White
Yet again, the days / weeks are spinning by... there are definite signs that we are nearing the end of summer, morning walks with my little Sparkle take us past bushes laden with ripe blackberries so we slow down to enjoy an early pre-breakfast most days; simple pleasures...
Such a busy time here since I last took some time out to write a few words. I am still obsessed with finding new ways to print my work, every time I immerse myself in the creation of something tangible I have so many thoughts as to what I want to do next. This is the part of the creative process which I absolutely love, those sparks of ideas that we allow to germinate, nurture and grow through trial and error. That indeed is the drug that keeps me going...
White for Black
I want to start by talking about how much fun I am having with a new concept based upon the principal of removing something from an image in order to create something new. This is a topic from my course but one which mostly passed me by, my little puppy being a bit of a handfull at the time.
As I play with this concept I know already it will be one which I come back to many times over the coming years, there are so many ways to interpret the brief. Where to start though! I chose to begin by removing a complete colour from an image leaving only white in it's place.
Like so many fellow photographers I do love a good stretch of water. Even better when there are some interesting reflections to work with. A metal building, strong evening sunlight, a gentle flowing river and some extreme camera settings gave me some lovely raw files to store on my hard drive waiting for the right idea. Above is one of those files largely as taken (apart from the aspect ratio). Keeping it simple I decided to remove the blacks and see what was left. A very different image...
...which I find super-exciting. With my passion for all things printed there is so much scope here to render these glorious shapes and colours in ways which allow a clear background to shine transforming any print into something which could truly glow. It's been added to my very long print queue!
The colours and water combined to prompt a title, 'With Spice', which could loosely be linked to exotic voyages in times gone by. Happily I took more than one image while standing beside that river...
Working with White
Working with the above panel made me appreciate white as a 'colour' rather than just a space. It can lighten and add a freshness that's difficult to achieve otherwise,
I have started another '12 from 1 raw file' project with a project brief of making white a feature of the panel. Initial images are proving that it really is quite a hard brief, the temptation to fill each pixel with 'something' is powerful.
So far I have a couple of images which might be panel candidates. While working on these images however I did (predictably!) manage to create some which were very colourful with no discernable white spaces, one of which you can see below too. I may end up with two mini-panels, one with white and one without, we will see...
A Better Photograph
Apologies for the heading for this section, it is a bit pretentious but I couldn't resist! Printing onto Acetate is hard, photographing the resulting print is even harder and incredibly frustrating due to reflections. I have now invested in a proper light tent and I am super-excited to finally be able to take a half decent picture of the finished prints.
These prints are repeated from previous blogs but the photographs haven't been great. Hopefully these are a bit better. I plan to print two or three images onto Acetate from each series just to see what this medium can add. It all takes a collosal amount of time but it is so satisfying, my happy space indeed.
So that's it for this month. Life is definitely settling down now my little puppy is growing (she is four months old today which feels like a good reason for me to have cake!). I am gradually getting my time back and we are settling into some sort of routine - we still have a long way to go but we have come a long way.
My course continues to be an incredible source of inspiration and is stretching me beyond measure. Topics for this month are opening my eyes to a way of making images which is taking incredible nerve, thought and planning. More of that next month... While I will only scratch the surface of any topic given the timeframes we work to I am looking forward to revisiting each in my own time once we reach the end of the syllabus.
Anyway, enough... I hope you have reached this far and have found my ramblings worth precious moments of your time. As ever, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment, I always read and reply.
Stay safe and take care
L xx
Quick Links to Previous Blogs
The Drug of Creativity
Hi Everyone, Well yet again, it feels like an eternity since I last sat down at the computer to write a few words. My life has been turned upside down by my 4-legged friend. I honestly had no idea what to expect when this lively little puppy entered my home and it really has been […]
The Echo Chamber
Hi Everyone, It feels like an eternity since the last blog but it’s not too long, so much has happened! We finally have some decent weather here in the Chiltern Hills so it’s been nice to spend time outside without being freezing cold. A couple of days ago it was actually just a little too […]
Prisoners Of Our Psychology
Hi Everyone… Where have the last few weeks gone? I know some of it at least has been spent creating new embellished prints as well as playing with my scanner. Pulling together words for the ‘Unlock My Mind‘ series opened up so many different avenues so I’ve continued to explore some of these concepts in a […]
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6 Comments
Thank you Linda for your authentic writing, which of course reflects your truthful photography and image making.
You are helping me along a journey of discovery in my creative photography that was suffering from rules and barriers I was creating in my head. I’ve stopped overthinking the rules which has given me space to plan and practice being creative as I want to be.
Hi Ali,
How lovely to read your comment. I am so pleased to be helping in some way. It’s so easy to get stuck behind rules or things we don’t feel we are ‘allowed’ to do for what ever reason – I’ve been there!! For me, play is so important, giving yourself freedom to try something for a while and then move on to other things as the whim takes you… it’s easy to forget why we started on this journey, we can so easily lose the fun…
Keep playing and experimenting… no point otherwise…
Take care
L xx
Thanks Linda. Great stuff. Once again you inspire me to look back at some of my images and experiment a bit more. I often think that less is more in a photo and taking a colour away as well as simplifying the composition is such an intriguing idea. Look forward to playing with it! Many thanks.
Nick
Hi Nick,
Glad you found the blog interesting. I am getting more and more fascinated by working through existing images in different ways, removing things or simplifying on other ways is (I think…) an endless source of fun…
Take care
L xx
As always, inspirational.
xxx