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#1
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Message in a Bottle
I am a third year student at the University of Wales Trinity St David studying Photography in the Arts. For my final major project I will be doing something quite interactive and I’m trying to find photographers who are enthusiastic about using film to take part.
Photographs once had a physical presence, something you could hold and own. Still something which could be reproduced but there would always be that first ‘original’ print which would be produced. Now the family photo album is something more of a digital archive. Not only is everything safely backed up on your computer or hard drive etc, the way photographs are shared on social media we have this sort of online archive which we can access from anywhere and regardless of if your phone has broken or you’ve lost your memory card, the images will always exist in these pockets of the internet. What I want to do is bring back that feeling of having one photo. One copy which only exists as something physical. One negative and one photograph. Having no backup exist anywhere. I plan to use medium format film and I will print one of each photo and then destroy the negative, recording the destruction. I will then actually post each photo to somebody around the world with a handwritten explanation of who I am and what I am doing. This process may be difficult to begin with as I have to learn to just let go of the photograph, knowing I may never see it again. It will remain as just a memory to me, something I can never reproduce or recapture. I will also ask each person who I write to repeat the process and send me back an original photo of whatever subject matter they see fit. If you should choose to be involved please email me with a postal address at briabs@hotmail.co.uk . Thank you in advance |
#2
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Hi. This sounds like an interesting project. In order to encourage people to get involved, you might want to give a link to your website, if you have one, or some more details about yourself and your studies. It's just a thought, but people might not immediately be comfortable giving out a postal address without knowing a bit more.
Alex. |
#3
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Very interesting and if I may say so very poetic.
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#4
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briabs, I'm in for sure.
I have no idea what knowledge you have of photographic history. Some years back the late Bob Carlos Clarke experimented with destroying his negatives, to give a greater sense of 'commitment' to each image. Later he came to regret it, but of course it wasn't something he could undo. Brian Duffy and (I think) Brett Weston destroyed negatives they felt they had 'left behind' artistically. I am strictly an amateur shooter, but I love film. At one time I was very pre-occupied with archival processing and washing. I now have a much clearer sense of how ephemeral and transient both I, and my photographs, are. Almost everything I've ever done will almost certainly end up in land fill. So, an artistic endeavour which actually recognises and embraces the fragility of photography is very timely for me. In passing, though, I will suggest this- the idea that digital images will be safer as they are 'backed up', and exist in the safety of the fire-proof flood-proof 'cloud' is perhaps overly simplistic. Not to be too long winded, but with over-population, famine, pollution and energy crises all looming, which will survive longest: the shoe box full of treasured photographs under a bed, or the huge techno-industrial complex needed to preserve virtual images? Your opinion will depend on your degree of optimism I imagine. Anyway, good luck with the project. |
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Quote:
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#6
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Trevor Crone recently did an exhibition of images that were designed to fade away. There is a very interesting article about it in the current edition of the Black and White Photography magazine. I actually have a sculpture by a recent Graduate of the Glasgow School of Art which consists of a large stack of MF negatives which have been cast into a white concrete block. The block itself has been chipped away at one corner to reveal the contents. I understand that they were landscapes that the artist was not satisfied with.
I'm assuming the prints Briabs proposes to send out will have a uniqueness associated with the Artist, and any copies will be akin to a print of an oil painting. I would be interested in joining in. PM sent. Alex |
#7
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Interesting idea which I may subscribe to... but perhaps I'd send back a fake?
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#8
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Certainly an interesting idea, Briabs, and I would be interested in participating - although I am a bit of a hoarder and therefore destroying a negative would not come naturally to me. Two stories which might throw light on where I'm coming from.
I recently returned to film after a long absence. One of the motivating factors in me going back to film was re-visiting negatives that I took and developed as a teenager some 30+ years ago. Most of these weren't printed at the time but I have since scanned and printed quite a few. The ones I find most interesting now were ones that I thought very little of at the time. They aren't of anything in particular - more of a social history of places, events and people relating to that period in the late 1970s. The prints that I did make from that era I don't find particularly interesting now - wildlife and sport for example. I also came across a series of prints - and some negatives - from a trip my father and his chums made across Europe in the spring of 1939, starting from home here in Ireland and travelling by boat to Germany and then by train to Hungary, Italy and back. The prints were kept in an album and hence have survived reasonably well - although they are on the small size. But the negatives are just superb to have - mostly 6x4.5 in size. A bit dusty and scratched in places (not very well kept) but I intend to print the best of them and re-create the story of their journey. I think to make your project worthwhile it would have to involve a photograph that had some degree of uniqueness and some value to the participant. I'm guessing you will want to record participants' thoughts before and after - should make for interesting reading! Best of luck in your project. Michael |
#9
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Some how this goes against what the negative is for, the infinite variations that can be made when printed & the fact that processed correctly it has a very long life. I cannot see what this will accomplish or how you will convince someone that the print they receive is so unique that it must be preserved forever. If not what is the point?
I also think that what you have in mind at the taking stage may lead to sloppy picture taking knowing what the final outcome is & the print you produce may not be the best you could produce. But I wish you the best of luck with your project. |
#10
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I have to say that I agree with ymgandy. Have you considered printing the negatives and then sending them to at least one other person to see what prints they choose to make of them?
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