Experimental Black and White Photography Project

For this project, I decided to focus on alternative ways to process that would manipulate my film in a unique way.  I shot several rolls of Kodak 125PX film and tried three processing techniques.  For the first roll, I developed with a 1:1 of D76 and orange juice, and washed the film with mango juice.  The result of this was virtually perfectly developed film, which was great, but not what I was looking for.  The second roll was developed with a 1:1 of D76 and salted milk, and washed with salted milk.  The result, again, was well developed film.  My last roll of film was developed in a mix of D76, rubbing alcohol, and Clorox bleach.  The resulting chemical reaction created a noticeable amount of heat, so I reduced my developing time because I was worried that I would risk over-developing it if I went longer.  When I poured out this developing solution, I noticed a fair amount of brown runoff and thought that I had eradicated the emulsion from my film.  Proceeded to rinse, fix, and wash the film as usual; and when I finally got a look at it, I saw that the film was thick and opaque.  It was then that I decided to try dunking the film in the Clorox to see how that would affect the film.  I left the film in the bleach for a few seconds, until I noticed the bleach was starting to change colors.  I took the film out and saw that the emulsion had begun to bleed and separate from the film, and would rub off if I touched the film.  I rinsed it off and got a look at what the film looked like and decided that I liked the fogging effect that had been caused by the bleeding and my smudging of the emulsion (this is best shown by the larger abstract image, which is two frames side by side). This effect reminded me of a daguerreotype, so I proceeded with an idea of trying to replicate the aesthetic of looking at an old photograph with my film.  I kept the film in a container full of gravel for a week, so as to further age and appropriately damage the film (which resulted in the blemishes and scratches you’re seeing). 

I’m surprisingly pleased with the overall aesthetic of my images and am eager to continue producing new images of different subjects while using this method of processing.

© Tyler Jackson Photography 2012

Final Portfolio

Here is my final portfolio that I spent the semester shooting for my Adv. Digital photography class.  It's a total of 20 images, plus my artist's statement.  Enjoy!

"I've always found that I do all of my best thinking around water; whether it be standing around in the shower and pondering my future, or sitting on a bench by a lake or stream.  The fluidity, varying motions and forms, and reflections on water have always left me entranced and at ease in a way that I have yet to find in anything else.  For this project, I wanted to explore that entrancement and dreamlike state that I enter when I look at the water's surface.  In order to do that, I chose to abstract my images in a way that attempts to leave my audience wondering what exactly their looking at while still being able to easily decipher it.  This approach will then, hopefully, lead the audience to get lost in these images and will perpetuate the same sort of feelings and emotions that are reminiscent of a dreamlike state.

This series was shot with a Canon Rebel XT, fitted with an 28-105mm lens, using only natural light and without any interference or staging on my part.  All post-production editing was done with Adobe Photoshop, and were printed on 11x14 Arista II Luster Inkjet paper using an Epson 2880 Inkjet printer."

© Tyler Jackson Photography 2011