A couple of street photos from Budapest
Budapest /
Blue Hands /
Today was my first ever attempt at what I have decided to (possibly) be the most fun part of photography - or at least the most "creative" in the sense of getting your hands dirty and having freedom to experiment with chemicals and dyes. I'm doing alternative processes.
Starting with what's generally said to be the easiest, I played around with Cyanotypes. My hands are a patchy blue after flicking paintbrushes, and look quite corpse-like. I love it.
So here are all my test prints from today!
Even though the masking tape didn't work quite as well as I intended, I almost like the streaks. Almost.
The above (I know roses are cliche, but I had the negative from shooting 5x4 last year) were all printed using old negatives. After (below), I just grabbed some leaves from outside and tried to print them.
Below is a video I found for printing cyanotypes on glass, hopefully will be able to do this next week! Just need to do some shopping.
For standard cyanotype printing use;
- 25g of Ammonium Ferric Citrate dissolved in 100ml of water
- 10g of Potassium Ferricyanide dissolved in 100ml of water
- Mix the two in a 1:1 ratio
- Enjoy!
First Infrared Scans /
I bought six rolls of infrared film quite a while ago, but very rarely shoot them. One reason is because I don't have an infrered filter to use with my camera. I bought a standard red one (which was €100 cheaper), as I had heard that it was almost as good. I was worried about the almost. But some of these have turned out nice, so I think I'll be ok running with just a red filter.
Botanic Gardens /
A couple of the first black and white negatives from the Botanic Gardens I've scanned this week. It really is an amazing place, and I would definitely recommend it to as many people as possible. As long as you're all clean and tidy. In the two days I spent there, I saw three wedding shoots. As the bride pictured above walked away, an old lady said, not too quietly, "I've never seen such a trashy looking bride in my life", simply because she was smoking. I don't necessarily condone smoking, but jeez, I found it to be a bit harsh. I hope she didn't hear it.
New Luas Shots /
Another roll of Luas shots processed, more possibilities to add to the pile!
Outdoor Climbing /
Went to The Scalp, an outdoor bouldering field (or hill face) in Wicklow, which while isn't the best place in Wicklow, it is accessible by Dublin Bus! Which is wonderful for a non-car driver like me. First time outdoor climbing since being in France, and real rock is fun. Sore, but really fun. It was only my second time there, and definitely need to spend more time sitting around with the goats.
That was on Sunday, and yesterday (Tuesday) I slipped climbing in Gravity and have pulled something in my wrist and finger. Nothing bad, but it's sore. So no climbing for the next week or so.
Also - it's now October, and I'm considering doing a post a day for the month. However, will that lead to me publishing work I am less happy with just to make sure I do post something? Who knows, but for now it sounds like a fun project. Enjoy the photos!
The below photo is of me on Dark Angle (6a?) and (one of the reasons) why all the photos of Carl above are only arms and feet.
Scan of Print /
I've arrived at college an hour and a half earlier than I need to be here. So here's a scan of a darkroom print - painted the dev on with a paintbrush just to try something new. Reminds me of a butterfly shape. And I'm going to do something crazy this week - there will be a blog post everyday! Seeing as I have missed one or two days the past few weeks.
Have a happy monday!
College, Cameras and Features /
I have to apologise for missing the past two posts. This week has seen me return to college, re-start a climbing club, and generally try to get organised. I had forgotten how long it takes to scan negatives for instance, and the fact that you need to clean the scanner before even attempting to use it. Or how letting laundry pile up results in almost running out of washing powder when you try to attack it all at once. The photo above is from a cliff walk I did out in Howth quite a while ago at this stage. I'm slightly in love with black and white at the moment.
I'm looking at buying another camera. This is never a bad idea, it is simply a question of how poor I'm willing to be for a while. For ages, I have been considering the Fuji X-100S, as it is a beautiful camera, both in image quality and looks. Finding one of these second hand (who can afford brand new cameras, seriously?), seems to be impossible, as everyone loves them so is rightfully holding onto them. While in a camera shop yesterday however, one of the staff pointed me towards a Fuji X-E1. It's a more expensive camera. It's a bigger camera. It is out of the price range I wanted to buy in. My boyfriend is considering me silly for taking the bait of the up-sell to the pricier camera. But it really is interesting. I love all the kit I currently own, but it is hard to wander around and take the kind of casual everyday shots and street photography I want to do at the moment, with a big bulky DSLR. Time to sit tight and think hard.
In other news, the images I have so far for my Luas project have been featured on increature.com, which is quite cool. I'm starting to scan the negatives as opposed to just the photos of those images and can't wait to share them with you.
And for now, I'll leave it at that. Here are two photos from Austria (my orange and blue hunger still rages!).
Teal and Orange fun /
If you google "teal and orange movie" you will see the countless scenes over the years that have used this colour scheme. And it is such a fun colour scheme to work with. So here are the photos from my walk home yesterday as I obsessed over blue buildings and street lights.
Competitions? /
I've never really been one to enter photography competitions, I think from a combination of being afraid of being told my images were not good enough, and not really considering my work strong enough for such a thing. But, if you're not in, you can't win, right?
So I've decided to enter some of my Mayo work (re-edited and re-looked at) into a competition based around the theme of abandoned spaces. I also considered entering my empty caravans from France, but personally I just like the Mayo photos more (and I asked a friend or two for opinions).
Below are the re-edited images (all I did was take them out of the huge framing I had set them in previously), and what I have seen in some of Ireland's abandoned spaces.
You can never be sure, when travelling through rural Ireland, seeing no one for an hour, passing small houses set back from the road, if there is anyone there. I have walked and walked, over fences, past lakes, and through kitchens of places that seemed untouched for the longest time. Some places have pots in the sink, others just the faded markings from picture frames that hung on walls for a life time or two.
