Experimental Photography

In line with this brief we are panning on eventually entering the Ilford student photography competition 2013/14 Pride and Prejudice. The brief is to produce a photograph that embodies the words or word Pride and/or Prejudice and to up the sales of Ilford stock.

This is linked to our summer task where we were given 16 words to create images for, unfortunately neither Pride nor Prejudice were in this list so we couldn't get a head start on this task.

In my experimental photography work I intend to explore distorting images by breaking conventions of line, shape and form.  I will link to this to the competition ‘Pride and Prejudice’ where I will be using the word ‘prejudice’ as my anchor.

To look upon a distorted image, you may believe that the image is damaged or broken.  This is likely because as a photographer or viewer you are generally shown images that: follow the traditional rules of composition, are sharp, well lit, and aim to make the subject look attractive. This is how I first viewed these types of images; I was somewhat prejudiced in my opinion of what was a ‘good’ photograph. The truth is that once you look at the techniques used, or the ways in which these distortions occurred and the stories behind them, they can turn out to be quite interesting.

For example, in the case of photographer Melanie Wilhide: 

Her work “To Adrian Rodriguez, with Love” is dedicated to the man who burgled her home taking various items including her computer. Her computer was later recovered by the police after he was pulled over for a separate offense, and the computer was on the back seat. Melanie got her computer back, but the hard drive had been wiped clean. She sent it off to a data recovery team who attempted to recover the erased images, only to find her digital photographs corrupted.  
This is because when files are deleted, even from the  ‘recycle bin’, they remain on the computer but are flagged as an available space to be filled if necessary. As a result some of these files had been partly overwritten and became corrupt files.
Instead of deleting the images, she considered these corrupted files and realized that they were valuable even in this state. She refined them and made additional pieces by attempting to recreate the corruption of the recovered files.

Another photographer  of notable interest is Arthur Fellig a.k.a.’ WeeGee’, well known for his street photography, his nickname arose as he managed to know where, and arrive at, crime scenes to photograph them - sometimes even before the police. This ability can be attributed to the fact that he had a police radio in his car, but it gained him the nickname 'WeeGee' (derived from Ouija Board – a game used by mediums to ‘receive messages from the dead’).

Quote from this website explains his techiniques: http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/weegee18.html

 Weegee began to produce a series of distorted photographs, based on the lens he had devised for his 1948 film Weegee's New York, and from his experiments begun in the Acme darkrooms.

There were three basic methods Weegee used to create these distortions. Weegee's first experiments were made by placing a textured or curved glass or other translucent material between the enlarger lends and the photographic paper. This effect would alter the image of the negative to varying degrees depending on the density pattern, or texture of the material he used. He also tried manipulating or mutilating copy negatives by placing them in boiling water, or melting them with an open flame. The third method he employed involved making multiple exposures from the same or various negatives. Given his darkroom talent, he sometimes combined these techniques. Weegee later added a system by which he would affix a kaleidoscope to the end of the camera lens, or use it to replace the camera lens, letting the refractive designs multiply what the camera would have recorded as a single image. From this period until his death, Weegee concentrated on what he alternately called his "distortions," "caricatures," "creative photography," or most often, his "art."

WeeGee’s New York: http://vimeo.com/68484321 (having watched the video I can’t really see any evidence of this lens being used, this video may be just sections of the film edited together, nevertheless it is a good watch.)

Here are some of his distortions:

I like these surrealistic images, and they fit with my ideas of breaking form and shape.

These images of Marylin Monroe caught my attention, these distortions were in the 50's/60's; and, although not an attractive technique, it has come back around in the 21st century with various 'apps' for smart phones and computers offering a range of novelty distortions in the same style. (the top one is NOT a distortion)

I will post my experiments and further research on separate posts.

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