Long Exposure Photography
One of the most enticing and exciting aspects of photography is it’s ability to stop or condense time. The mechanical process of recording every point of light whilst the aperture is open gives the photographer unique opportunities to consider time as a subject. To offer the world the things that we are not able to perceive with our own eyes.
I enjoy the duality of photography, being firmly rooted in the real whilst allowing the photographer to manipulate the reality that is presented. So the nights are longer now and because the sun goes down much earlier this makes it the perfect season for night time shots.
The #wearexperimenting night walk was last Saturday, and I’ll be doing a final walk with Penella Bee this weekend. This should be amazingly good fun, if the weather is on our side! We’ll be heading down to the riverside from Mackie’s corner at 6pm. Pen will bring some of her poi, and some light up props to help us create some fantastic images together.
I’m hoping that we’ll get the chance to compose or choreograph a large image with lots of people creating shapes with light along the river. It will be great to end the project with one final collaborative artwork.
I got some extra poi and torches for participants to have a go themselves. You always feel a bit of a nugget when you’re running around using the lights! But, it’s a laugh a minute, and can produce some interesting results. I just love the whole experience of being part of these workshops. I say being part of because all my favourite shots I’ve created using the technique have involved many people in their creation.
My photography for beginner’s class is now finished, but I’m considering setting up a photography club in the new year. Some of the participants from previous sessions may want to reconnect to further explore the skills they gained, in a lovely encouraging environment. Though that’s still just a small seed of an idea at the moment.
I need a short rest to consider the organised chaos of the last 6 months that I have spent working on #wearexperimenting. There are many things that could help me to form new bodies of work, new collaborations, and varied ways of working together. The new year will hold many choices for me about how best to capitalise on the idea’s that everyone helped me to experiment with. I’ve learned a lot through the whole experience, and I can’t believe how quickly 6 months just dissolved into thin air!
I need to time to reflect, evaluate, and plan for the next step.
#wearexperimenting artist’s talk
Thursday 29 November @ Mackie’s Corner
I’ve had the privilege of working with other artists through the associate artist side of the project. It’s been very interesting to see the varied approaches that each has to photography and participation art.
Nicola Maxwell and Michael Davidson did an exercise in mapping an industrial nature walk using a scanera obscura, and will talk about how this feeds in to their wider practise.
Graham Patteson did an excellent session where he combined a coastal walk with the collection of plastic pollution. He then used those collected objects to create photograms with the participants. Then created poignant zines in a follow up session.
And, Ben Freeth has been working on his extremely experimental project ‘Scan Paths’. Participants have worked with Ben to produce cameras that record how our eyes move across a scene. We’ll be using his Yarbus Camera on Saturday 1 December.
All involved will share their thoughts behind the processes they use in their own very unique ways of working in photography and participation.
Thanks again for supporting me so far. Remember if you’ve worked with me on any element of the project then I’d love any feedback about what you enjoyed, or would like to further explore.
Email your thoughts about #wearexperimenting to:
wearexperimenting@gmail.com
Find out more by visiting:
http://wearexperimenting.co.uk