Kuva kuvasta, metakuvia siis / Metapictures
Last week was all about photography and developing the actual photos from the negatives that you have already seen. I went to the dark room with a class mate, Iiris, who is practical and has an equal attitude towards working, so we make a good team. In addition to the analogical photography, I am also taking the digital photography course now so it made me smile to notice that I was taking digital photos of my analogic photography process and its results.
The dark room as a work space, at first, feels strange and one feels a bit out of place there but quite fast, in a matter of hours, it becomes a natural environment where to work. I took the first photo collage of me standing under the red light before Iiris and I took out the light sensitive photo papers and started working. After working, I checked the snapshots again and realized that they resemble a lot Andy Warhol’s self-portrait, which is not that strange a comparison, due to the fact that earlier when I had a shorter blond hair-do, many used to comment that I looked hair-wise like Andy Warhol or David Lynch – something that always made me laugh.
The analogical black and white photos seen in the second digital photo collage (therefore metapictures) give you a glimpse to the five hours spent in the dark room trying to find the correct exposure times and levels. The magical moment when you place the exposed photo paper into the developer and you can see the photo starting to appear in a matter of seconds is worth all the stages done to get there. My photos are taken at the motor club and as you can see, the place offers a lot of interesting and eye-catching visual imagery. Although it is possible to re-crop the photos taken, I prefer to develop myself as a photographer to be able to compose the photo already when capturing the moment – unfortunately some of the photos that I developed showed some bad choices and poor judgement in framing the photo. So practise needed there.
In the third photo there is a scene from a passageway of our school, which students have turned into a camera obscura. I was really mesmorized by the camera obscura while sitting in the passageway and seeing the live reflection projected on the wall upside down. The more your eyes become adapted to the dark, the more the reflection grows in detail. I was so taken with the magnitude of the camera obscura that I am planning to use this as an interior design element in my home. The simplicity of the camera obscura technique offers a great chance for using it in for example school teaching: you only need black plastic bags, a white wall (or a white even surface placed on the wall) and a preferably sunny day. The continuation of camera obscura would be the pin-hole camera,which is also easily done in the school context.
And although it is snowing here heaps as I speak, the music will lead you to a warmer and more cozier atmosphere: Nas & Damian ”Jr. Gong” Marley – As We Enter