First day back today starting the second half of my Level 5 modules on the BA Hons Photography Degree at university Of Wolverhampton.
Got into the basement studio nice and early to ready myself for joining a new class, as the group I was with last year have now moved on to Level 6, their final year. I spoke to a few people I recognised and had a quick intro that I was joining them and I was a part time student.
They seem like a pretty cool bunch, some of the younger people are a bit distracted but on the whole it looks like they’re all here to learn, the same as me I guess.
After a quick chat with Sam our course tutor I sat down and had a check of my work phone, as I wasn’t going to be in work today but still have a few responsibilities. Once the time rolled around to the start of the session we all took a seat facing the screen situated by the white scoop in the studio.
Brief Introduction
Sam introduced us to the brief:
“The Matter of the Black Country”
“In this module you will be required to document The Black Country. This can entail any style, subject, approach and medium you would like to produce it. If you are fashion minded, go that route, still life – try that, the floor is yours!”
Sam Wood
Required for end of module: Five images in pdf and framed images to display at centrala
What does the Black Country consist of?
Photographers to research:
- Phil Loach – news editorial photos
- Nick Hedges – documentary style
- John Meyer – portraits of people in the Black Country
- Janine Wiedel – working class at work and play
- John Bulmer – People in the industrial landscapes/social spaces
- Bruce Gilden – Harsh flash photos of close up portraits.
- Martin Parr – documenting absurd in everyday life
- Toms Hicks – colourful images of landscapes in BC.
- Richard Billingham – environmental landscapes, housing estates.
- Euripides Altintzoglou – Gates to nowhere
- Yam cams -Tracy Hickinbottom, Kelly Hadley, Jason May Burns, John Gilbert
- Christian Oita and Ryan Mcginley – Use of flags in shoots.
- Richard Phibbs – Fashion based using flags
- Damien Blottiere – Portrait using flags
- Dan Collins
- Marc Newton – car boot photos
At the end of the module we will be exhibition in the Centrala Gallery in the Minerva Works, Digbeth
To do this we’ll need to cough up £20-£25 each to book the space out and have our exhibition.
Every other week be introduced to different medium format cameras.
Time now for a quick break before we look at what we will be doing next week.
Week 2
- Present initial ideas in a pdf , then resize for web photoshop action. 3-4 slides
- Pm. Lights/tethering and Hasselblad medium format camera training
Processing Lunch
Time to split up now and prepare for coming back after lunch. I chose to sit down and make a quick mind-map of ideas around the black country and possible methods of making photographs to represent it.
Once I’d begun this process I remembered that I had some rolls of film in my bag to develop, on the off chance that there was some chemistry available.
I had four 35mm rolls of Ilford HP5 Plus and one 120 HP5 Plus. So I headed to the processing room to set up the chemistry I’d need. I selected two Paterson Tanks with two internal reels set for 35mm and checked they sealed up, before setting them aside.
Before I took the film out of the canisters I wanted to pour out the chemistry so I wasn’t scrambling later on, the D76 Developer looked on the low side, so I mixed two measuring flasks of 600mm, consisting of 300ml D76 Dev and 300ml of 20deg water. Then set out two flasks each of Stop and Fixer. I did all this first so that I wasn’t stuck with undeveloped films in a tank awaiting a mix of chemistry.
I got the four rolls processed, and left the roll of 120 as I didn’t think there’d be enough developer. The four rolls went int he tanks for the 13 mins with dev, one minute with Stop, and then five minutes with the fixer before a ten minute wash and 30 minute dry in the cabinet.
One of the films looked as though it was not developed correctly and the whole film base looked dark, almost as if there might be an issue with the developer, but it was ok with the films in the other tanks. Weirdly, nce I’d got them on the table and cut them into sixes for the Kenro sleeves, I noticed that the worst affected was the first roll I’d put into the Leica M6 that I bought in Bristol. That roll caused me problems as I hadn’t been shown how to wind film on and it kept slipping, meaning that I was opening it a bit, not when it was out but I’m sure I did some damage…
The others were fine, some images of Batman Unmasked in Manchester, one roll in Bath from our weekend away, another from a trip around Shirehall earlier in the month, and the last from Bristol which was the darkest.
Tom Time
Once I’d chopped these and got them in their sleeves, it was time to sit back in the Studio area and have a presentation from Tom Hicks, a librarian from the University who has a photography project called Black Country Type.
Tom explained that it was called the Black Country due to a big coal seam under the region meaning lots of mining and subsequently factories and smoke everywhere.
He showed us some images from his collection of images made by using an iPhone on cycle journeys around the Black Country and then some from his book released at the end of 2023. Black Country Type, By Tom Hicks. I’ve already got this marvellous book and it is a wonder to sit down and have a flick through.
Whilst looking at one image of a “No Car Parking In Front Of Gatas” sign crudely painted on a gate, Tom mentioned an Instagram account @Noparkinginlondon which has many images of similar no parking signs crudely fashioned in the capital city. It’s also a great account to take a look at.
In the production of his book, Tom worked with the Modernist as a publisher and John Meyer to help him with the design elements etc. He was strict in what he wanted to include and showed his working methods to whittle down the images and then place them in a dummy. He explained how he wanted the external of the book to feel like a catalogue of a factory selling engineering components and that the typeface used was deliberate as it is used commonly in signs above engineering firms, garages etc.
Tom said he’d had advice to not always use same format/size and to not be frightened to have a blank page if the image opposite was strong enough. The theory was that it breaks the monotony and allows the viewer to take a small break from the cycle.
After the presentation, we said our goodbyes and headed off home to see the family and prepare to write this up so it isn’t hanging around my neck.
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