The last day of the Artifact Unit

Today I was planning to do some more wet photography and finish the mounting of the final project. In the morning I realized that I actually have enough pictures to put on the Christmas tree, so I decided not to print out more pictures in the dark room, as it is our last day. I started and finished the mounting of my final piece of mark. The first problem that I faced during the mounting was that some of the pictures where too big. I decided to cut them into smaller rectangles or squares with the paper guillotine. I succeeded and the pictures were the size I wanted them to be. On the Christmas tree I mounted on the bells, balls and the pictures. I tried to put them so that it looks good and they are even on both sides. In the end it looked really good and I really like it. Here is a picture of the final piece of work:

I think that I have done well because we were supposed to finish it today and I finished it before the end of the day. It also looks effective and represents the other side of Christmas. I added a detailed version of the process in my coursework book and I also did my final evaluation. I found this last day quite relaxing because I was not behind and I finished everything on time.

The seventh lesson of Artefact Unit

Today I was aiming to finish my final shots and make them in the dark room (printing room). Before the break I decided to add some more things to my 'Shooting Plan'. I added things such as where I am going to shoot my final work and why. I found this part easy because I looked at the test shots and I used them as my guide for the final work. When I took the test shots I found that 'lonely people' would fit in the theme very well, so I used these kinds of pictures. I think that lonely people represent the other side of Christmas.

After the break I went to take pictures with the tape camera. I was pleased that our teacher reminded me how to use it, because the last time I used it was about 4 weeks ago. First place I went to was the park, and I was aiming to find 'lonely people' sitting in the benches, but unfortunately there were no people which I could take pictures of. I decided not to waste time and go to take some pictures of broken things and overflowing bins. I found this easy because there were a lot of bins in the area, because the area is quite full of houses. I returned to the park to find some 'lonely people' because I still had some more time. Fortunately I found a couple of people and I took pictures of them. I was very relieved because I had a lot of pictures which meant I could choose which ones to use. I found this part a bit weird because I had to take pictures of 'strangers', but in the end I did it.

Before the lunch I started to prepare the tape, using the same method as before. Unfortunately I forgot some parts of the process because I've only done this once. I asked my teacher for help sometimes and he really helped me with the preparation of the tape. I didn't have time to completely finish the preparation so I left the tape in the container over lunch, with water inside so it doesn’t dry out. After lunch I came back and finished the process and the tape came out as I planned it to come out. I found this process I bit hard and also not so interesting because I had to wait for the tape to react with chemicals and also later on to dry out. I had to use the hair dryer to dry the tape because that was the fastest way of doing it. It took me about 15 minutes to do it.

The last part I had to do was to print the pictures on the white paper. I had a lot of pictures taken on the tape which meant this would take me a lot of time. I found it easier than the least time because there were less people around which meant less people were using the chemicals. Also, it was easier to find my pictures when I had to take them out of the chemicals, because there were less pictures there. I found this process hard at start because my pictures came out too dark, to solve this problem I didn’t keep the white paper under the light for 4 seconds, but 3. This really helped because my pictures came out lighter and looked better. I also had dry bubbles on my pictures, and I asked the teacher what they were. They were from chemicals which meant I had to put the picture under the chemicals more, otherwise I get them on all of the pictures. After that I found the process easy because I knew how to do it, but it still took time because I had to wait for the pictures to react with the chemicals. I nearly finished printing all of the pictures, but unfortunately I've got about 3 more to go. Next Artefact Unit day, I will try to print some more pictures and for the rest of the day I will assemble my project as planned. I think I have done everything I've planned to do and I am on track with the project.

The sixth day of Artefact Unit

I knew what I had to do today because I wrote up a plan of things to do. Fortunately I finished all of the things that I planned to finish which means I am on track. The first thing I did was to annotate the test shots which I took when I was at home. I found it a bit long, because it took a while to print each picture out and annotate it. I think that the test shots really helped me because they helped me to pick the right idea. I decided to use the new idea 3 which I changed a bit because it has a wider range of picture ideas to take and I really like the idea overall. To extend the idea 3 I went to take some more photographs and because I took more photographs I changed my idea again.


My Final Idea:
I will have a Christmas tree and it will be decorated like an average Christmas tree with shiny decoration balls and stars. On the Christmas tree I will have pictures of the mirror side of Christmas. The mirror side is the bad side of Christmas such us homeless people who have no families or just rubbish on streets which represent the other side of Christmas. This will be very effective because then you could see the two sides of Christmas.

Here are some of the best test shots which I will use for my final project (more detailed in the workbook):

I will use this kind of picture because it represents loneliness and it relates to the other side of Christmas

This picture has an overflowing bin which fits in well with the idea of the mirror side of Christmas.

I like this picture I will use it because it has a falling fence, this represents that not everything is perfect and if you relate this to people than you know that not everyone is perfect.

After I put these and more test shots in my book I annotated them. During my lunch time I went to a shop and bought a Christmas tree, because I knew that I will need one. Here is a picture of the Christmas tree I bought:

I also made a shooting plan because next week I am going to shoot the final photographs and I am also going to print them on the wet photography paper. This should take the whole day which means after half term I will just need to put the pieces together and the project will be finished. I thing I have done well today because I have finished everything I wanted to finish.

The fifth day of the Artefact Unit

Today I spent a lot of time expanding my three ideas. These are my three ideas:

1. A present box with pictures inside of a person opening the present. Shows facial expressions and the idea represents hope (believe) that his dream present is in the wrap.

2. A box made from CD's with 'future' pictures stuck in the box. The idea represents 'I believe in future'.

3. A Christmas tree with pictures of 'Christmas' on the tree. This would represent 'Believe in Christmas'.

I extended these ideas in my workbook by searching the internet for some inspiration. I found it interesting, but not hard to do because it was easy to find useful information. It took time because I had to think a lot to extend the ideas. I also sketched out each idea so I get a better view of it, I think that this helped a lot because then I knew how it is supposed to look like. Now I need to take some test shots for each idea, so I can get some more inspiration. After school I took some test shots of each idea. I will put them into my workbook during the CRAM lesson and describe them in a further depth. Here is the one which I liked the most:

 I think it's effective because the white background makes the decorations stand out and the decorations look like mirrors which make the picture 'shiny'. This image relates to the idea of Christmas and would be kind of image I would use. I found it difficult to take some pictures in my house because there were not as many things to take a picture of. Fortunately in the end I got about 30 images which I took and about 10 of them are pretty useful. 

Here is a plan for next week (lesson):

• I will put the test shots in the work book
• I will take some more pictures near the school, because there are more interesting things around there
• Decide upon which idea I will use
• Prepare a plan for the final idea, such as items to get (buy) and things to take pictures of

The fourth day of Artefact Unit

  At the start of the day I went off to take some pictures of the theme 'Believe'. I had 30 minutes to do that and I though I had plenty of time. It was really difficult at the start because I couldn't think of anything that would fit in with the theme 'Believe'. First thing I took the picture of was the bird which fit in with the theme, believe in nature. I didn't really like this photo so I took 9 more. The last pictures which I took were better than the first ones because near the end I knew what I was doing. This is the picture which I liked the most:

  This is my favorite photograph because the path leads your eyes to the end, which looks effective. This picture is supposed to be believe in saving the environment, by cycling, not using a car. After I took these photos I annotated them in my book and then I wrote up my 3 main rough ideas. I only wrote up two of them because I couldn't think of another one. I decided to think of the third one during the week until the next weeks lesson, this way the idea could be better and more interesting. I think I have done quite well today because I am not behind on anything. Next week I will write down the third idea and I will go into further depth of each idea.

Third day of Artefact Unit

Today started with an individual work when we personalized our Unit books. I stuck in my research report which I finished and I added all of the prints in the book. I also annotated them and wrote up the method of printing photographs. It took a while because there was a lot to write. I didn't find this difficult, but time consuming. After I finished this part of the day I started to write down the brief, while in the same time thinking of an idea that I could do. Our brief is to Produce a piece of art work which includes the wet photography and installation art, and which has the meaning of 'Believe'. The first idea that I came up with is to make a big birthday present box which contains lots of pictures of me opening a present. The meaning is I believe that something is in there (something that I want). This is my first idea and I think that I am going to come up with more ideas next week. We also created a spider diagram of things related to believe, and afterwards I researched and printed out some images that go under believe such as love, dreams and freedom. Next week I will try to come up with more ideas so that I have a wider chose of what to do and I will probably extend my first idea. Overall I think that I have done well today because I have completed all of the work that was set for today.

The introduction to the Artefact Unit

  Last week we got introduced to our new unit. To find out more we all completed one of the main parts of this Unit, The Research Report. During the day we used websites such as Google and Wikipedia to find out more about the fine art photography and art installations. At the end of the day I found out a lot of information about our unit and I wrote the information up in my research report.

  Today started when we got given the professional cameras and Mr Hind explained how to use them. Then we got into pairs and we went to take some random pictures until the break time. I found it difficult to take some pictures at start because I didn't know how you get the green light or the red light, but with my partners help we found out how you make the lights show up. If the light was red then I had to change the shutter speed or the brightness, and if it was green I could take a picture. I also kept forgetting to rewind the tape so that I can take another shot, but fortunately in the end I remembered it and I got used to it.

  After break we came back and Mr Hind explained to us how to prepare the taken pictures. To do this we had to work in a black and well closed bag. In this bag we placed the taken picture case, scissors, a roll on thing for the footage, a case for the roll on thing, a lid for the case and the footage case opener. This is what we had to do in the bag:

·        Firstly open the footage case with the opener

·        Then take out the footage and cut of a bit of the start with scissors

·        Start rolling up the strip onto the roll on thing

·        Then when finished rolling cut the end with the plastic bit (straight line)

·        Put the roll on thing with footage rolled on in the big case with the pointy bit up

·        Close the case with a lid until it clicks

·        Finally take everything out

 I found it a bit difficult at start but after few more seconds I got used to not seeing what I am doing. It took me about 4 minutes to complete this part of the photograph production. I think that this part was the hardest because you had to concentrate a lot and you must not lose focus. The next part we had to do was to prepare the footage using 2 chemicals. This is what we had to do:

·        Add 700ml of 20 degrees water and 300 ml of the first chemical and then pour this into the footage case

·        Then for shake and tap the case after every minute for 10 minutes

·        After 10 minutes empty the case and rinse for a while and empty the case again

·        Then add the chemical called fix and shake and tap for 4 minutes, every 30 seconds

·        Pour back the fix into the container (the chemical can be reused several of times)

·        Rinse for 10 minutes

·        Take out the tape and dry it by putting it in the drying cupboard for an hour

I found this part easy to do and a little boring because I had to wait for 10 minutes. The only thing that I found difficult was to remember how many ml to put in the case. Fortunately there was a poster explaining the process which really helped. After this task we went to lunch.

  After lunch we came back and we all went to the dark room where Mr Hind explained the process of making the actual picture. Unfortunately our tape was still a bit wet even if we dried the tape for more than an hour. We used a hair dryer to dry off the water droplets, but I noticed little spots from the water drops and I was a bit worried, but fortunately Mr Hind told me that it will be OK and those dots won’t show on the final product. I was relieved. This is the process of making the actual photograph which Mr Hind explained to us:

·        Firstly adjust the clip board to the size of the actual paper, 700 by 500

·        Put in the tape in the case shiny side facing upwards and turn on the machine

·        Adjust the size of the image so that it fits the frame

·        Adjust the brightness so it’s not too bright and not too dark

·        Adjust the resolution so it is not blurry

·        Take a test photograph by using the carton by placing the paper in the frame and covering with the carton, only uncovering the corner more and more when you count to 2 seconds and switch the machine off – for few more times

·        Place the test picture in the first chemical for one minute and then rinse in the water for 30 seconds

·        Place the picture in the second chemical for 4 minutes and after than rinse for 5 minutes in the water

·        Put the picture in the tray and go outside the dark room to dry the image with the dryer machine

·        Look at the picture and decide how long to keep the light on by looking at the lines and which looks the best (for mine it was 4 seconds to get a perfect brightness image

·        Now you can try it for 4 seconds on the whole paper and then using the same process

I found it difficult at the start because it was a lot of information to take in. To overcome this problem of forgetting something like for how long do I need to rinse the image I asked my class mates and they really helped me. Another problem I was facing was that it was really hard to place the paper on the frame so that the sides are straight and there are no white frames. In the end I had enough practice that I could do it with no white frames, but before if that happened I trimmed the edges with the big cutting machine. It was really easy to cut straight lines on the machine because you just had to place the image and then just swing the cutter from one side to the other. I also had a problem with my first picture; there were lines on it because I didn’t rinse it in the first chemical properly, so that the paper was not completely covered. The next image I made I was more careful to not let the same happen again by pushing the image into the chemical. The last pictures which I produced I think we’re good, because the brightness was perfect and there was no blur, also the image was covering whole of the paper. Overall I think that now I have learned how to make a photograph properly and I can make the photographs professionally. I also think that I have done well today because I have succeeded in making a photograph in the dark room. I will use the skills learned today next week and I think that they will really help.