Back to print making

Swimming in Blue

The above image is a cyanotype print of a film negative that was taken months ago. The print was developed in March for the Getty Master class on alternative processes which is set to debut on the walls of the Gett Museum on April 27th during College Night.  

I'm no stranger to photographic print making. I've cut my teeth with analog film and have a great deal of experience inside the darkroom working on traditional print making. It's been a long time since I've set foot inside a darkroom but when I was offered to join the class, I jumped at the chance.  

Print making for me is one of the things a photographer can consider him/herself an artist. Photography can take years to fine tune and master. I'm still learning something new everytime so I'm far from master but fine tuning I am, but to be able to go inside a darkroom, spend time and watch your photographs go from negatives to a tangible work of art in the form of a print is a very rewarding experience.  

For this class, we (the photographers) are supposed to develop prints of our photographs in the form of an alternative photographic process and there are many of them. As a class, we all did cyanotypes as a tester. The cyanotype process is probably the easiest of the alternative processes. You can buy a kit for dirt cheap at a photography store and you don't need a darkroom to develop your prints which is great because not many have access to a darkroom nor would have the financial means to pay for a darkroom rental per hour. 

Although fairly easy to produce, I find that cyanotypes are limited in what can work with the process because the resulting print is so one tone heavy which is blue (in most instances) . Because of its limits, I needed to decide on a process that better fits my style and what I want to convey to the viewers of my work.

I've always envied painters. I can't paint, nor can I draw for shit. The best I can do are stick figures. There is one process that will allow me to reproduce a soft and painterly work while still retaining elements of photography and the process that allows for that is gum printing. 

I have only worked on gum printing once in my life and that was before I had any experience in print making so suffice to say, my first gum print was horrible to put it nicely. Coming into this class with, now with print making experience, I feel comfortable and confident enough that my prints will be much better than my first gum print. Hopefully.  

As you read this, I have started on my first gum print as a test. See what mistakes I will make and correct them for my future and final prints. I have treated my papers and will lay down my first emulsion layer.  

My time to work on these prints before the final submission date is quickly nearing but I have a couple of photographs ready to work on and am fairly sure I can complete the prints in time. I will provide an update to my test print once I'm finished.

To artistry and being a keeper of the light.

Ketchup

It's always the case that when a new semester starts, I start falling back on entries and updates to my website and blog. It's something that I'm used to but I'm not fond of. That scares me a little bit. 

A couple of entries ago I posted about my work with the Getty Master class inspired by the work of Japanese photographer Mikiko Hara. Well the opening reception was weeks ago and the exhibition is still up and running. There are a few days left (I believe a week) to catch it before the photos go down so if you want to catch it, you have until March 6 to see my work, as well as my colleagues, at The Japan Foundation LA. 

It was rather nice seeing my work being hung on a wall other than mine or a friend's. There's that feeling of validation and pride, however big or small, in seeing your work in more established walls and them being seen by people you don't know. I was the only one there that specifically shot a 1x1 ratio using a 6x6 medium format film camera (like Mikiko does) and the only one who submitted a black and white photo to which I received a number of compliments for. That was a lovely experience. I think our contingent have the best photos in that exhibit. 

I'm thankful and honored to be a part of this class and exhibit. I put in some hard work shooting on film. I had many misses but for the ones that did work, they worked out spectacularly. With that said, I'm really excited to tell you that I will be a part of the next Getty Master Class and this one is going to be much bigger and exciting. For starters, it's going to focus on alternative processes which is great because it's pretty much my territory. Having worked in an actual darkroom wet lab, having that experience, and printing in a number of processes, I'm well equipped to take on this project. Secondly, the venue the photos will be displayed in is HUGE. As in the Getty museum! How awesome is that? The Getty rarely, if ever, showcase student work and to be able to have this chance and say that my work has hung on the walls of The Getty?! Once in a lifetime. However I am working hard to get more chances to have my works on major walls in the future. Only time will tell. 

Ideas are being conjured. Proverbial chess pieces are being placed. I can't wait to start work on this project. Updates will surely be made and will come when they come. 

As far as new content being added to my site, I have a few unpublished projects on the back burner (read: uploaded) but I haven't made them public yet as they're not ready. I also have some new multimedia to upload and they will be added in the next couple of days when I have downtime from the chaos that is the newsroom. 

-Q

Downtown protest for Mike Brown

Emotions ran high between police and protesters during a rally in support of Mike Brown. LAPD officers created a bottleneck by blocking protesters with nowhere to exit. Soon after being blocked, the LAPD gave the protesters a four minute warning to disperse or risk being arrested for unlawful assembly. Wednesday Nov. 26, 2014. Los Angeles, Calif.

Hi everyone, I've updated my Journalism gallery with some new photos from the recent protest/rally for Mike Brown in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday Nov. 26. It was a really gnarly experience and I've documented a lot of protests in the past but I have never been close to being arrested as I was on this night.

I've learned many things from this protest with regards to covering it as a journalist. One of the things I've learned is that if you're persistent, courteous and professional to the police, they will open up doors for you as far as access even though your college press pass doesn't hold as much weight in their eyes as say, an AP press pass. Also, talking to the many photographers and reporters that night from a number of media outlets like the LA Times, AP, AFP, Daily News etc. was awesome. They were open to our questions regarding getting your foot through that journalism door. Another thing I've learned is that covering (spot) news thrills me and it's what I want to do.

There'll be a better detailed document of my experience along with the other Roundup News reporters/photographers that were with me on this night as I plan to do a Behind The Print edition of our coverage so I will post that once it's completed.

-Q

New section and an update on the Getty Master Class

Hey everyone, I've added a new section to my website under Projects -> A Polaroid World 

It's a section of instant film photos and although all of the photos on there are Fuji instant film, it's not technically Polaroid but eventually I'll start adding some Impossible Project work to that project gallery.

In other news, I've received word regarding the Getty Master Class inspired by the photographic work of Japanese photographer Mikiko Hara. Apparently the show will happen around January/February of 2015 at the Japanese American National Museum which is across the street from LACMA and the show would be entitled "Floating after Mikiko" or something along those lines so I'm excited about that. The cut off date where judges would be voting on our photos is December so I have until the end of this month to complete whatever photography I intend to submit for consideration. I have new rolls of film that have been developed coming in so as soon as my lab gives me the results, I'll make sure to post them.

-Q

Thoughts: Mikiko Hara and the Getty Master Class

I've spent my past two weekends working on these photos for the Getty Master Class inspired by the works of Japanese photographer Mikiko Hara as noted by my last entry. I've gone through 4 rolls of film already and working on my next 2 rolls this weekend. My advisors will be meeting with representatives from the museum so I, along with my fellow colleagues, should be getting more news in the next coming days and I'll be able to detail some more stuff in another update. 

One of my favorite styles of photography has always been street photography. I loved the chaos of it all. Having no control of the situation and or (arguably) the subject. The simple act of documenting (city) life is what has lead to me in joining Los Angeles Pierce College's newspaper publication and seeking a career in photojournalism. It was only natural for me. Other than simply documenting, there was no other reason for me do go out and shoot some street work; that when I do go, I went out with little purpose. 

Having dedicated much of my free time to produce work for this class made me reconsider my approach to street photography. I used to go out and shoot whatever caught my eye at that very moment but I find myself waiting for my shot more now. Stalking my subjects and waiting for that peak and decisive moment even though I'm trying to emulate Mikiko by not looking through my viewfinder. Working with and on film has made me more patient and careful how I shoot off my frames. I had the same rational with my digital work because I cut my teeth in film first but I no longer feel pressured or hurried to get a photo that's forced. 

With some of the photos that I've taken for this class, I'm quite pleased at the results I'm getting. How the photographs seem to flow more; that everything works.  

I turned in two more rolls to my lab today and I can't wait to see the results from those. They're black and white this time. Different than Mikiko as she works on color negative so it'll be interesting. I also got my hands on some new color negative film and I plan on going out again this weekend to shoot more for the class with this film.  

Mikiko Hara

As part of the Getty Master Class, students are supposed to produce photographs inspired by the works of Japanese photographer Mikiko Hara who currently has her work on display at the Getty as a part of the In Focus: Tokyo exhibit. 

Hara's approach to street photography is very simple. She shoots from the hip, skipping the process of framing her photographs by looking through the viewfinder of her camera. During the initial class meeting, it was reasonable to photograph in this style. She shoots on a vintage Zeiss Ikon 6x6 medium format camera and the viewfinder on that camera is a basic square, not much different than the sight of a gun just in square format. Really rudimentary with little function as parallax is a big problem with such cameras. Shooting from the hip is just a natural approach and she pre-focuses the photo, or rather, she knows the focal length prior to shooting her subject.

I decided to approach this project the same way so I'm shooting film on a Mamiya which is much newer than the camera that Hara uses but the functions are the same. I pre-focused the camera to about 3-5 feet away which I think is a good focal length to capture a great photo. It seems easy in concept but it's much harder in practice. Hara has shot more photos in this style than I have and if I remember correctly, she'll go through multiple rolls of film and her success rate is very low as she has said. I've shot in this style plenty of times before and for this, I've gone through one roll of 220 film (which is a bigger roll of 120) so of the 24 photos that I'm able to take, I think only 6 came out in focus and the most was heavily out of focus. I was disappointed after I received the roll because I thought more of the photos would be in focus since I pre-focused but apparently that wasn't the case.

Out of focus photo shot at the Universal City Redline station

Out of focus people jogging during the Walk for Life event in Northridge.

As you can see from the two images, when I started through the first couple of frames, the photos are REALLY out of focus. If these images were more in focus, I'd have more to work with as far as submitting work for the Master Class. Speaking of which, students that are a part of this class will have the chance to have their photographs on display. Still don't know when the deadline for submissions are as of this entry.

A man attending an art festival at Gladys Park in Skid Row.

As the day progressed, I became more used to shooting from the hip and the photos were more focused than the ones I started the day with. I'd post more in focus photos but I don't want to give away what I may be submitting.

Although Mikiko's photos are shot on color negative film, I have a new roll of black and white in the camera so I'll probably go forward with the next set of photos for the class in black and white so that'd be interesting to see. For the next couple of weekends until I find out the deadline, I plan on dedicating my free time to producing more content for this project so I'm really excited to see what I'm capable of producing.

 

-Q

Getty Master Class

A couple of weeks ago I attended at lecture at the Getty museum to become a part of its Master Class program. I'm not all too sure what the class or program is about but from what I do know, several colleges, some community and some university, take part in this program and of those schools, a couple of photographers from those schools are invited to become representatives of said school and submit work that is inspired by whatever theme or photographer is being showcased. 

Last semester, Pierce College and some of its students were a part of the architectural program within the class. I was not a part of that one but their work went on display at both the Getty and the Museum of Architecture + Design. 

This time around, I was invited to take part in the program and we are to submit photographs inspired by the work of Japanese street photographer Mikiko Hara. I won't go into detail as to what kind of style she produces her street work as I'll go into that in my next entry and if you're not lazy to do so, you're probably already Googling her work. 

Anyway, I submitted a roll of film based off her style and I'm quite excited to see what I've shot. The only thing I will say is that her style of shooting isn't text book. A lot of it is from the hip but not necessarily from that region alone.  

I'm expecting less than stellar shots with this roll. I'll probably be disappointed by them but I have until "sometime by the end of the semester" before I have to turn something in as one advisor told me so I have time to get better at it.  

I'm expecting the lab to hand over my photos on Monday so when I get those, I'll post some of photos with more detail on Mikiko, my thoughts on the class and the process in which I'm going about it all.  

 -Q