOARD ON AN ENLARGER. MAKE SURE THE TRAY IS DRY BEFORE DOING SO. AFTER YOU ARE DONE, WIPE EVERYTHING DOWN. 

Below is a step by step of how I solarized a print. There are many variations on the process. 
I chose to print the image well focuses (some people will print it a little bit out of focus). 
I began by making a good print. The negative is pretty contrasty as the sole light source was a window to the side. I first printed it at grade 2, but found that I lost too much detail in the shadows, so I printed it again at a grade 1 1/2. I was happy with that. I could have printed it with less time and more contrast then burned in the highlights, but I didn't want to do any local editing for the sake of this demo. 

Normal Print

13 seconds, grade 2 filter

13 seconds, grade 1 ½ filter

 Solarization

First Exposure

10 seconds, grade 1 ½ filter

Second Exposure

test strip at 5 seconds intervals

First Exposure

10 seconds, grade 1 ½ filter

Second Exposure

5 seconds at f11

First Exposure

10 seconds, grade 3 ½ filter

Second Exposure

5 seconds at f11

First Exposure

8 seconds, 1 ½ grade filter

Second Exposure

5 seconds at f11

Black and White Contemporary Photographers

Interesting 40 year long series of self portraits by Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Note the distinct tones in the various parts of the images.

Jerry Ueslmann's combination prints. 

Be sure to keep some of your less than perfect prints for tests and hand coloring

Be sure to hang onto some of your prints that are too light or dark for use with chemical toners and hand coloring. 
Prints that are too light work well for hand coloring. Prints that are too dark work well for toning tests. These prints must be properly process and washed.
I will be giving a short demo on toning on 10/16.

Misc Notes

*Just a reminder, I have pushed back the due date for assignment #1 to Wednesday. We will have a critique of the work and you will turn it in afterward. You will turn in two prints as well as contact sheets for any rolls of film that you have shot so far. You must turn your prints in a folder with your name on it or at the very least an envelop with you name on it. 

*I have revised the calendar on the syllabus to reflect the changed due date of Assignment #1. I have also made a few minor changes to the schedule over the next few weeks.

*If you miss a class due to illness, you must bring me a copy of a doctor's note or similar for it to be excused.

*You only get 2 unexcused absences then your overall grade begins to suffer (please see the syllabus for details)

*Please remember that this is a 4 credit class with an expectation that you put in at least 6 hours of work outside of class each week. This will show in your work.

*As clearly spelled out in the syllabus, texting is not allowed during class. If I see you texting, then I will make a a note of it and it will affect your professionalism grade.

*Please use paper conservatively. A number of students are using full sheets of 8x10 paper for test prints. Don't use a full sheet of paper until you know everything is dialed in. Use 1/4 sheets and similar for determining correct exposure, contrast, and dodging and burning. If we run out of paper, then you are responsible for buying more. I encourage you to encourage your classmates to use paper conservatively. A 100 sheet pack of 8x10 paper is about $67. That means each 8x10 sheet cost approximately 67 cents.

*Be sure to bring your camera and any lenses that you have to class on Monday.

*The movie we watched in class last week is titled Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. If you missed it for some reason, it is available to watch on Netflix Streaming. If you don't have a subscription to Netflix, but missed the film for some reason, please let me know and I will arrange a time for you to watch it.

*In the afternoon section of class, I showed the Suburbia series by Bill Owens. I love the series and encourage you to check it out for inspiration.

*I'm really looking forward to seeing your prints on Wednesday!

Notes on making an enlargement

Use a grain enlarger to insure correct focus.

Focus on the back of a piece of developed printing paper.

Remember to switch over from the white light if you are using an color enlarger

Make test strips on small pieces of paper.

Don't use the print dryer for prints or test strips smaller than 5x7. Use the drying screens for those.

Image selection. You will only make prints from a very small number of images that you take. Select very carefully. Begin by looking at your contact sheet. Double check by looking at your negative under the magnifying loupe. Your image must look very sharp. If it is the least bit blurry there, it will look very blurry when enlarged. Make sure there is detail in the hair (assuming a portrait) and/or other critical dark and light areas of the image.The detail must be in the negative to get it in your print.

Handle film by the edges only.

Don't force anything.

Developer will stain your clothes. Consider wearing grubby clothes or an apron when printing.

Start with a grade 2 contrast filter or equivalent. 

Focus with the lens all the way open and no filtration.

Determine exposure for a lighter part of your image that should have full detail.

Evaluate your prints in ordinary room light only.

Use a piece of white mat board for your test strips and dodging and burning. 

Make sure that your negatives are not flipped when printing. Orient your negative so that the numbers near the sprockets read correctly. Then rotate your negative 180 degrees before loading it into the negative carrier. Check to make sure that any text that may be in the image appears in the correct orientation in your print.

Scanning Sprocket Holes on 35mm film

If you want to include the sprocket holes when scanning 35mm film, there are a number of ways to do so. Assuming you have a medium format film holder, you can try to to use that to hold part of it. You may want two pieces of cardboard and sandwich the film between it and place that on the glass or into your medium format film holder.
I have had success making numerous custom film holders from magnetic sheets. These are commonly sold at office supply stores and are designed to be printed on and cut out to shape for custom magnets. I cut out the size needed from two of them and lay one other the other to keep the film is position. It works very well though it can be a bit fiddly to position the film.
Lomo sells an item called the DigitalIZA which is an ingenious film holder designed to facilitate the process of scanning sprocket holes. It works quite well with a clever system of loading in the film. If you want the easiest method and don't mind spending $35, then that is the way to go.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is simply taping the negative directly to the glass. That works, but you will end up cleaning the glass a lot due to the inevitable fingerprints and tape residue.
Lastly, it is important that your film is very flat when attempting to scan the sprockets. Especially if you are using a DigitalIZA. I find the best way to do this is to place your film in a large book with a few books stacked on it overnight. 

NOTE: Be careful not to cover the area of the flatbed scanner that is used to calibrate itself. If you look at your film holder, there is likely a little notch with some sort of 'do not cover' indicator on it. When you use any of the methods above, just be sure that you don't cover the corresponding area on the scanner.