From: Ray Rogers (earthsoda@yahoo.com)
Date: 04/03/00-09:33:59 AM Z
Emily,
If I were you I would think along two lines...
First, the vegetable should be as large as you would
like the final work to be... (and small works are just
not very impressive unless extremely well crafted and
professional exhibited)and the vegetable needs to have
a dark, attractive skin color that will give a strong
contrast with the (unexposed)areas. The skin color
should, preferably, be a solid color, with little or
no pattern (at least for now, until you become skilled
in
this new... hobby? art? photographic process?) because
any design might interfere with your image. Also, I
forgot to mention another problem which could be a big
'pain in the dark'... Your works are alive and growing
the whole time you are "exposing" them, so long
exposures may suffer from the "zoom" effect... some
experimentation and practical experience here are
needed. I really do not know which particular
vegetable would be the best, but I would want to test
the Charleston Grey Watermelon: they are large enough
to wrap a 5X7 or 8X10 negative around, have a
relatively smooth surface, are not too curved, and are
quite delicious too! Some varieties of Pumpkins and
squash might also be found suitable. I would go to the
library, a large vegetable specialty shop or look on
the internet for pictures of as many types as
possible...
One last thing, I imagine the inherent contrast of the
vegetable you choose is going to be quite
low...perhaps you might want to start out with
silhouette or just high-contrast (two-tone) negatives.
While you are in this inquisitive, experimental mode,
why don't you check out whether, if you confine a
tomato in a square opaque frame, if it IS actually
POSSIBLE to grow a SQUARE tomato... Tomatoes would be
good for this kind of work, since they can be
"ripened" off vine. they are kind of small
however.Nowadays,there must be bigger ones out, but as
I recall, the 'Beefstake' variety was pretty big....
The Apple I mentioned in a previous e-mail, produces
an exposed area of mid-red with unexposed areas a
faint yellow.
The Watermelon would probably yield mid to dark green
exposed and light-green unexposed areas.
Emily... I just noticed that I thought I was answering
your question...but no, watermelon is not a vegetable
or is it? (Tomatoes are called vegetables but are
actually a fruit) I am not sure... perhaps someone
else might suggest a good vegetable to try....
And about attaching the negative... I really don't
know, you might want to visit a nursery or botanical
garden and ask about the name and nature of the stuff
they use to seal up tree wounds with... perhaps a
version of that material might be useful... or
surgical glue (I am just guessing) or a reversible or
low tack spray glue as used in design... how about
pins? or a plain gelatin solution? You might have to
clean the surface with a solvent to remove the natural
surface oil or wax....
Emily, what ever you do, please do report back...
hopefully with a garden full of pictures!
Good luck!
Ray
--- emily kate <mle_k8@hotmail.com> wrote:
> since spring is just starting, this is going to be
> my season-long project...
> so i think it's a go. worth experimenting with
> anyway, right?
>
> now my second question is..
> any ideas on what vegetables would work best?
> and does anyone have a suggestion for some sort of
> substance to adhere the
> negative?
>
> thanks, i'm open to any sort of input,
> emily
>
> <snip from ray rogers>
> >Since growing leaves use
> > sunlight to produce(?) chlorophyll, which gives
> the
> > leaves their green color, depriving them of
> sunlight
> > results in a white-ish non-colored area on the
> leaf or
> > plant.
>
> > Here again, Emily, your exposures will measure in
> > hours at least, with several days being more
> likely to
> > produce pleasing results!
>
>
=====
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