Following the Sun

I've been reading interviews and other papers on the work of Uta Barth and connect with her idea of our perception and ways of seeing. I like her earlier work a lot. The latest series with the interiors are interesting and I have to agree I've always liked the idea of the play of light on surrounding surfaces but it's just not as compelling to me.

Here is my version or take on photographing in the style of Uta Barth. We went camping before the kids head off to college. The play of shadows and light on the road was appealing enough that I took out my camera. Then since I had been reading about the space the viewer occupied in relation to the focus point of her work, I started to think how about trying to photograph this "in the style of"

Then it went into thought of how she chose her images that seemed like typical backgrounds for portraits and snapshots.

Which at this point I wanted to try more abstract and something that I am always interested in - water and sky....

And that was really fun. I wonder where this will lead?????

Using the sun to advantage

I have been working on coating different types of paper with cyanotype to see what happens and get a feel for how each takes the process and final wash as well as accepting the image.

I used a paper backing of Kraft  paper and on the front used cut strips of Epson photographic paper. This was a leap in assuming that photographic paper would accept the cyanotype. The image didn't come through but I'm not sure that it's a problem. I was interested in producing both image and non-image this semester.

I had dipped the paper in a tray of cyan so actually both sides were coated. When I put it out in the sun I found both sides produced a latent image. The result of dark and light is perfect and goes back to the idea and importance of light.

When I rinsed it and left it to dry it curled up on itself. I am happy with the lack of flatness. My considerations have been how to present it. I am thinking I would love it have it show both sides but don't know if I want it hung or presented some other way.

I've done a few other papers including Canson Mi-teintes and regular water color paper. The amount of time in sunlight for creating an image is pretty long. Again each paper had differences and difficulties. The Mi-teintes was pretty fragile and tore a bit during the rinse. Again it wasn't a problem for me as it highlighted a weather beaten feel.

I'm also looking at completely deconstructing the idea and image of a photograph. I took a printed photo (printed on rice paper) and ripped it up. Then pasted it on a background that was painted, mono-printed, and had wax drippings. This is a more traditional presentation on a flat surface.

I have no idea how others will view this. I wanted to really question what a photograph is and what we expect to see.