Y3S1 'folio (updated) by Steven Demeza

STEVEN DEMEZA Graphic Design Semester 1

Independent Practice

Practice FMP

I initially started looking at the coverage I would get using 5 or 6 pinholes. I did this as I expected some overlapping of the same scenery and wanted to minimise this. After putting together the diagrams I realised that the tin I had in the centre wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t big enough to achieve any overlapping of scenery. The tin I used had a diameter of 10.2cm. The photographic paper I was using would have to be cut in half and taped together to be able to wrap around the tin with a bit of overlap, so I took the maximum circumference this would achieve and made some calculations as to what the diameter would be and made some mock ups with the new value of 11.33cm.

Center tin, 10.2cm Diameter

Main tin, 23cm Diameter

Min focal length, 6.4cm

PROBLEM! 5 rather LARGE blind spots

Center tin, 10.2cm Diameter

Main tin, 23cm Diameter

Min focal length, 6.4cm

PROBLEM! 6 smaller blind spots lots of overlapping exposures

Center tin, 11.33cm Diameter

Main tin, 23cm Diameter

Min focal length, 6.4cm

PROBLEM! 5 rather LARGE blind spots

Center tin, 11.33cm Diameter

Main tin, 23cm Diameter

Min focal length, 6.4cm

PROBLEM! 6 smaller blind spots lots of overlapping exposures

Practice FMP

Initially I developed a card shutter than span around the whole tin. Was held in place with stoppers and 3 detachable elastic bands attached to the lid and shutter. It also had 3 pieces of string attached to the shutter at the same locations as the rubber bands in order to keep a smooth even distribution of force upon the shutter. This should have given the shutter a smooth and even motion. It worked rather well in testing, but on the day, it got stuck and in my eagerness to get it to go back up I snapped it. I had to come up with something else and quickly developed a series of replacement shutters to go over each pinhole. These were just tape hinged shutters held down with tape. I also taped around the lid as there seemed to be a rather substantial light leak coming from there. Once I got the camera home I spent a couple of hours working on a more rigid and permanent replacement shutter system. Regardless of the outcomes. I am not happy with any of them. Due to a lightleak in the darkroom where I was cutting up my paper and developing my prints. All the results were thrown off, as the paper was being exposed before I had even begun testing my camera. The leak has rendered all the time I have spent developing the camera as rather pointless. All the time I spent fighting with tutors to try and gain access to using the darkroom has been futile. As I gained nothing from its usage. Other than to

find out that the darkroom is the very thing that has caused a lot of the unexplained anomalies that I was finding. Even though gaining access to the darkroom is hard enough as it is, one or two days a week at the most. I then had to spend a day sorting out the majority of light leaks in the darkroom myself with the aid of Charlotte Bryan.

Experiment 1, with the ‘Band shutter’

Experiment 2, with the ‘Taped card shutter’

Experiment 3, with the ‘Taped card shutter’ and taped up lid. (Approx. 1min exposure)

Experiment 1, all 6 pinholes used. Exposures times: 6seconds to 24seconds.

Experiment 2, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 18seconds.

Experiment 3, pinholes 1, 3 and 5 used. Exposure times: 12seconds to 16seconds.

Experiment 4, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 24seconds.

Experiment 5, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 40seconds.

Practice FMP

Constructing this camera wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really all that difficult. All be it, very primitive in regards to the initial concept. I doubt the results yielded by this particular camera will be very good if I manage to get a photograph out of it that hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t already been contaminated by a light leaking darkroom. The initial concept was to create a camera much like one I made last semester, but with 3 pinholes that could work independently or simultaneously. It would have been made out of wood and would have been more compact for ease of transportation and would use 35mm film which is more convenient. The camera I have developed at the moment takes photographic paper which means it can only take one photograph at a time and needs to have a darkroom to load the photographic medium into the camera. This makes taking a photograph with it very cumbersome and slow. On the opposite page is where I plan to take the idea further which will be part of my FMP next semester.

Furthering my Practice

With this camera I am hoping to get a smooth 360Â° panoramic, or as close to as possible with a pinhole. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve purposely tried to avoid doing too much second hand research on how to achieve this as I want to experience that journey of discovery for myself. If I look up how to do the physical aspects online, or in books, then I would be skipping all of the potential happy accidents and tangent discoveries on the way. I am generally quite pleased with what I have found so far, all be it all I have really found out is how to detect faults with equipment. Such as circular patterns on my paper which was because of a leak in the lid of my container, or banding on the paper because of my ruler placed upon the paper when there is a light leak in the darkroom.

Practice FMP

Whilst spending some time back in my home village of Lakenheath I decided to spend time taking photographs of scenery that interests me. This exercise gave me the opportunity to work on my photographing ability as well as helping to bolster my photographic portfolio. The content I am most interested in is rural landscapes and architecture. I was trying to capture interesting textures, lighting, angles and form with this set of images. I think a lot of the photographs were successful although improvements could definitely be made. I used 7 photographs to create a vast panoramic of the large fishing pond that is located not too far from my house. This is also where most of the photographs have been taken although a few were taken on Lakenheath warren. The architectural photographs were taken around Epsom. At the moment there are two cranes at Epsom train station rebuilding and updating it work. I was particularly trying to focus on form with the architectural side of photography and gave me a few ideas for projects in the future. Such as doing a project explicitly on garage doors. Although photographing peoples property and photographing in the street in populated areas does make me feel uneasy. Which is something that I think will become more confident with over time and repetition.

FMP PRACTICE Holga + Matchbox photographs architecture (Halfway through my current film. Waiting for lesscrappy weather

The Apple (Dogme 95)

After trying to rigidly stick to the rules of Dogme I found it quite difficult to convey what it is that I like doing. I wanted to try and convey the set ideals that I like to work to. Such as; Intricacy, Precision, Attention to Detail, Realism, Calculated, Humour, etc. I wanted to convey these ideologies by doing things that I enjoy that encapsulate one of these values well. The original idea was to do things like playing intricate parts of songs on guitar, playing football and trying to hit the crossbar with power from 45yards. After realising this would just appear as an eclectic mix of activities edited together into a short 3minute film and I doubt the audience would understand what it was without explanation. This goes against what the brief was about so I decided to just try and focus on one aspect. This original idea was going to be a parody on the short film ‘The Perfect Human’ by Jørgen Leth. I was hoping this would convey the humour side of my work but it was poorly shot and had my cringey voice over. Although the humour did somewhat come across in the work.

The Whale

I chose to do a piece on drawing because my original ideas became such a chore to shoot and edit. Originally I was going to do a parody on the short film ‘The Perfect Human’ by Jørgen Leth. Having felt drained of all motivation and ambition I decided to do something that I enjoy doing in a feeble attempt to rekindle some of that motivation and drew a zombie instead. More time passed by and I still couldn’t muster the motivation to do any filming and spent in excess of 50 hours coding a new website in a matter of days, something I haven’t done in quite a while and became engrossed in doing so. Mainly to get away from doing something that I have recently discovered I absolutely detest, but also because it has strong ties with both units, which I don’t see as a waste of time. To summarise, I would much rather be doing the things I am interested in than making a film about the things I am interested in. In the short film I finally managed to produce I was trying to communicate the little things that go on between the moments the pencil is physically on the page while drawing an image and the emotions that flow throughout. All be it, it would seem frustration has become a reoccurrence during recent workings. Strangely juxtaposed against the seemingly tranquil nature of the subject. Which in this case is a Southern Humpback Whale.

I chose not to break any of the Dogme ‘95 rules. Having researched them, they appear to have come about through wanting to create something pure. Which is something I feel I can relate to, and wanted to reflect this in the work. I also thought that taking the Dogme ’95 rules to their extremities would aid me in a disciplined and patient approach.

The Western Black Rhino

Throughout the first and second years I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do a lot of detailed drawings as I felt the need to be more experimental, in regards to becoming accustomed with other mediums. This helped to identify other areas that I could branch out into such as typography and photography. So once we began to refine our practice, I felt as though being able to do detailed drawing is something that I should persevere with. The aim of drawing this rhinoceros was to raise awareness because the Western Black Rhinoceros is now extinct. All be it, one drawing from a photograph is not going to change much. But with the addition of the caption and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s striking nature, it helps to add more meaning to the image and it aids in altering the images perception. The simple addition of words delivers a sincere message and transforms the image and adds function to an attractive drawing.

The Western Black Rhino declared extinct.

This image was drawn from a photograph. The last sighting of this species was in Cameroon pre 2006.

Zombie Walk

When deciding what to draw after the Rhinoceros, it was around Halloween and I heard there was going to be a Zombie walk from Marble Arch in London. So I got my pencil out and I had a pretty good idea of what angle I wanted to draw a face from. I got google images open and started scouring the page for the perfect portrait to draw from, when I came across Clint Eastwood, his expression and deteriorated look was perfect. I sketched him out and then began to add the ‘zombification’ I got open some images of the muscles in the face and neck to try and expose some muscles in the neck. I also looked at skulls and the jaw in particular as I wanted the side of the mouth to look as though it was torn open. I had to make sure the teeth lined up with the rest of the face, after my first attempt without references looked very out of place and the perspective was wrong. I also exaggerated features such as the cheekbones and how far the eyebrows protrude, in order to try and make the eyes look sunken. I wanted to try and experiment with the combination of flat vectored graphics and detailed hand drawn imagery. I was hoping the contrast would work well, but so far it hasn’t really worked that great I don’t think. I would quite like the image with the moon to be animated, I looked into using After Effects but I haven’t had the time to explore beyond the basics. I would like to turn the image into a GIF and have some clouds or mist passing across the front of the

moon on repeat.

CRAWL OF THE

DEAD

Zombie Walk

Saturday 8th October 2011 - 13:00hrs From Marble Arch to Leicester Square

www.crawlofthedead.com

Photographic Compilation As the year has progressed It has become increasingly noticeable that I have not yet externalised my work enough. I missed out on getting my work exhibited at the rag factory last semester due to changing idea midway through the ‘LAB’ project. Seeing as though I have taken a giant step towards photography year on year, I figured I should put together a small publication from each photographic project I have embarked upon. I intend to use this as a platform from which to strive towards securing a solo exhibition in the near future. The zine is extremely edited down and the photographs are extremely small which is very disappointing. If It wasn’t overly expensive I would like to print the zine out in one long strip with my Holga 135 panoramic on one side and the whole zine on the other. I would use a concertina fold so that the zine would still operate and function as a zine on one side but once the viewer has finished with it, they can turn it over and place it upon their wall as an attractive and unusual poster.

S T E V EN DEMEZA

MATCHBOX PINHOLE

BOOK CAM Double exposure, created by exposing 2 different photographs for half of their desired exposure times.

Developer painted onto exposed photographic paper.

H O LG A PINHOLE

WOODEN PINHOLE

Epsom, Surrey, Hook Road, Multi-Storey Car Park

ROSES TIN PANOCAM

Experiment 1, all 6 pinholes used. Exposures times: 6seconds to 24seconds.

Experiment 2, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 18seconds.

Experiment 3, pinholes 1, 3 and 5 used. Exposure times: 12seconds to 16seconds.

Painted developer experiment. Looked too obscure for what I was hoping to achieve.

There is a pull-out poster on how to create your own matchbox pinhole camera in the centre of the zine

Full frame print. Epsom, Surrey, Temple Road

Obscurity Photographic Experimentation

This camera is one of the easiest film cameras to construct by yourself. By going through the process of making a matchbox pinhole camera you learn about the very basics of photography and the way that light travels. The outcomes that are achieved are abstract and provocative. Due to the proximity of the film to the pinhole the images will inherit a vignetted effect. This camera and these images are the first time I had ever experimented with pinhole photography and creating my own cameras. This project served as the perfect platform to explore photography from. I personally found the idea of

creating your own cameras as something beyond my own capability. This project has explicitly been the seed from which all of my work has grown. Whether you enjoy making things, finding out how things work or have an interest in photography I would encourage you to try out the construction and use of a matchbox pinhole camera.

Can a Camera be a Book?

Homely Nostalgia

This project explored the parameters which define a book. I looked at form, content, purpose and usage. To what extent can a book on a subject become the subject? The book consists of a felt casing with a zip attached and a shutter mechanism on the cover with a pinhole beneath it. The contents of the book are the photographic results of experimental development techniques and prints. The negatives that were used in the experiments came from a matchbox pinhole camera from an earlier project. The book cam project seemed like the ideal container to externalise the work I had

All the images taken with this camera are located in the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. The images feature Mill Pond, a place I used to fish in my school years and Lakenheath warren. With these images I tried to focus on form and texture. I tried to take images around the pond in a panorama that I could later scan in and stitch together with the aid of photoshop. Both of which came out really well. I really enjoy the atmospheric nature that a pinhole camera portrays and is why I prefer its usage over the typical DSLR. Another reason why I prefer not to use a DSLR for this type of photography is because of how

done previously while giving me the opportunity to be experimental in the darkroom.

Solarisation experiment, created by exposing the photo paper to bright light while it is in the developing tray.

Falsely ages photograph, placed in developer for 1minute, briefly put in stop and then left in bright light for 20minutes before fixing.

detached it feels when compared to the primitive nature of the pinhole camera, which gives the user a greater sense of involvement.

Scrupulous Construction This wooden camera has been the most time consuming project that I have embarked upon. The design and construction is all of my own work. The most problematic part of the construction was getting it all glued together. I had planned to use a black mastic type glue in order to try and keep it light tight. But it didn’t stick together very well at all. I used normal wood glue and the back panels had to be reglued as they slipped while under pressure. I’m relatively happy with the quality of

ZINE Printed zine photographs

the photographs and they’re a little wider than typical photographs which makes it difficult to get them developed in high street stores. The only light leak the camera has is the area where the negative feeds through to be exposed. Overall I would say this is one of the more successful and thorough projects. Epsom, Surrey, Hook Road, Railway Bridge

This is the latest experiment that is still in progress. The main idea behind this camera is to get a 360° panoramic photograph that is slightly distorted where the pinholes provide juxtaposed views over the edges of one another. The problem with these photographs are down to a light leak in the darkroom and began exposing my photographs before I got the paper into the

camera. The banding on the images is where I was measuring the paper up to cut up and wrap around the center container. This camera is the first prototype and is using photographic paper until all the problems have been ironed out. The next step to be taken is to move on from this camera and develop a rotational panoramic camera.

Experiment 5, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 40seconds.

Experiment 4, all 6 pinholes used. Exposure time: 24seconds.

sdemeza@ucreative.ac.uk

ZINE Photos of zine on display

FACES Day Project

This is a day project that I initiated in my student accomodation. We placed all of our faces on a scanner and began experimenting. The initial idea was to have a creative series of portraits to place on the wall. Although it may change and get externalised via screen prints or other mediums.

Website

Having had a good level of understanding of how to code I have started to create a website after attending the beginner and intermediate HTML5 / CSS3 workshops. Any problems I had could be easily be sorted out using any one of the extensive arrays of online resources available. I believe I have made a fairly decent start with 270 lines of CSS code and several web pages. Which in total took approximately 50 or more hours so far. Although I’m currently looking to change the site to have the majority of information accessible on the front page via sliding panels to make it more interactive. I also want to make the website more dynamic by changing set pixel dimensions to percentages to accommodate different screens while using all of the same code which would contain ‘hooks’ to detect the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. I still have a lot to learn in regards to web display and making my coding lighter, cleaner and more intricate.

BIBLIOGRAPHY All websites, books, exhibits

EVALUATION Random babblings

FMP PROPOSAL Proposal