Š (2016) Rashi Arora and Chelin Miller
Collaborative Unit (2016) MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography London College of Communication UAL
“So much of what we do resides in bleak obscurity, buried forevermore in the deepest recesses of a seemingly bottomless hard drive‌ I firmly believe that the importance of having a tangible object which doesn't rely on an elaborate sequence of ones and zeros cannot be overstated.â€? Valda Bailey
Full Circle: From the latest technologies in mobile photography to the most primitive image printing methods
Introduction With over a billion photographs posted every day, photography has expanded to become a ubiquitous presence. Through platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and WhatsApp, photography has become an integral part of messaging and general communication. Today’s teenagers are so involved with their mobile phones that for them, knowing about the manual processes carried out by previous generations of photographers would be very rare. For this collaborative project, Chelin and Rashi, students of MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the UAL (2015-16), designed a hands-on workshop to teach a small group of girls how to make cyanotype prints with photos originally taken with mobile phones. Including teenagers as participants was key, as they are the ones who take the maximum interest in learning new things related to technology. We believe in making the most of technological advances, using gear and software to our benefit. But we also embrace the beauty of old methods, slowing down to create unique work and understanding the magic of light and chemistry. Project Plan Our initial intention was to create a collaborative/ participatory project in a cross-disciplinary environment working with external partners. For that purpose, we organised a workshop with a group of young teenagers to teach them traditional printing methods: the
cyanotype process. We consider this to be a “hybrid” process because we used the original, traditional photography printing method and the latest digital technology available. Conceptualisation and Realisation We gave the children a task: to go on a photo-walk in their town centre (Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge, Kent) and take photos with their mobile phones. Then, Rashi and Chelin converted the digital files to large contact negatives. During the workshop we demonstrated the production of a contact print using chemicals, a negative of the photos taken by the participants and ultraviolet light (sun and lamp). As well as giving the participants information about the History of Photography and what we were going to achieve, our research involved finding out about new anthropological theories in social media and communication, image reproduction; teenagers‘ reaction to the alternative process, and how they felt about application of an old technique to new technologies. Practical Approach From previous experience working with school children, we had learnt that traditional teaching methods are not successful in creative projects. We were able to use this knowledge to develop the structure of the workshop in a more effective way to suit the teenagers’ short concentration span and specific interests. For that purpose, we kept to informal locations, allowing them access to activities of their interest between stages and constant source of refreshments.
Digital natives The expression ‘digital natives’ or the ‘Net generation’ refers to young people who are said to have been immersed in technology all their lives, of having sophisticated technical skills and learning preferences for which traditional education is unprepared. It is obvious that there is a big generational change, and we see it even amongst us – students of MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. Take Chelin and Rashi, for example, a generation apart and already showing different approaches to technology, photography and learning. Even wider is the gap with Chelin’s teenage children.
Change and Continuity Photography has been subject to constant change since first invented. But there is continuity of content: we are always taking holiday snapshots and making family albums. We still archive images and use some for purpose of memory and representation. Photography can have two sides: on one hand, it can possess exclusivity and value attributed to the work of art; and on the other hand it is viewed as a tool of democratisation of the image. Nowadays it belongs to a global mass population that creates billions of images per day through their mobile phones.
Permanence and ephemerality Photographs taken with mobile phones have a dual nature of permanence and ephemerality. Permanent because once they have been posted online, they are out of the control of the owner, they are there forever. And yet - because these days we have very short attention span, we want to move on to the next image, the next status update, the next thing on our screen these photos become ephemeral, out of date, very quickly. We wanted to explore the participants’ use and views of photography, here‘s a sample. How often do you take photos and how do you take them? Every day, with my phone. Sometimes, like, if I’m on a school trip, I borrow my mum’s camera, but it’s too heavy and complicated, so now I just prefer to use my phone. What do you do with your photos? I post them on Instagram or make my Snapchat story. Sometimes I post them on Facebook too, but my mum and aunties keep liking them and it gets embarrassing, so if the photos are for my friends only, then I use Instagram or Snapchat. The photos on Facebook are there like, forever, but snapchat is just for fun with me and my friends. I know they will disappear - unless the take a screenshot. But that’s ok, I know what to post and what will be embarrassing one day. On Snapchat I post ‘sillies’ and ‘uglies’, it’s just for fun, it doesn’t matter if I don’t look good. But I am more careful when I post on Facebook – I only put photos there where I look good, or cute puppies on the street, or where I’m doing cool stuff with my friends.
Why did you choose this photo of a swan? I really like it. It’s my mum’s favourite photo too. I think it looks really lovely like this, all blue … I took it with my phone in Tonbridge, near the castle by the river Medway. What did you think of this workshop? It was fun! I like to make things with my hands, and I never thought you could actually make a photo like this, it was like … Magic! I like it when the photo appears on the paper. But it takes a long time to prepare everything. It was really cool that I could just take photo with my phone and make it into a negative just with an app. Then we printed it on special transparency paper and it was really easy. But you have to be careful with the way you move the blue liquid around … it can be tricky.
The process In order to make cyanotype prints, you need a negative image. The participants took a photo with their mobile phones and converted them to negative with the app Negative Me. The images were printed using a home printer on a piece of transparency sheet. To prepare the watercolour paper, we coated the paper in a light sensitive solution and left it in an airing cupboard to dry for about 30 minutes. Once dried we exposed the paper with the negative sandwiched between a backing board and glass from an old photo frame. Using UV light, the light was exposed through the negative. Once exposed, as if by magic, the photo appeared as a positive on the paper. Then the print was developed in another solution to reveal the image in blue. A slow, gentle rinse removed all excess chemicals, we waited for the prints to dry, and there we had it: our very own piece of artwork, from digital to cyanotype. A detailed recipe and step-by-step method of this process, Cyanotype Rex, can be found on www.kenkeenandlightfromthedarkness.com.
Hanah
Jasmine
Nina
Eli
Rashi
Chelin
Last thoughts It was out of a desire to build bridges between generations, teaching approaches and learning methods, that we embarked on this project: a hybrid method to create cyanotype prints from photos taken and processed on mobile devices. A desire to close the gap between old and new, analogue and digital, traditional and virtual. We would like to thank Jasmine, Eli, Hanah and Nina for taking part in this project. For more information about traditional printing processes, creating digital negatives and photography in the digital age, contact us on arorarashi100gmail.com and info@chelinmiller.com. Rashi Arora and Chelin Miller Collaborative Unit (2016) MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography London College of Communication UAL