Two Frame Films
A video to help our understanding:
Eisenstein was a Soviet filmmaker who came up with Montage Theory, which has helped to shape film and the way we sequence images. Montage theory is the theory that by placing two contrasting or conflicting photographs together, you elicit an emotional or intellectual response from the viewer, that would be different to the response from only one of the photos. These are called the Thesis and the Anti-thesis, which together create the Synthesis .He came up with 5 categories of Montage, which consists of Metric montage, Rhythmic montage, Tonal montage, Over-tonal montage, and Intellectual montage . These all refer to different types of ways to edit the short sequence of films into one. The way in which certain photographs are sequenced helps to shape their meaning and create a narrative. Montage theory supports the use of diptychs, which uses a thesis and an antithesis to create a synthesis, thereby creating a mood, tone and sense of movement captured by these two frames of stills.
Photobooks Of Diptychs
Same Page
by Tj Tambellini and Lark Foord
This is a collaboration by two photographers, one who prefers to shoot commercial style pictures and the other who favours residential photos. They went on a walk together around an area and photographed the same things in their own ways. The shots were placed next to each other as a diptych. These photographs are quite jarring next to each other, because lots of the time it's hard to realise that they are the same objects, and this effect emphasises the sense of movement, and supports the soviet montage theory, because they take two different forms of one object, each conveying a different emotional response, and place them together, creating a harmonised response.
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Two and Two
by John Mclean
In this photo book, John Mclean takes two pictures of the object, either from different angles or after something has happened, for example something moving. These two slightly different images were placed together, and these diptychs convey a sense of motion, as if we are going on a journey with him. They also convey a sense of time passing. These images are intriguing as every movement of the object seems intentional, in the sense that they almost look as though the photographer had a choice as to how they were moved. The relationship between the pages and the images intricately wound together, as the order of the movements is integral in order to grasp the motion of the book.
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Noir by Martine Stig
“‘Noir’ throws me toward a gap. The gap between photographs. Each spread of Martine Stig’s book is arranged in a 2 x 2 grid divided by clear white lines. A grid has one to four images of hard-lit Amsterdam city scenes. A viewer turns a page and sees —as distinctly as a picture—the blank spots. The connections between images, normally not visible to a viewer, are visualised here as white blocks. The spaces between grow into the spaces around. What are these ruptures in the photo sequence? Do they divide photographs or bring them together? Do they exist simply to be jumped over, or are they entities on their own? What, then, is the mechanism that allows us to bridge the gaps between images?”
— Daria Tuminas, excerpt of ‘Eye + Water =’, a text written alongside the publication ‘Noir’.
Noir by Martine Stig has a quote on the spine that reads “The essence of cinema does not lie in the images, but in the relation between the images.” This quote seems to dictate the way in which we are supposed to read the book, with each page adding more, until we grasp the full emotion that is conveyed by placing the images in that certain position. This dictation directly draws from Montage theory, yet it complicates this, by using four photographs combined, and dividing the sequence up into a number of pages. Through this, not just one set of reactions is conveyed, but multiple, as the end synthesis is staggered rather than immediately unveiled to the audience.
My Responses
In order to make our first diptychs, we were all made to write an instruction on piece of paper explaining what to photograph. We then compiled these into a list of fourteen instructions, and used a random number generator to pick two of the instructions which we then used to take photographs and make our diptych. My instructions were to take a picture of an orange on a black background, and shadows.
Due to lack of time and equipment, we were allowed to find a picture of an orange online, rather than taking one. In order to take this photo of the shadows, I went into the studio and used a red light which I shone onto a piece of equipment, which I am unsure what it is, but it created some nice tonal shadows which where the main focus of the image.
Due to lack of time and equipment, we were allowed to find a picture of an orange online, rather than taking one. In order to take this photo of the shadows, I went into the studio and used a red light which I shone onto a piece of equipment, which I am unsure what it is, but it created some nice tonal shadows which where the main focus of the image.
This diptych is made using photoshop. To do this...
First of all, I got both of my images on to photoshop.
Next, took my first image and changed the canvas size from 100% to 205% and made the canvas black, in order to leave enough space for my other image to go next to it and to leave a gap in between the two, which makes it look like a two frame image. I also changed the position of the first photograph from the middle to the side. I then copied the other photograph onto the canvas and placed it on the other side of the canvas, leaving a gap between the two photographs.
Next, took my first image and changed the canvas size from 100% to 205% and made the canvas black, in order to leave enough space for my other image to go next to it and to leave a gap in between the two, which makes it look like a two frame image. I also changed the position of the first photograph from the middle to the side. I then copied the other photograph onto the canvas and placed it on the other side of the canvas, leaving a gap between the two photographs.
More digital diptychs made on my phone using Picsart
In order to do this, I selected six random photos then put them together to create a certain emotion. My personal favourite is the last diptych on the row, because I personally grasp a sense of calamity and tranquility, through the colour combination and the notion of movement which comes across strongly in each photograph. However, I have decided to make some more diptychs, as these are too predictable- I had too much choice in deciding the order and combination of each photograph. These diptychs relied purely on selection, which is why they relate directly to threshold concept number four, which states that " Photography is an art of selection rather than invention"
These diptychs use photographs selected from my camera roll, and rather that purposefully selecting and making links between different pictures, I simply took ones that were near each other in, taken at similar time periods, and placed them together. These help to establish
Here, I used an app which acts like a half-frame camera, and therefore relies entirely upon chance. I decided to take pictures of people I saw outside my window. By doing this, I was staying in place and not controlling the photos I took; all I was doing was taking the picture, the rest was decided for me. This uses threshold concept number six, which states that “Photographs rely on chance, more or less” and threshold concept number 4, which states that “photography is an art of selection rather than invention” because rather than finding my own subject, I used what I could select from my surroundings.
I made some diptychs using some negatives of images that I took previously on my film camera. To create this I placed my images on the white screen of my computer, using the computer as a back light in order to have the light dispersed evenly. I then used an app I have which inverts the colour to turn a negative into a positive, and took a photo of two of the pictures on the roll of film that were next to each other. I like this way of creating a diptych because it’s randomly chosen and and therefore it follows threshold concept number six, which states that "Photographs rely on chance, more or less.". Also because they’re taken on a film camera they have a similar colour scheme.
The History of the Photobook
Anna Atkins...
Cyanotypes of British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) is considered to be the very first photo-book. It is a scientific book documenting British algae through the medium of cyanotypes, an early type of camera-less photography, in which a piece of paper is coated with a light sensitive solution, and dried in a dark room. The paper is the placed in the light, with an object placed on top of it. The places where the light hit the paper turn blue, and the places where the object covered the paper stayed white. The prints made from this process are incredibly detailed and are also easy to mass produce and replicate.Prior to this technique, art would have been the most commonly used method of documenting. However due to the indexicality of photographs, it is a seemingly more accurate way of documenting something reliably because the photographs have a direct relation to the subject, which differs from drawing or painting where the image created is simply an interpretation, which will differ from artist to artist.
Anna Atkins didn't sell her book, she simply made 20 copies and gave them to her friends and fellow botanists. I think that she made a book because its a compact collection of photographs that can be easily studied, rather than having to sift through stacks of images. Her book was made for scientific purposes, to be studied, to be regularly consulted, as a form of identification. This means a book is the most ideal form because it has a natural order to it, in the way that the pages are sequenced.
Anna Atkins didn't sell her book, she simply made 20 copies and gave them to her friends and fellow botanists. I think that she made a book because its a compact collection of photographs that can be easily studied, rather than having to sift through stacks of images. Her book was made for scientific purposes, to be studied, to be regularly consulted, as a form of identification. This means a book is the most ideal form because it has a natural order to it, in the way that the pages are sequenced.
Henry Fox-Talbot...
Pencil Of Nature by Henry Fox-Talbot (1844) is the culmination of 11 years worth of experimentation, which began with his invention of the Calotype. The calotype was an early type of photography, and the technique uses paper coated with silver chloride is exposed to light in a camera obscura.
This book, The Pencil of Nature, is different to Anna Atkins, because it was produced commercially, printed in the thousands and sold rather than produced for the purpose of scientific research.
This book, The Pencil of Nature, is different to Anna Atkins, because it was produced commercially, printed in the thousands and sold rather than produced for the purpose of scientific research.
Walker Evans
Walker Evans' book entitled "American photographs" was published in 1938, as America recovered from the devestation of the Great Depression. It documents America as it actually appeared to him through the camera lens, rather than to try and sell it as the 'American Dream'. Walker Evans is interested in irony, which becomes apparent through his use of juxtaposition in his photographs. This book acted as the prototype for street photography, as it was one of the first to have an intrinsic focus on its subjects.
Zines
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A brief history of zines:
Zines originated in the 1930s, used by sci-fi fans to create fan zines. Only a small amount of copies were produced, and they were a cheap way of displaying ones artistic talent or writing skills rather than published for a profit. In the 1950s and 60s, they provided a way for publicising underground press, away from the influence of mainstream culture. They also started to be used in the art communities in the 1960s and 70s, with Edward Ruscha's "Twentysix Gasoline Stations" being one of the first artist zines. Originally sold for $3.50, it can now be found online for around £3000. These zines were a way of publishing work in small circles. They are used in art to convey a small idea, that doesn't have much substance. In the 1970s, the DIY punk movement took over and started producing zines, with the purpose of providing content that could be anything, political or not. The zines became a popularised way of sharing this content because they were easy and cheap to produce using photocopiers. |
Stryker
By Lewis Bush
This book by Lewis Bush is full of found photos. The negatives were hole punched, in order to make them unusable, as the director who commissioned them didn't want to use them, and there fore made them unusable by supposedly 'destroying' them. This idea is well executed, especially through the front page, which contains a hole cutout, which goes through to a black page with the title, "Stryker" written in white. This concept ties in well with the focal point of the book.
Lewis Bush workshop
Lewis Bush has made several photobooks and zines, and recently he came in to give us a workshop on his craft. The main book he focused on was Metropole. This is a book filled with pictures of double exposed black and white shots of the new skyscrapers appearing all over the city. He explained to us how he got inspiration from watching old dystopian films such as "Metropolis", which features many shots of large, grim buildings, not dissimilar to ones that are appearing in London now. His book started from a place of annoyance, one that many people in London share and have expressed similar views. |
Lewis Bush also directed an activity for us to do: In teams of four, we were given four cards, each saying a different amount of money, time, the audience, and the number of copies ( for example, one thousand pounds, three months, teenagers, 500 copies ). The task was to plan how we would make a book using those provisions and guidelines, including the subject matter of the book and how many pages it would be. The purpose of this was to get us accustomed with the technicalities behind actually producing a book with the ability to sell it, and direct it at a specific age group. This was useful because it applies directly to our work, and can help us with future prospects. It proved difficult due to limited amount of time and money , and large numbers of pages per book. It was hard to configure a plan which enabled each aspect that we were given, because there were such limits placed upon us.
Nan Goldin
The Ballad Of sexual Dependency
This book by Nan Goldin is one of my favourite photography books, and I have decided to use this as inspiration for my photo book. The introduction of this book is integral to understanding the book, and how the pictures where meant to be seen, it puts everything into context. This book is extremely intriguing due to its form: the original set of images were a slide show which was shown in all the places Goldin visited, as a way to get money. Its re-print as a book is odd because we are therefore not seeing these photos in the context or form of which they were destined for. This is why the introduction is especially important because its sets up a prior knowledge of the type of life Nan Goldin was living, and provides the onlooker with the perspective intended to grasp the ideology and intimacy of this book.
The photos are a record, a diary, that captures Goldin's New York, her experiences with drug use, her relationships and struggles with intimacy, and everything around and in-between. This book is significant within the era because many of the people she was photographing were affected by the AIDs epidemic, and subsequently are now dead.
The photos are a record, a diary, that captures Goldin's New York, her experiences with drug use, her relationships and struggles with intimacy, and everything around and in-between. This book is significant within the era because many of the people she was photographing were affected by the AIDs epidemic, and subsequently are now dead.
“These pictures may be an invitation to my world, but they were taken so that I could see the people in them. I sometimes don't know how I feel about someone until I take his or her picture. I don't select people in order to photograph them; I photograph directly from my life. These pictures come out of relationships, not observation.”
- Nan Goldin, The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency
The idea of my book is research. My aim is to find out about my family and other peoples families. I also want to explore what makes people family, is it blood or relationships, or can it be whatever you want it to be. The sociology of personal life is a section of sociology that I also want to bring into my work.
It is an interactionist perspective that conflicts and criticises the structural perspectives on the family such as feminism, marxism and functionalism. Carol Smart, the main sociologist involved in this view, focuses particularly on the links that that people have with each other, the personal bonds, the importance of memories and cultural heritage.
I want to create my book based on the different perspectives on what makes a person family, drawing back to different cultures, and sociological perspectives. My book is going to include portraits of the people I call family, and pictures of the places I call home. I believe that every one has different perceptions and ideas and connotations of the word "home"; to me personally, home is wherever I feel safe and comfortable- places i am familiar with and have connections too. My house is my home, but my home is also wherever my family is . And my family include my blood family, but also my tight group of friends, who I have known for years, and have spent every day for the past five years with.
Originally, I wanted to use my book to find out more about my heritage- There are parts of my family history which have never been disclosed to me, although parts of it has been unveiled. However I do not know how much of it is true. This research project was cut short because I did not have enough information to get along on and have been unable to conduct phone call interviews with my grandparents.
It is an interactionist perspective that conflicts and criticises the structural perspectives on the family such as feminism, marxism and functionalism. Carol Smart, the main sociologist involved in this view, focuses particularly on the links that that people have with each other, the personal bonds, the importance of memories and cultural heritage.
I want to create my book based on the different perspectives on what makes a person family, drawing back to different cultures, and sociological perspectives. My book is going to include portraits of the people I call family, and pictures of the places I call home. I believe that every one has different perceptions and ideas and connotations of the word "home"; to me personally, home is wherever I feel safe and comfortable- places i am familiar with and have connections too. My house is my home, but my home is also wherever my family is . And my family include my blood family, but also my tight group of friends, who I have known for years, and have spent every day for the past five years with.
Originally, I wanted to use my book to find out more about my heritage- There are parts of my family history which have never been disclosed to me, although parts of it has been unveiled. However I do not know how much of it is true. This research project was cut short because I did not have enough information to get along on and have been unable to conduct phone call interviews with my grandparents.
Some Photos
I took these images at my friend Coles house, using my Canon Powershot S70. This camera is significant, as it was a gift from my grandparents some years back. It is on the brink of dying, and the screen is very glitchy and so the only way you can see the photographs you are taking is later on, when they have been exported off of the camera. I like this element of surprise as it is in keeping with the threshold concepts, such as threshold concept number number 6, which states that photographs rely on chance, more or less. This dictates the narrative between the images and the subject matter, becuas the subject matter always turns out different to how it is originally viewed.
Photos From My Film Camera.
Using black and white film, I decided to use my film camera to take some images of my family. Black and white film was integral to these photographs, because colour film largely strips the scene of its raw emotion, instead the different colours convey different emotions based on our previous connotations of these colours; for example, red is equal to anger, love and lust, yellow is happiness, blue is calamity.
Prototype
This is the prototype of my book that I have made. In order to complete this i used the Japanese book binding technique, with a youtube video to guide me. The materials needed consist of :
Two pieces of thick paper such as card; I used purple card for one side, and red on the other. I was debating both these colours for the front cover, so using them both at once enabled me to see which I truly preferred.
Enough sheets of ordinary paper to contain all the images. I used about 10 sheets of paper, which was enough to fit all the images i had so far. I also chose white paper, mainly due to lack of resources as i had no other colours.
Another vital piece of equipment was thread, strong enough to hold all the pages in place and enough of it t create the pattern.
Additionally, someting such as a needle was needed in order to poke some small holes through the front and back covers and through. the paper. The tutorial called for four holes, but in the end i only did three and designed my own pattern for the thread rather than following the tutorial .
Two pieces of thick paper such as card; I used purple card for one side, and red on the other. I was debating both these colours for the front cover, so using them both at once enabled me to see which I truly preferred.
Enough sheets of ordinary paper to contain all the images. I used about 10 sheets of paper, which was enough to fit all the images i had so far. I also chose white paper, mainly due to lack of resources as i had no other colours.
Another vital piece of equipment was thread, strong enough to hold all the pages in place and enough of it t create the pattern.
Additionally, someting such as a needle was needed in order to poke some small holes through the front and back covers and through. the paper. The tutorial called for four holes, but in the end i only did three and designed my own pattern for the thread rather than following the tutorial .
This is how it turned out:
Unfortunately, whilst printing out the images, my printer broke and ran out of ink, which resulted in these very unclear and distorted images. I quite liked the look of these, but decided against using a similar distortion for my actual end product, as it was quite dysfunctional if the images are that unclear.
The words underneath the images are words for a collection of animals. I used a list of words, and picked the ones I liked the most; In particular, the best ones are crash, drove and pod, respectively the collective for a group of rhinos, younger pigs and whales.
It isn’t very clear in this set of images, but the book has two front covers, rather than a back and a front. Each set of pictures go up to the middle of the page and then flip around. I separated the sets by having one in strictly black and white, and the other in colour.
The words underneath the images are words for a collection of animals. I used a list of words, and picked the ones I liked the most; In particular, the best ones are crash, drove and pod, respectively the collective for a group of rhinos, younger pigs and whales.
It isn’t very clear in this set of images, but the book has two front covers, rather than a back and a front. Each set of pictures go up to the middle of the page and then flip around. I separated the sets by having one in strictly black and white, and the other in colour.
Trip to the photographers gallery
Over the weekend, I decided to visit the photographers gallery in central London, as there was an exhibition i was interested in. I went to see the Deutsche Börse photography foundation prize exhibition, the artists nominated are Mohammed Bourouissa, Clare Strand, Anton Kusters, and Mark Nevillle. These four photographers each took such a different approach to their work, and I found the concept behind Anton Kusters work intriguing; His installation contained a glass table with about 1000 polaroids displayed inside it, and each polaroid was a view of the sky from each last known location of a nazi concentration or extermination camp across Europe. I find this concept particularly gripping as it just depicts so well the vastness and extreme loss of this disastrous moment in history. It also was extremely still and calming to look at, a conflicting emotion with those generally connoted with such a violent and corrupt time.
We also were given a free book in one part of the exhibition, it is a small white book, written in French and English. It contains a few images, the main ones which are include in the exhibition which I like.
Photobook Cafe
I also paid a visit to the photobook cafe in shoreditch, which is almost like a library for photobooks except you cant rent anything. I love this concept, as I simply ordered a cup of tea and flicked through photobooks. There were many different books on display, but the one that caught my eye immediately was entitled ' Italy in the 1980s ' by Charles H Traub. This book contained an extremely romanticised view of Italy through an American perspective, yet there were also some more controversial images, such as lots of nudity and cigarettes.
Next, I looked at this zine. It was more rough and home made, less professional, and this aspect drew me to it because it reminded me of my school work. It was very casual- the images were more accessible to me as a young person with not much experience outside of my small bubble of school and social life. They also were mostly depicted in the form of diptychs, and this meshed well with my learning of Eisenstein's montage theory. I have also looked at zines before, and the concept and where they came from is very fitting for these types of images, as zines originated in the 1930s and were used from then on as a cheap way of quickly sharing art or photography or poems and stories from a creator.
The Trap by Vincent Desailly
The Trap by Vincent Desailly documents the origins of trap, a sub genre of music, in Atlanta. The introduction is an excerpt from the Autobiography of Gucci mane written by Gucci Mane, a prominent figure within this genre, and the book revolves around the life that he, and many others like him, lead.
Film Camera Snap Shots
For this set of photographs, I focused on capturing some moments with my friends which I felt encapsulated the atmosphere and gave an insight into how we mesh together as a group of people, but the outcome of this was different to my prior intentions, as the individuality seems extremely poignant in this set. No one seems to be of the same calibre, there are stark differences in the way people dress and even the ways in which they've responded to me taking their photographs are all unique. I believe that to have a close relationship with someone, it doesn't necessarily have to revolve around your similarities; the balance lies in how well you work out your differences.
Photos Im Going To Use
Method of Creating My Photobook
Planning My Book On Blurb
My Finished Book
L+jVw4z0TaqcYjG+0MO5Uw from Kitty Quinton on Vimeo.
My photobook evaluation: In terms of the quality of the book, I'm pleased with how it has turned out. I have used Blurb.com to create this instead of hand-making my book, as I wanted to experiment with using one of these publishing sites. I liked the way you were able to choose and design the book in a separate application as it helped to envision the final product.
When taking the actual images, I regret not having and including more. I wanted to do a proper photoshoot, but decided against it as I wanted to show my friends and family as they naturally are. However, looking back I regret not doing one, as I would have preferred to have more control over the lighting and clothes. I also would have wanted to include more images that I had taken in different places, however I believe I lost sight of what this book was supposed to be about.
When taking the actual images, I regret not having and including more. I wanted to do a proper photoshoot, but decided against it as I wanted to show my friends and family as they naturally are. However, looking back I regret not doing one, as I would have preferred to have more control over the lighting and clothes. I also would have wanted to include more images that I had taken in different places, however I believe I lost sight of what this book was supposed to be about.