The semester so far, in regards to creating new work, has proven easier said than done. Many shoots cancelled and poor organization skills on my own behalf have put pressure on the final remaining weeks. Some images have had to be re-shot, some never made it out of the sketchbook and some simply don't work in context with the others.
(7 Apples 2 Legs, New edit, ©Dida 2008) As of now there are many pieces on the table that need to be put together or put aside. I am currently doing the post on a few images and did some test prints this week, which will hopefully help 'paint the bigger picture'. In the works is still the image of the apples. I did a reshoot, but missed a bit on the angle, and ended up with a shot that said something completely different than the initial one. So, I went back and did the post again, this time adding another part of one exposure to a part of the original image and adding a new element, the barely visible key.
A few other newbies are also in the post works.
I have started thinking about sequencing a whole lot more now that I have about 9 images finished or still in progress. I don't know if they will all make the final cut, but it has been good to try and work out the order and the overall narrative look to some extent.
There are still many more images I would like to do, but I am feeling the pressure of there being less and less time left. I spent a fair few hours yesterday being more or less frustrated soft proofing and test printing four images, some more successful than others. To judge the outcome of what will happen when the inks hit the paper is hard. Everything is harder when paper competes with a light box (the deceiving computer screen) in terms of luminosity. But the outcome is so much more rewarding when you get it right. My test prints aren't there yet, but with a little fine tuning and polishing here and there, I think they will be.
As usual I find the statement a nightmare to write even having written it a few times now. I am still not completely comfortable with the reading of it and can't quite decide on the level for personal angle. I've done some new research but having done this project over some time now it has come to a natural crawl. I came across Image and Imagination (2005) edited by Martha Langford thinking it would be a gem of a read, but ended up skimming most of it without finding all that much of interest. If not much else, the introduction helped fuel some thoughts and confuse others, as per usual.
I've also had a look at At the edge of the Light, Thoughts on Photography, & Photographers, on Talent and Genius (2003) by David Travis and found the chapter ' The Plot Thickens Everything, Photography and the need for narrative' (p.80-96) interesting.
What narrative does better than any other medium of expression is to directly address the question of what we think we know – not about being particles of the matter-of-fact world or elements of a logical puzzle, but rather about being human. (p.95)
This one still has me thinking...
With ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ I explore the imaginary and artifice in photography. I am interested in how we use fantasy to comprehend experience and emotions: the lost dreams we cling to, our hopes, fears and desires.
While the imaginary and subconscious offers us an escape from ‘the Real’, it also presents another understanding of it. Fantasy knows no boundaries, it offers a space to render experience in another manner than within the restrictions of realism, and can fulfil any secret desire, or horrific nightmare. These photographs are eerie introspective dreamscapes, drawing inspiration from fairytales and cinema, presented as staged tableaux.
I am also interested in using digital photography as a portal to my imagination, to a place where everything is as real as I want it to be. As a result my images become constructed tales that can only continue to exist through photographs.
A work in progress
Dida, August 2008
The body, lady, is like a house: it don't go anywhere; but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile: always on the move, always.
F. O'Connor
(from The Life You Save May Be Your Own)
There are always many levels to creating a piece of work that interest me: technical, theoretical, conceptual, philosophical and so on. My need for creating work is fuelled by a need for exploration and understanding through art. To reflect upon the perplexities of the mind and the world, the self and the other, of escapism, of reality and fiction, of memory and the pieces that fit (or don't fit) between.
With analogue photography the negative anchors the subject of the image to an actual occurrence. What is seen is rooted to a more certain degree in reality, it was. The digital image has no such negative. It is malleable and invites to a constant readjustment and re-evaluation of reality and the photographic 'moment'.
While the experience of the imaginary offers us an escape from 'the Real', it also offers us another path to the understanding of it. Fantasy is a link and a platform to render experience in another manner than within the restrictions of 'reality', the imaginary abides by no pure boundaries of logic and reason. These are separate, but linked worlds, and I reside in one no more than the other.
Computers have given photography the freedom of painting, whereby photographs can truly represent the ideas of their creators and not merely render what already exists.
-Simen Johan
This work explores the inwardness of a subject that lies beyond its external structure, a crossroad of inner and outer reality. It attempts to display the secret garden of things unseen, fragments of fairy tales reflecting an internal world, narrative moments with no real beginning and no definite end. "Fairy tales are for kids". Not an unknown statement, but far from what I believe. I believe it is a basic human need to escape into fantasy, if so only to better comprehend social reality. Adults make use of the fairy tale as much as children do. We watch films, read fiction, follow TV series and daydream. Perhaps our need for escapism is even greater than that of children as we are limited by having to conform to what is perceived to be 'normal' for adults.
In the whole realm of poetry no domain is so boundless as the fairy tale. It reaches from the blood-drenched graves of antiquity to the pious legends of a child's picture book; it takes in the poetry of the people and the poetry of the artist.
-H.C Andersen
I approach the making new work in a variety of ways. Some images are constructed by researching elements of interest and developing 'the idea', others appear from dreams or while reflecting upon the 'core structure' (former research etc) of an idea, and at other times, and this happens quite often, a location inspires a 'vision' and results in the creation of a site specific installation which is then photographed in one or more parts.
Digital photography allows me the freedom to control every element and my use of light painting allows me to manually apply light from any angel I see fit. It becomes a seductive balance of light and dark. The darkness represents the mind and the undercurrent depths of imagination. Light becomes the tool of exploration, like a spot on a theatre stage, carefully revealing only what you are meant to see. Applying it by hand, as if painting a canvas, gives it a sense of mystery and enhances the aspect of that 'other place'. Through photography I embody a fantasy world, the images becoming a gateway, keys to unlocking the unknown.
By keeping my characters mostly in masks they become part of the visual myth and their representation is suspended somewhere between fact and fiction. As the image as a whole, they contain traces and elements of 'real', but the things you see in the photograph never existed as you see them. Not in this reality anyway.
Everything we are allowed to approach by way of reality remains rooted in fantasy.
-J. Lacan
Thoughts to be continued...
I've now finished printing three images for final review in a couple of days. During the course of making the images I tend to forget how much I enjoy printing on the Epson 9800.
As nerve wrecking as I find the process of soft proofing and testing, always aiming for a level of perfection, hoping that what comes out translates everything put in, I fall in love with every print that comes out, one step closer to its predetermined life as a precious object of own creation. Not all prints engage on such a level, some become a verification of a pre-existing feeling of lacking in quality, or a statement of changes that need to be made. Numbers translated into an image on a screen tell many lies that can only be seen when rendered on paper, and depending on which paper they're printed on, they will have different qualities.
The Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl is a beautiful paper. It's a very thick with some texture and a slight warm tone to it. The dark tones came out quite nicely with a hint to future shoots to light certain areas with concern to printing. I also realized the importance of color in regards to putting the final series together. As of now it is hard to see how exactly I'll fit the yellow-brown skeletons with the bright pink and greens of the bunnies. I'm sure there is a bridge in there somewhere yet to be found, but am also keeping in mind that not all images will end up in the final series.
The paper upholds the luminosity surprisingly well. I didn't expect the images to 'pop' out as much as they do. They look amazing, if I may say so myself. The darkness of the images didn't make them look as flat as I feared they would once printed, but rather encapsulates them in an air of mystery, and to me, further enhances the sense of seeing an 'other' place.
The final three images so far are 40 cm wide including five cm black borders on each side with various heights. The black borders compliment the darkness of the images and bring them together as a whole. The wide borders serve to create a certain distance between the world within the image and the world outside.
Further, I have decided, due to lack of time, to hold off on purchasing wallpaper for the background. I've had a quick look, but have yet to find one that hits the spot. Again there is no point settling for less, so as of now I have only purchased three sheets of black paper with a black, velvet-like pattern to simulate the kind of look I'm after. If this will look remotely like I want it to is yet to be found out.
For hanging, since the prints for this review will not be mounted, I've decided to cut strips of acetate paper and tape them to the back of the prints to pin in. This way I'll avoid annoying pin marks in the prints later. Due to the thickness of the paper they have already got a few dents from printing and trimming, so I'll need to keep them as clean and safe as possible.
These are not pictures. These are photographic dreamscapes, precious objects carefully crafted to reflect the borderland from which they came. They are not snapped or stolen, and their roles are not as decisive moments. These images are dreamed, staged, captured, controlled and created. They are my imaginary visions, pieces of an unknown 'home', and they can only continue to exist through photographs.
The photographs offer a key to the magic of imagination, the universal dream of liberation from the constraints of the physical body into the uncanny. -K.A Edwards
This is another of the images from the last shoot. The main compositional elements are working well, but there are issues in the lighting/painting I would like to further resolve, as well as some changes to poses and costumes. 
Another venture into the creative and imaginary kingdom a few days back. It was another ride in the hands of fate, or luck (or lack thereof) on the coldest of nights so far. Despite the freezing cold, raw air and wet ground we set out to find the rabbit hole.
About three test shots into it my main light source fails. It does not sink into a 'I-have-no-power' sleep, but dies abruptly as things are starting to shape up.
For various reasons the other lights were not suitable under the circumstances. In a bleak hope of finding a similar one hiding in one of my boxes of magic, we returned home from location cold and bewildered. Alas no such light was found, but refusing to abandon the shoot without trying alternatives, we opened another bottle of red and slipped into the dark corners of the courtyard.
For a night determined to be a royal pain in the rear end region of my body, it won the initial battle, but lost the war. My creative group of nocturnal creatures now counts another amazing being. These people continue to astonish and inspire me with their enthusiasm and invaluable input. I have never photographed anyone before who had such an interest and understanding of what I am trying to accomplish as these people do. They are keys to locks in my house, to toys in my basement.
The images require a re-shoot mainly due to light, but the ideas and compositions were good, and will result in a more dynamic visual range once resolved. In other words, we accomplished what I was aiming to test in regards to that. All was indeed not lost. I like the images, but know that I can re-stage and re-light them so much better. I do not believe in settling for less. It is worth the wait to make them rise to their full potential. It constitutes what I, in regards to such things, like to call a luxury problem. :)
Another couple of characters emerged and future shoots are looking very promising. I am very happy with the journey so far and believe the final series will be everything I want it to be. I can't wait to continue once final assessment is over.
In preparation for that I am now focusing on the final post-production on a couple of images, and will start printing the next few days. I will now be printing on the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl. This is a new paper to me, but it's supposed to have similar warm tones to the Crane Silver Rag. I am anxious to see how my blacks and overall dark tones transfer as well as how much luminosity is retained on paper.
The test prints I did on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk looked promising, but I have decided to go up in size to approximately 30cm width + borders which is somewhat larger than the tests. I am also considering abandoning the 'fuzzy' edges around the frame of the image. Where there are higher contrasts on the edge it's hard to get a smooth transition between light and dark tones.
As well as printing I am considering potential backgrounds for the images. I don't want them displayed on a white wall and the alternatives so far seem to be black or some kind of dark, patterned wallpaper. I would also like them to be mounted and hung out from the wall, but as of now, this is way over budget.
(New images to come very soon... in post-production now.)
This is an initial sketch of one of the images from saturdays shoot. First off, Saturday was not a good day for this kind of stuff. It was freezing cold and wet and I consider myself lucky to have people who want to do this enough to put up with that and still come up with valuable input. :)
This is an image I shot earlier this year around February sometime. I still really like this one; it’s got this calm to it as well as this uncanny feeling that there is someone else in the room watching. It exists in a borderland. It’s all one exposure and shot in a completely dark bedroom.
Not exactly in the manner of the new ones, but it’s still a darling.
