shoot 4- Camera less photography

The idea behind this shoot was to attempt cameras less photography in the style of man ray, and so I experimented in the dark room with movement and different textures and different objects that cast shadows onto the page. I found that water creates a different effect to a solid object. Moving hands over the page creates shadows and less time exposed so the image is slightly washed out. I then wondered how man ray would experiment with digital cameras photography today and I thought scanography would be a good places to start mixed with photoshop to create a surreal feel. I found an artist who was very simple with how she used a scanner, called Roberta Baily , who placed flower arrangements onto the scanner. Thomas Mc Donald used a scanner in a very unusual was and managed to take pictures of the streets, a set of houses from a scanner, which suits Man Rays style of surrealism which he was developing. I was unable to reproduce Mc Donalds work. I found that suing the dark room to create photograms was very hit and miss with what I could do, and sometimes it would work the others it wouldn't, this was also the case with the experimenting with the scanner. I found the photograms to be more rewarding than the scans, Due to how it was more freedom to add movement, rather than being restrained on the direction of the scanners scan.

To add to my experimenting of cameras less photography I used some light sensitive paint that works similarly to the dark room but requires the sun to use. I placed objects on tit and it came out as slightly lighter outline of the shape. 

Overall my shoot and experimenting worked well, I think it showed that there is a big difference in digital and film. I preferrer to use the dark room with cameras less photography as there is a lot more experimenting and different techniques that are not realistic to recreate using a scanner.

In the dark room I spent some time experimenting with photograms which was influenced by man ray. I found that just placing object on a page on nearly any exposure would produce a photogram that had very defined white patches and very dark blacks. This is where I started moving the objects in the frame or adding my hands into the mix to create shadows.which brought out some very strange and cool effects for showing motion. Other things I discovered are using object that refract light differently can cause different effects. So water  creates a ripple effect due to its refractive index , which is much the same with glass as well, and would imagine other object that are opaque would do something similar

I have experimented with light sensitive paint which is where you use a special pain on a piece of fabric and wet it with a sponge, then you place objecs on it and leave it to dry. This worked quite well for my first attempt at it, capturing the outline of the objects, much like a photogram but without a dark room. Also the paint was orange. This added to the more exciting look, only difference is it takes a long time so you cant use movement in the pictures.

I also looked into scnography looking at artists such as Roberta Bailey who both used the scanner in a different ways. I have also done a few and have looked at using peoples heads, and looking into objects and moving them around, much like I did with the photograms. This method of camera-less photography has the most colour as it scans in colour, which produces more of a contrast and real life feel than the photograms