Our latest Open Day on April 19th was another great success, with over fifty people either dropping in for a brief visit or spending the whole day with us. There were a succession of engaging demonstrations, loads of enthusiastic engagement, and lots of teas and coffees and biscuits.
The morning started with Elisabeth Scheder-Bieshen utilising an apothecary of foraged organic matter and trays of home-made chemistry to create magical prints. Elisabeth runs our Silver Garden and Albumen Printing Workshops with Milena Michalski, and this demonstration drew on her ongoing exploration of the possibilities of combining manufactured photosensitised papers and films with a whole range of flora. Elisabeth began by explaining how Lumen prints can be created on photographic paper without any chemistry at all, before demonstrating how fixing radically changes the images produced. After showing a selection of different processes in her portfolio, Elisabeth encouraged the audience to create their own Lumen Chemigrams, using a variety of resists combined with developer and fix to produce compelling and unique prints.
The next Silver Garden: Cultivating The Camera-Less Image takes place on June 2nd. More information and booking here.
Following this, Philip Grey introduced the group to the more traditional alchemy of darkroom printing. He started with a brief explanation of the origins of the chemical processes underpinning photography, before a guided tour around one of of our enlargers. Philip demonstrated how a test strip is used to determine exposure time after all the other variables of the printing process have been fixed. It was a strange experience to have twenty people crammed into a darkroom more used to four or five, but this only amplified the gasps of excitement as an image began to appear in the developer. After the first print had been successfully produced, Philip demonstrated how contrast adjustments and dodging and burning subtly modify the look of the end result.
More information and booking for our regular introductory darkroom workshops can be found here.
Next up, Dennis Yandoli - our pinhole specialist - demonstrated how it is possible to produce photographic images with the most basic of equipment. Using our specially modified coffee tins, Dennis took the group outside and explained how the tiny pinhole ‘lens’ used to capture the images produces infinite depth of field. To prove the point, he arranged the group into a staggered portrait and told everyone to stay still for the fifteen second exposure. Fortunately, we were blessed with a super-sunny day, because there have been occasions when the overcast weather has necessitated exposures of minutes! The tin camera was taken into the darkroom and the paper reversal print developed to much excitement from the portrait subjects, astonished that an image could be created so quickly. A bit like a Victorian Polaroid.
If you are interested in participating in one of our Pinhole Photography workshops contact us here.
Following this variant on the instant photograph, Catriona Gray introduced our audience to the wonders of the Polaroid Lift. She demonstrated the tricky process of deconstructing Polaroid photographs and reassembling them to create stunning unique artefacts. Catriona showed how these flimsy slivers of film can be slid onto a variety of surfaces and manipulated to produce unusual images.
For more information and booking our Polaroid Lift workshops visit our website here.
Rounding off an informative and entertaining afternoon, Lattina DaCosta, one of the newest additions to the darkroom team demonstrated the Watergrams process she has been exploring recently. This is very much a work in progress and the exhibition encouraged the observers to contribute suggestions of new approaches. Photographic paper is briefly exposed with a flash gun, either beneath a glass tray while water is poured in, or immersed in water while ripples are created on the surface. The developed paper has a beautiful unpredictable textural quality, with the potential to be incorporated with an image previously exposed with an enlarger.
A big thank you to Xinyue Tao for the photographs.
Sign up to our Newsletter here if you would like to be notified of our next Open Day.