It was full steam ahead in the darkroom over the past week and a half. After a burst pipe closed the darkroom for a week we all hunkered down and developed our films, printed our contact sheets and enlarged some of our photos with varying degrees of success.
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| Contact Sheet 1, 2014 |
Having been immersed in the world of immediate gratification that is digital photography, it was nerve wracking to get behind a film camera again. Did I still have it all straight in my head when it came to shutter speed and aperture? What if I was adjusting in the wrong direction! Was I reading the light meter on my new Minolta correctly? With digital we are spoiled by the ease of seeing our photos right away and then adjusting based on the results. Analog is definitely more scientific!
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| Fine Motor Mustache, 2014 |
In terms of the technicalities of my shoot I chose a bright, if slightly overcast, morning in my dinning room to shoot. The walls are white and the large patio doors which face the south-east provided ample, if uni-directional lighting. The subject is mainly my son Luca and our dog Loya along with the random objects found in this typical morning scene including breakfast food and toys. Despite the adequate lighting I left the aperture fairly wide open at 5.8 so that my shutter speed could be a little bit faster to avoid blur caused by photographing two subjects who do not excel at staying still. Depending on the angle, zoom and subject matter the shutter speed varied between 60 and 500 with the majority of shots taken at a speed of 125 or 250. In the dark room I experimented with filters to bump up the contrast of my final photos and am quite happy with the two prints I had time to finish although I would perhaps do one more print of the photo on the left to deepen the black just
a hair.
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| Feet - Selected images from contact sheet, 2014 |
As I have mentioned before my son Luca has become the frequent focus of my lens since he arrived almost 5 years ago; however, in taking these photos I was thinking less about capturing his handsome face or twinkly eyes and more about revisiting my own childhood through examining his actions. Parents are often said to live vicariously through their children and although I think that is possible, I think the more accurate and broader reaching saying could be that parents relive their own childhoods through their children. As I sat on the floor in the kitchen watching Luca, in his mismatched pyjamas, feed soggy fruit loops and pieces of bagel to the dog I could clearly remember early mornings at home where my bare feet hung from the chairs without touching the floor, moments when I snuck treats to the dog when
I wasn't supposed to, moments where my mother was
likely within view but I felt like I was in my own world.
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| Sneaky Treat, 2014 |
Although I was taking photos of the present, the role of memory is undeniable for me in this work. The photos are of Luca and he will look at them and perhaps remember that morning. As for me, I remember that morning behind the camera, as well as all the mornings before when I was in his place, and that, for me, is one of the greatest powers of photography - to capture memories as well as to evoke them.
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