Alternative Photo Class: Cyanotypes

Cyanotype was probably my favorite process and same with most of the classmates. The cyanotype printing process gives you what you'd expect - a cyan-blue print.  You mix potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate to make a light sensitive solution. Then you'd coat it on some thick paper. Then we would use a digital image, which we turned into black and white and a negative in photoshop first, and then printed it on a transparency.  Place the negative on top of the (dry) light sensitive paper and expose for about 20 minutes in a UV light table or outside (Sun works too).  Remove the negative and wash your newly exposed paper in a tray with running water for 30 minutes and you have a cyanotype!

negative

the Kalmar Nyckel ship (unaltered) cyanotype

You can also alter the colors in your cyanotype with other solutions like Vinegar, tea, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, etc. to get different effects.  This London print was toned with tea and Ammonia, intensifying the colors and producing more of a navy blue.

Don't have to limit your options to paper - you can also print on fabric.
Why not make that boring white throw pillow or white t-shirt into something more desirable with some cyanotype. 

detail
see, it is fabric

You can also make photograms with cyanotype which can look pretty cool too.  I didn't do this but check some out on the internet.  Instead of a negative image you just place objects on top of the paper like a plant or jewelry and after washing you get their silhouette images left.

I definitely want to buy a cyanotype kit. This is really fun and easy to do. I'm thinking the Legge cyanotype, X-mas card is gonna get a leg up on all our friends cards this year. 

Alternative Photo Class: pin hole

This semester I took Alternative Photography where we learned how to make: pin holes, cyanotypes, gum oils, and inkjet transfers.  Our first project was the pin hole camera. I still don't quite get how it works but somehow it happens.  Its basically a light tight box with a small hole in one side - and voila you have a camera. Here's a simple diagram explaining the theory.

This was my camera that I constructed from a deck of cards. Its the dimensions of a tissue box, though it is not actually one.  Its held together with duct tape, electric tape and popsicle sticks. The top comes off so you can slide in some photo paper in the back to print your image. And its light sensitive paper so you do all this in the dark room. The little hole in the aluminum is my aperture and the Ace of Spades is my shutter which slides up and down through a slit in the top.

detail image

 This was a 4 minute exposure. Then you take it to the dark room, take the paper out and develop it. It first comes out as a negative and backwards.

Then with an enlarger and some fancy tricks you get a positive image.

So a simple box camera produced this photograph...Makes total sense right??

join the club

Moonrise Kingdom

Mr. Bishop: "My daughter has been abducted by one of those beige lunatics!"

This movie had me at Khaki Scout Troops of North America.  A very different movie which drew me in immediately for that factor.  Everything was amazing about this movie: imagery, characters, dialogue, story, cast, and music.  In my opinion, there's nothing more appealing than dysfunctional characters, which happens to be everyone in this movie. Normal is boring and wEirD is compelling.

The Sam Shakusky search party

It was melancholy but heartwarming, funny as hell, and shocking ("She stabbed him with lefty scissors!") Best part of the movie was definitely the khaki scouts. The pack of 12 year olds were basically like elite soldiers, acting beyond their years. Even better was Scout Master Ward played by Edward Norton (Ward:"Scout Master’s log. September second. First day of search party for Sam Shakusky. Morale is extremely low, in part, I suppose, because Sam is, unfortunately, the least popular scout in the troop, by a significant margin.") I gotta admit it was really funny to see Bruce Willis play this sad, incompetent cop rather than the John McClane superstar cop he normally portrays. I downloaded the soundtrack yesterday and this movie is going down on my Ex-mas list. I can't wait for Wes Andersons next movie. I didn't think it was possible for him to top Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou buuuut I'm gonna have to say he did with Moonrise Kingdom. What the what!

"Giminey cricket, he flew the coop!"

Miscellaneous Photos

I was clearing out some junk on my laptop and found a miscellaneous folder where I've stored random photos I've found on the internet on. This must have been before I discovered Pinterest. I have to share some of these photos because they are hilarious:

Classic Leo

That's the American way

But we're America damnit! And we'll do whatever the hell we want no matter how retarded it might be! 

The malevolence...

I remember that earthquake like it was yesterday. The earthquake I didn't feel because I was busy deflating 30 rubber, shock absorbing, water tubes! COME ON

Probably the greatest photo. Ever. 

Its the simply things in life you treasure

Holy Batman!

This was an ACTUAL ad for an ACTUAL product back in the day. There's nothing like that memorable date when you meet a good looking, charming man, who's polite and pays for your meal.  Then he invites you back to his place and then you see THIS on his wall.  If this doesn't immediately raise any red flags in a girls mind and doesn't get out of his creepy basement ASAP, then she deserves to die. He might as well plaster the words "Hey I'm a serial killer - YOUR NEXT."

What everyone's thinking when they're caught alone in the dark

 "You can experience how disadvantaged a T-rex must feel" - was actually the first thought that came to my mind, oddly enough. Yes technically, the dino does have arms, but come on, with arms so small in proportion to the rest of the body they might as well be non existant.

I'm baffled on how accurate this is. This also applies to my last semester of college.

We all sort through our societal problems in our own special ways. Combine retailers loaded prices with our economy today, a new pair of jeans just might be worth killing for.

Dear god, I always wondered what I found so appealing in those post-apocalyptic movies. Simplicity, simplicity, SIMPLICITY. I'm grateful for the numerous opportunities and privileges the United States provides (there's my Happy Thanksgiving plug in) but sometimes I feel like its too god damn much! My brain can barely keep up with me on a day to day basis. As soon as I start planning for the future and considering my innumerable choices, my brain wants to commit suicide. Sometimes I just want to move to a small habited island where currency is coconuts and daily naps in hammocks are required.

Colbert-Hanks Halloween and Cloud Atlas

Every talk show host seems to have their best moments with Tom Hanks. ALWAYS.  Its even better when its your favorite talk show host.

The Colbert Report
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If "non-self-centered" Tom isn't gonna "promote" himself in the new movie Cloud Atlas, then I will.  

My recommendation is...

GO SEE IT

And I did see Cloud Atlas this past weekend and I loved it.  But its one of those movies that you really should watch twice because so much is going on you often miss things the first time around.  I liked how many different genres are seen throughout the film.  It had thrills, scares, horror, laughs, love story, drama, redemption, sci-fi - you name it.  

I love a good mix. 

One of my favorite timelines was the "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After." Set in future post-apocalyptic Hawaii with Tom Hanks as Zachary the goat herder.  His tribe is under constant threat from an opposing cannibalistic tribe and has some form of schizophrenia as Hugo Weaving playing like the devil on his shoulder. This is one you definitely would need to see a second time because they twist the words by the way they talk. You learn to pick up on it but I feel like I might have missed some key dialogue.  

Another good one was "The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish."  This tale was hilarious as Cavendish is thrown into an old people's home and is determined to escape.  Hugo Weaving plays another fantastic side character as Nurse Noakes who is a bit like Nurse Ratchet. And he is playing a woman.  A burly, robust woman.  

I would not have wanted to be on the editing team figuring out how to connect all these different scenes together as one cohesive piece but my god they did it.  Really impressive and original. Plus it has Tom Hanks - come on, its gonna be good.

Hurricane Sandy

Flooded backyard. Water did get in the basement. Spent all day and night keeping the water from spreading with towels and a carpet cleaner vacuum

Brandywine Creek

Sidewalk and picnic benches were under water

Clean up crew already took the fallen branch but here's whats left of the tree

Blue Sky peaking

We didn't get rain like New York but we certainly got flooded with leaves 

The woods got rocked pretty good. Lots of branches and some down trees

Delmarva preparing the new telephone pole

Down telephone poles on the other side of the baseball field

Happy Halloween

Pendent Crusader

This is my latest project from my animation class. I scanned some old jewelry of mine and turned them into a video game. And digitally processed them through After Effects. 

You can find all my videos on vimeo.com under my name.

I ran out of time before it was due but I do plan to add this old school video game music to it

website

For my Interactive Media class we had to build a website (about whatever we wanted) using DreamWeaver. So we built it using codes and I have to say it was no easy task. Anyways, I made a photography portfolio website. Check it out...

udel.edu/~kamileg

Beach Dog

Last Friday we took our dog Riley to the beach for the first time. We went to Cape Henlopen State Park and luckily it was still off-season so we were allowed to go pretty much anywhere. It also wasn't the best day. Weatherman predicted mostly sunny when in reality it was mostly cloudy and with a high of about 48. So we were basically the only ones at the beach which was great. 

It was funny to see her reaction to the waves. She kept barking at them at first and she was afraid to get her toes wet when the water chased her, even though she is a waterdog. Shortly after she was frolicking in the water. At one point she got distracted by a seagull out on the ocean that she didn't notice the on coming wave that slammed her. It was priceless but unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready in time. 

And her favorite game was digging for her tennis ball. She often wouldn't give me enough time to burry the ball so she'd start digging with my hand in the hole. I have scratches all over my hands now. Definitely doing this again..on a warmer day.