Primary ideas

My primary thoughts for this body of work are to push and progress with my methodology to become even more technically proficient. I intend on doing this by continuing with the techniques of tilt and shift, like with my previous project for the documentary elective last year. But there shall be various changes to the work and methodology from this work of old.

Firstly I wish to change the actual subject matter that I will photograph. So instead of photographing inanimate details within the city, I wish to now change my focus onto the people who live within the city. But not only will the subject matter differ, but also my approach and viewpoints of my new focal points. I now wish to detach myself from my chosen subject and photograph in a non personal way and photograph from a distance and being elevated. This change of perspective shall give my images a totally new look. The effect this gives in conjunction with my tilt and shift techniques are that the scene photographed is portrayed as being minaturesque. This look and aesthetic is hard to describe so I shall include photographs which demonstrative this affect.

Secondly I wish to change my film format, I still wish to stick to large format as this is essential to create the desired tilt and shift affect. As I shall use the cameras moveable plates to move the plane of focus for my images. I now wish to progress from 5x4 sheet film to 10x8 as my images shall now yield even more detail, and also purely for the fact that I have never photographed using this size of film, essentially giving me a broader range of formats used, thus increasing my technical abilities. This desired affect is available in other ways, such as specialised lenses for SLR cameras but these are very expensive and I don’t have the money to buy one and also I don’t have access to one, but I would rather stick to analogue techniques as I personally prefer this and find the whole process more rewarding. This technique is also achievable via digital postproduction, but as I have just mention I prefer photographing with film.

Thirdly I wish to change the type of film that I use. So I wish to change from using unconventional x-ray film (like with my previous tilt and shift work) back to conventional sheet film. I wish to do so because I shall now be able to use a finer grain film, as the previous film was rated at ISO 36, where as I have researched about various films and the company Adox produce a film which is rated at an ISO 25. This combined with an increase of film size shall allow me to create images with amazing detail. this change of film type being used will slow down my workflow somewhat as I won’t be able to simply develop the sheet film in the trays of paper developer (like with the x-ray film, giving a processing time of approximately 30-40 seconds) but what this does enable me to do is to use the deep tanks available at the universities darkroom. These I have never used before so again this allows me to deepen my knowledge of darkroom techniques and makes me more technically proficient. Another problem with this change of film is the cost. Sheet film of this size can be very expensive, especially for conventional films made by leading brands. But these prices do differ greatly between brands, another reason for using the Adox product as for the same price as a box of Ilford film I get fifty sheets instead of twenty five.