This week, we needed to find a solution to "repair" the memories of broken items we collected without modifying them because we didn't want to destroy others' treasures. During the tutorial, John Fass suggested us both a brilliant and easy idea-photogram. Although after research and experiments, we didn't choose this method in our project, I still wanted to share the knowledge and experiences I've got in my blog.
Introduce of Photogram
Photogram,it is a photographic image made by placing objects between light-sensitive paper and a light source. (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008). The usual result is a negative shadow image. There are 2 methods to make photograms: sun print and lumen print.
Sun print: This method is easier to operate, all you need is water and a bright sky. According to Denise Hope's blog (2019), making a sun print should put the paper with the bluish side facing upwards and arrange objects on the paper; leave the paper in direct sunlight for over 1 hour; next, place everything in the shade; remove the objects and then rinse the paper in tap water. The processings are simple, but since we couldn't be sure that the day of the presentation would be sunny enough, we had to go another way.
The photos showed how to make sun prints (Hope, 2019)
Lumen print: Both could be made in a darkoom or under the sun, but needs chemicals to fix and develop the paper, LCC Workshops offer all facilities we need, so we decided to make our photograms in the darkroom, due to time schedule and distance problem, my three teammates didn't get the chance of photographic tutorial, only I entered the darkroom, it was really an interesting experience. I recorded every step and shared my results with them.
To make photograms need to follow the following steps:
Turn all lights off, photographic papers are sensitive, they could be damaged if exposed to light.
Putting the emulsion side of the paper to be facing up on the easel.
Arrange objects on top of the paper to get the shape I want.
Turn the light on around 10 seconds. ( The longer the lights are turned on, the clearer the image will be).
Place the paper into the developer with tongs for 60 seconds.
Moving it to the stop bath and agitating for 10 seconds
Submerging the paper into the fixer for 30 seconds.
Using water to wash it quickly and then dry the exposure with a dryer.
Landlord's Photographic Image
For this idea, I chose those objects to build my landlord's memory: damaged glove left in the kitchen, the house's keys, her family's photographic films. They are all my landlord's memories of the house, I put them together to make a photographic image to recreate the scenario.
References:
1. Hope, D. (2019), a photographic imageaking nature sun prints', Mudandbloom, 21,July. Available at: https://www.mudandbloom.com/blog/2019/7/21/how-to-make-nature-sun-prints#comments-5d345bceb5c4a1000123218f (Accessed: 24 November 2020)
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2008), Photogram. Encyclopædia B, 21, July. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/technology/photogram-photographic-print (Accessed: 24 November 2020)