Monday, February 11, 2008

Week 3: Rayograms


This week we started to work with processing film! After mixing the processor and fixer (which took about 15 minutes longer than anything should take to dissolve in hot water) we watched some projects of students past. I was fascinated to see what our finished products might look like passing at 24 fps. We've only been able to look at our film laying on paper or scanning over a light bulb. Amanda and I are hoping to employ most of the film manipulations to each of the elements rather than simply assigning one to another (i.e. bleach to air, paint to water). However, this has proved to be a more daunting task than we had anticipated.

After watching what our films may look like, we went back into the darkroom where the chemicals had been cooling off. This was our chance to make our first rayograms and we chomped at the bit to find the coolest patterns. The room was pitch black except for two small red bulbs which posed a difficult time for the entire group who attempted to crowd their 9 feet of film around the tiny bulbs. Amanda and I thought that we were being clever by sticking one end towards the light and jutting out to empty space. We soon discovered that the reason that everyone was crowding the lights was because visibility ended about four feet away which meant that my end of the film wasn't visible at all. Since the rayogram process requires that you meticulously place objects over the film in certain patterns and then expose the film to light, it is crucial to being able to see what you're doing. I ended up having to run my fingers up and down the sides of the film to make sure that the objects were lined up properly. After we exposed the film we saw that the objects weren't lined up but that it actually made a much better image. I am really excited to try to rayogram again.

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