I’ve decided to make the switch back to Blogger as a host for this blog. As I went to change things around on this site, I realized that WordPress, as great of a platform as it is, doesn’t allow for much in the way of customization. Blogger isn’t a lot better, but it’s bounds above what WordPress has to offer. I’m going to use WordPress as a publish platform once I get a web host up and running, but until then, Blogger it is!
You can view my new blog at http://aastronautss.blogspot.com .
About a year ago I set out to do a minor portrait project with the Hasselblad and a giant roll of white seamless. I found the exposed rolls of film from that endeavor the other day, which were still unprocessed. Since I’ve been playing catch-up these past few weeks, I decided to finally tackle these. I developed eight rolls of 120 today, and scanned for as long as I could. The results have been surprisingly good. More on Monday.
Edit: I uploaded more and made a set on Flickr! More to come as soon as I find more friends!
The moment you think you’re caught up, you discover ten exposed rolls of film in your drawer from over a year ago. I’m going to lock myself in the darkroom tomorrow.
I’m getting through some scans of the film that I shot over winter break with the cage’s Leica M6. Giulia gave me the privilege of being able to photograph her during my time down there, and I’m happy with the results. I can honestly say that these are some of the best photographs I’ve ever taken of anybody. If not the best, they’re definitely my favorites.
More on my Flickr.
I’ll admit that this shot goes a little bit overboard when it comes to the reduction of tonal range, but I in my defense, I toned it for the print, and it looks pretty good to me on paper.
I’ve delighted in minimalism ever since I began taking classes at RIT. It sort of started as an excuse to get out of doing a lot of work in my 2D Design class, but the more I delved into it the more I realized how much it fit into my mode of thinking about art. I think of it this way (mathematicians will probably hate me for this): There is an infinite amount of numbers between 0 and 100. You can zoom into an interval as deeply as you can, and you’ll keep finding more values. Take that principle and apply it to a smaller range–say, 0 and 1. The same thing applies. By that virtue, there is the same amount of values between and relatively small interval as there is between something much larger. The reductionist challenges our sensitivity to these minute, continuous ranges. He boils something down ’till what the mind sees becomes more than what is actually part of the work. The brain is very good at filling in gaps.
I’ve dabbled in this with the tonal range of my photographs. The above shot is a pretty extreme example, and it isn’t by any means something I’d put in a portfolio. My intent is to reduce input in order to amplify output. If I make the eye more sensitive to the subtle tonal range of photographs like this one, it will naturally fill in the tones that aren’t there. This is my idea of what minimalism is.
Many minimalists try to remove themselves from the work as much as possible, using machines to create their lines and computers to create their forms. It treat it in the opposite manner. I’m attempting to create an experience for the viewer through my own personal vision and experience. I attach myself to my work as much as I can because of this.
I sound like a fine art major.
I’m working on posting a looser edit of the series I turned in for my final project first quarter. I’m fairly happy with how it turned out, but I always think I could’ve done so much more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linkie0/sets/72157625343747933/with/5208132844/
I took it as an opportunity to reunite myself with the cage’s Leicas. Wonderful, wonderful cameras.
I’m going to get some scanning done tomorrow before class. Tim developed about eight rolls of film from last winter onward, and I’m excited to get to work on them. I’ll get my color stuff done once I work up the balls to drop about 30 dollars on it. In the meantime, it’s all black and white.
