The Connective Cyanotype

Alternative processes in photography have distinguished themselves in my mind as bold ways of letting out a message creatively while making the viewer's eyes intrigued and thirsty for more. However, I believe the purpose of art is for people to make their own connections whilst lost in the mystery of an artist's work. This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish while putting together a "triple" exposure and creating a cyanotype out of it. 

To put this image together, I took 3 photos using a Canon EOS Rebel XS with a 18-55mm lens, shutter speed of 1/100s and an aperture of f6.5. Firstly, I uploaded the 2 photos of the tree/sky and the photo of the grass. I made a double exposure of the two and  flattened the image. I then uploaded the 3rd photo of the girl with the dog and incorporated it into the photo with another double exposure. I think this is a very interesting and powerful image. While creating this image, I made some connections of my own. I thought about environmental issues. The little girl covering the dogs eyes  and the dog showing frustration, anger and most of all... vulnerability, to the human's actions. I made the background images of nature, specifically grass and trees. I exaggerated the size of the grass to imitate how small we actually are in comparison to the earth. I think the grass puts the entire thing into perspective... no matter what we do to nature, it will always loom over us with a colossal force. 

The second step to completing this process was inverting the image and printing it onto an acetate. 

I then painted the appropriate chemicals onto a sheet of paper and after it dried, I sandwiched the paper and the acetate in between two pieces of plexiglass. Since it was an extremely overcast day, I left the plexiglass sandwich outside for about 45 minutes. I brought it inside and put the paper into a container of 1000 mL of water and 50 mL of hydrogen peroxide (as photographed above). I rubbed off the yellow colour and then hung the cyanotype up to dry. This was my third attempt and it proved to be successful... third times a charm! 

I am very happy with the way my cyanotype turned out. I believe it contributes to my main "message" of keeping mystery in a photograph for the viewer to make connections for themselves to interpret what it means for them personally. I believe this cyanotype enhanced my image in the way I wanted to all along; the way it leaves out certain parts of the original photograph brings mystery and self discovery the main objective in the photo. I think that the eerie grass shapes around the child, and the outline of the one eye really creates mystery and starts to make connections/feelings within the viewers mind. 

‎"An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way." — Charles Bukowski

For this assignment, we needed to produce something marketable. Basically, I needed to be inspired by something I wanted the world to hear through my artwork, and make people listen. I figured it had to be something simple yet endlessly deep... like a short sentence written by Shakespeare. I was inspired after searching something on google and seeing the number of possibilities the search engine had to offer. I thought of everyone writing all this information on the internet and how misinformed/confused some people can be after reading through a few sites on the internet. In a way it's like the more I read on the internet, the less I know. Obviously the internet has opened up tons of great opportunities and has connected people globally, but there's another side to the internet that's not commonly expressed, thought about or "marketed". I choose to incorporate a few different alternative processes to explore the idea of "ignorance is bliss". Since my mindset was on the subject of the internet, I choose to make a silk screen and put it on a laptop case. I want to make people look at my computer and think of what the image might be about...I wanted to say a hard thing in a simple way.

Firstly, I took portrait photos of a girl and photos of a model of the human brain. I took these with a Canon Rebel T2i with a shutter speed of 1/60 and an aperture of f6. I uploaded the images onto photoshop and made a double exposure of the girl and the brain. I made the brain gradually smaller to portray my message. I printed these photos onto an acetate. The photo above is a drawing of my planning, painting in my sketchbook and the acetates (I did this to show my double exposure). 

After I made the silk screen, exposed it to light with the acetates, washed it off, and painted the silk screen image onto a cotton tee shirt... this is what it looked like. Since the brains didn't show up on the silk screen the way I wanted them too, I decided add a few "processes" of my own. I printed coloured photos of the brains onto t-shirt transfers and then ironed them onto a separate cotton shirt. I cut the ironed brains out and stitched them onto the girls face with red thread. I thought that this would add more of an impact to the piece... since you could see the brains (and therefore interpret the message) more clearly. I also thought the hand-done stitching would add to my message in respect to keeping things simple and genuine. I continued to stitch on the cotton cloth to the laptop case by hand. This assignment was extremely fun because I got to learn new, fascinating photography processes, add my own creativity to it and speak my mind to everyone around me without saying a word. 

"I've got a life sentence for breaking the rules of composition............what are you in for?"

Breaking the rules is not as easy as songs about teenage angst, delinquents and pro-peer pressure motivational speakers make it out to be. Well... at least not the rules of composition. Taking a photo successfully breaking the rules of composition AND looking beautiful at the same time have proved to be difficult while shooting for this assignment. In order for me to get a "so good it's bad" photograph, I simply did the things I normally do or observe while I'm at home. I figured life doesn't abide by the rules of composition and neither would my photographs if I simply observed the life I already see with my eyes everyday...but this time with a lens between them. I played with my dog, watched TV, did homework, and sat on my kitchen counter silently with the exception of a few clicks and snaps. 

I took this photo with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens, an aperture of f6 and a shutter

speed of 1/60s. 

This photo breaks the rules because the couch is the focus of the photo,

and all the "action" in this photo has nothing to do with the couch. The two 

paintings in the background are unbalanced, but the chair arm on the left  balances

out the photo in a way and keeps 

unity in the photo. 

I shot this with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens, an aperture of f7 and a shutter

speed of 1/60s.

This photo breaks the rules because the flowers are the object of interest in this photo, but 

the interesting parts of the photo are perfectly unrelated and related at the same time (confusing...

but not as confusing as breaking the rules of composition to create a perfect photo).  The boys feet somewhat 

merge with the girls head in the right corner. The woman's arm and the boy's leg are going in the same direction,  this secretly mimics the compositional rule of "line" and makes it an interesting and strangely eye-appealing photo. 

This photo was taken with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens, an aperture of f7 and a shutter

speed of 1/60s.

This breaks the rules of composition in a number of ways. The lines on the floor and on the girls contrast each other and don't compliment the rules of composition but they do compliment this photo in its own way. The frame of the carpet does not work in the way that composition/interior designers would like it to. However, this photo works because it is all brought together by the direction and placement of the dog's legs and the girl's legs. 

After getting some "perfectly bad" photos, I continued with my idea of capturing perfection in the daily livings of a compositional rule breaking world... and decided to use the new knowledge of alternative processes to bring these photos to life...literally. I decided to create acrylic lifts of each photo and use them as placemats. I think placemats match the same criteria as a compositionally awful photograph. Place mats bring some sort of unity to the table, now matter how disheveled the contents on....or around... the table are. 

Geometry is not true, it is advantageous. -Henri Poincare

I really like all the lines and shapes in this photo. When shooting this, I incorporated the flourescent lighting from above, the streetlights on the street (behind the window), moonlight and my own light source being a small light set up on subject's right. I used a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens, a shutter speed of 1/60s and an aperture of f7.0.



For this photo I used a variety of light sources. I took advantage of the natural moonlight and the streetlights, and incorporated my own light source by putting my phone light right in-front of the lens (facing the lens). I used an aperture of f6.5 and a shutter speed of 1/40s. I used a Canon T2i with an 18-55mm lens to take this photo.

I think this photo is interesting because it looks like a double exposure. I used a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens to take this photograph and applied a shutter speed of 1/60s and an aperture of f7.0. There are several light sources I used to my advantage in this photo; such as the streetlights outside, car lights, natural moonlight, and fluorescent lighting from inside. To add my own light source I popped a flash (on my phone) directed towards the subjects back. 

I love this photo. I used natural moonlight, the fluorescent lighting from inside the library and apartment building, streetlights, and I popped a flash from a film camera directed onto the leaves of the big, yellow tree. I used an aperture of f7.0 and a shutter speed of 1/40s. I used a Canon T2i with an 18-55mm lens to take this photo.

To create motion blur in this photo, I used an aperture of f4.5 and a shutter speed of 2s on a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens. I asked the subject to jump and as he did, I popped a flash on his face (to create the replicated image of his face). I also incorportated natural moonlight in this photo, streetlights, and the fluorescent lighting of the library and apartment building.

For these photographs, my inspiration came from the library building itself and its surroundings. I do some of my best thinking at the library and I'm sure many others do too. It is a place where connections are made either by reading a book or just sitting there in quiet study. The geometry of the library reminds me of these connections/channels that so many minds have made while on a train of thought. I love the structure of the building and all the lines and shapes it produces... which is especially evident when lit up at night. The backdrop of natural moonlight has let me use the unnatural light (fluorescent light, etc) to emphasize the geometry of the structures in every photograph, and has let me manipulate my own source of light... kind-of like letting me place my own signature on every photo. The library really is an interesting place.

Studio Frightening

For my studio lighting portrait photos, I didn't want to take 3 simple photographs of the subject smiling and "sitting pretty". Instead, I found inspiration (once again) from Halloween and the masks that people wear on this strange event. I wanted to add an element of confusion and wonder to each photograph to  make the viewer feel taken aback by the sight of the different distortions the subject has endured via photoshop. I took these photos on a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens. I used a shutter speed of 1/60 s and an aperture of f22. The properties of light in photography (brightness, colour, contrast and direction) are evidently used in each photograph to obtain characteristic likeness of the subject. I speficially like the different directions of each light source (reletive to the subject and the lens) in every photograph; I feel like it gives the photos diversity. How ever unflattering the extra body parts are...there are no unflattering shadows. It was funny to see the looks on people's faces when I was taking these photos; they just looked over with a blank stare with no emotional or mental attachment what-so-ever to the typical, posed faces and positions of the subject. When these same people looked over at the computer after the photographs had turned into confusing (and maybe disturbing) images...they're expressions had totally changed. That in itself was an amazing feeling because I could see that they were feeling something towards something that I created; that is the satisfaction I crave as being a photographer.

Let's paint some light on this situation

PAINTING WITH LIGHT is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera. In many cases the light source itself does not have to appear in the image. Light painting photography can be traced back to the year 1914 when "Frank Gilbreth, along with his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth, used small lights and the open shutter of a camera to track the motion of manufacturing and clerical workers. The Gilbreth’s did not create the photographs as an artistic endeavor; they instead were studying what they called “work simplification”." 

The "painting with light" aspect of studio lighting was completely different from anything I've ever done before. It was an amazing feeling to feel like a painter in a photograph... manipulating the images in the photo and adjusting viewers feelings with just a flick of the wrist and a small light source. I used a Canon Rebl T2i with an 18-55mm lens to take this photos; I used an aperture of f22 and a shutter speed of 12s. I was inspired to take these photographs after hearing the morning annoucements and seeing "hunger horror" posters around school. Since halloween is coming up... I thought about how silly it was for us to be "wishing" we were other creatures or people by dressing up in a costume. I thought this was silly because after seeing words like "hunger horrors" around school... it made me feel blessed for the things that I (and everyone around me) have. I thought of all the things we take for granted... things we don't don't feel blessed for unless we experience a loss of it or have it shoved in our faces. "Hunger horrors" made me think of human necessities that a lot of people in the world don't have such as HEAT. The idea of heat inspired me to take a photo of a boy being warmed by a fire, and a boy sleeping with a blanket on top of him. Then I thought deeper... and "freedom of speech"(boy with hand over his mouth and potential sound coming out)

and "knowledge of the difference between good and evil" (boy with an angel and devil on his shoulders) came to mind.

These are aspects of everyday life that we take for

 granted but might not even exist in some parts of the world. The reason why I chose to paint with light to take photos of this train of thought... was to simply shed some light on the situation...or rather "paint" some light on the situation. 

Gazuntite!

Lady With Unicorn                                      Lady With Unicorn Allergy
by Raphael Santi                                         by Allegra Markus

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), or better known simply as Raphael Santi... was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. The High Renaissance can be defined as "the artistic style of early 16th century painting in Florence and Rome; characterized by technical mastery, heroic composition and humanistic content." From what I've seen of High Renaissance paintings, the artists seem to be focused on social status and vanity. For example, woman in the High Renaissance paintings are always drowned in deep colours, expensive cloths or/and are naked. Not to mention the extremely serious faces they always have on- especially in this painting by Raphael. Artwork from the Renaissance is extremely beautiful...but I thought it would be fun to add an aspect to this painting that is very out of character for an artist in the High Renaissance period. I chose to (....I don't want to say "make fun of"...but I will) make fun of the fact that the people in these paintings are supposed to make the viewer feel inferior...much like the media does today. I did this by photoshopping in a photo of a girl sneezing (a natural and unavoidable human bodily action). I took this photo with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens. I shot with an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed of 1/60 s. Raphael was no doubt an artistic genius- but I'm sure if he could see this today he would laugh (hopefully... but if not then I'm sorry Mr. Santi). 

Looks like she needed me......HA

Is it me you're looking for?

While taking these photos, I analyzed the world around me in search for the small details and wonders I have taken for granted. I also analyzed myself, and went into detail about what makes me who I am or who I want to be. All of these thoughts have produced a single banner reading "ALLEGRA MARKUS". I took this photo with a Canon Rebel T2i with an 18-55mm lens. I shot with an aperture of f16 and a shutter speed of 1/100 s. Most of these photos are taken outside because of my somewhat new perspective on life this school year. I wanted everything to start fresh and to get in touch with the organic matter that composes my body, mind and soul. I want to appreciate this life I have, and the first step of doing this is appreciating the aspects of life around me, no matter how small and unnoticeable they are (yes tree branches I'm talking to you). This assignment reminded me to look at things as if I were looking at them for the first or last time. 

Merry with Harry

Soap Opera Couple, TV shot
Harry Gruyaert
1972
At this very moment... Harry Gruyaert is officially my Grade 11 Photography inspiration. Thanks to Magnum Photos, I was able to explore his wonderful work and gain insight to what Harry was feeling while taking a certain "group" of photos. A short biography was given to a group of photographs named "TV shots", one of which is posted above. Harry described this experience with the following words: " I was in live contact with what was showing, holding my camera and sometimes moving very close to the screen to frame it differently. I ended up by finding myself in a situation very close to that of street photography in which, I believe, a good image is a question of controlling chance - a sort of small miracle.” After reading this description and feasting my eyes on the photos, I became fully inspired to indulge in digital photography during this semester. During Grade 10 Photography, I was unable to capture an amazing decisive moment (as much as I wanted to), while including great composition and elements of design on one roll of film. Given the opportunity to work with digital photography, I feel like I have an unlimited flow of creativity and supply of colour. Harry's photographs make me feel excited to work with cameras and merge my imagination with photography once again. 

(PS. There is a tab on my computer right now that reads: "what rhymes with harry?")