RE: Negative Montages and Gender Politics - a suggestion

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curzon@tegenlicht.com
Date: 09/14/03-01:26:04 AM Z


Hi Steve,
A very nice iedea you have there. I must try it sometimes also, will be fun.

Here are some thoughts I had about it.
I think it will be difficult (but not impossible) to sew/glue/stapple/...
the negs without seeing the seams on the new negative. But is that a
problem? You could even turn it into a part of the work (of art).

I was thinking about the way they make those stained glass windows in
churches. First they make a large drawing (lifesize) and then start breaking
pieces of glass to the right size, putting it together like a puzzle. When
the've collected all the pieces they "glue" them toghether with lead.

You could do the same. You'll use the negs as if it are the glass parts. To
play it safe: first print all the negs and cut and puzzle withe the prints.
Tape these prints together (use 3M Scotch tape).
Take a picture of it for reference. Print this picture to the size your
montages should be when finished. Then start cutting the negs to the right
size and put it on the picture.
Then glue the negs together.

In a glass window you can see the "sewing" clearly. You could do the same.
Take some film (120 rollfilm) and overexpose it largely, then develop it to
get a totaly black film. Use this film to cut the "sews" out of it. Glue
these strips to the negs (I don't know how: also Scotch tape?). Then make a
contact print to see what the image looks like.

If this is too much work or to difficult you could also stick to the prints.
Make large prints of all the negs you want to use. Cut these negs to the
right size and glue them on a wall. When finished take another picture of
this montage with an 8x10" camera and you have a large montage neg. This is
a lot easier to do but the other way seems like more fun (to me).

Wow, writing this down makes me even more enthousiastic about it. I'm really
going to do this myself! I'll attend my first class in Bromoil next weekend
and this will be first project for Bromoil printing (after a certain learnig
period) for me.

Thanks for starting me off.

Bert from Holland
www.tegenlicht.com (my site is under construction, sorry)

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Steve Bell [mailto:sbell1@artic.edu]
Verzonden: zondag 14 september 2003 1:31
Aan: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Onderwerp: Re: Negative Montages and Gender Politics, may be considered
OT

that's an interesting idea. putting the images together as print collages
and
then taking a picture of them. very interesting. i will definitely
experiment
with that technique. but i do like very much the idea of sewing negs
together,
and making a new neg like that.

you said there are a million other ways to put them together? any ideas
would
be great. i would like to stay away from digital at this point. i don't want
to spark any digidebates right now. but i'm definitely looking for an analog
answer. and of course, there is always good old testing and experimenting,
which i certainly will do. but i would like to see what other people have to
say.

i was also thinking of using sewing needles, and holding some parts together
as if i were preparing to sew that area. i was thinking some kind of glue,
but
i'm not sure how archival that is. i don't want to ruin my negatives if i
really like the print i make.

thanks for the idea though, i will definitely try the print collage to 8x10
film idea.

cheers,

Steve

Quoting Nick Makris <nick@mcn.org>:

> Steve, If your goal is to produce a print/mural that looks like a collage,
> I
> would definitely stick with glossy prints, and cut and paste, and then
> rephotograph on 8X10 or whatever works. Beyond that there are a million
> ways to put them together digital and analog. Have you considered lith
> film? probably not very good for masking parts of color negs. Best, n
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Bell" <sbell1@artic.edu>
> To: "alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca"
> <alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca>
> Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2003 3:39 PM
> Subject: Negative Montages and Gender Politics, may be considered OT
>
>
> > Hey Everyone,
> >
> > firstly i'd like to start off by apologizing for my inactivity on the
> list
> > over the past few months. i feel like this is a great community, and
i've
> been
> > neglecting it somewhat. i'm in school in chicago now, and i am presently
> in a
> > color photo class, so my time for alt processes has been minimal.
> >
> > so here's my question:
> >
> > i'm presently working on a photo project that is based on gender
> politics.
> > i.e.- the idea that gender does not exist, or that it doesn't exist in
> such
> > black and white terms as 'boy' and 'girl' or 'man' and 'woman'. that
> there
> are
> > varying degrees of the characteristics that make up these definitions.
so
> what
> > i plan to do with this is shoot people in the studio and out of the
> studio,
> > shoot people basically, and then cut up the negatives (most likely 120,
> but
> > very possibly i will use 4x5). so the idea is to cut up the negatives,
> and
> > take different parts of peoples' bodies that give visual cues to gender,
> and
> > make negative montages or collages. i'm going to try to put these pieces
> of
> > negatives together to fit the size of an 8x10 piece of sheet film, and
> then
> > make mural size color prints.
> >
> > now what i planned to do was to sew the negatives together, which i will
> do
> > partially, as that is definitely a gender cue in and of itself, but i
> don't
> > want that to be my only technique for affixing the negatives to each
> other.
> > does anybody have any experience with this kind of thing? i remember
> reading
> > in the James book about a photographer who, towards the end of his
> career,
> > took the tons of negatives that he had over the years and did a similar
> thing,
> > making 8x10 contact prints of negative collages. my copy of that book is
> back
> > in baltimore, so if anyone knows who that artist is, that would be a
> helpful
> > resource.
> >
> > any ideas?
> >
> > thanks in advance,
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>


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