The Negatives - Final Integrated Assignment

Following the research into floriography (the language of flowers) I had to find and decide on subjects. Using a list of flowers and their symbolic meaning, I went to the local garden centre to find suitable examples. This is easier said than done, due to the time of year I was limited to the flowers that were in season. However, I just did not want to take any old thing on offer but look for structural beauty in the flower. The flowers that I chose are as follows:


Flower                        Meaning


Carnation (Pink)              A women's love


Cherry Blossom                Gentleness, Kindness


Sunflower                     Pure and lofty thoughts


Daisy                         Innocence, loyal love, faith


Poppy  (red)                  Pleasure


Dandelion                     Coquetry


Ivy                           Dependence, endurance  


Rose (red)                    True Love




When I had obtained the flowers for the project I had to decide how best to capture the best structural beauty. By using the research I had completed over the three years of my course I was able to narrow my decision down. As described in a previous blog I had admired the work of Nick Nights Flora, but other have also made an impression, such as Irving Penn's book Still Life along with Imogen Cunningham's Flora. However, in the first year I was shown images of Karl Blossfeldt's flowers in art history lessons. As soon as I first set eyes on his images I was blown away. When asked to write about two photographers I  had an opportunity to further research his work further along with Bernd and Hilla Becher. It was Blossfeldt simple but effect way of using macro photography, window lighting and plain backgrounds that have always caught my attention. There something simple but beautiful about his photography.


With this in mind I decided on a large format (due to contact printing) macro photograph. The flowers I had chosen lent themselves to a top view (apart from ivy and rose). I had in the past (Professional Practice assignment) used a lighting technique from John Blakemore, where he used window light and angled his camera and subject to be in a perfect plain. I have really been pleased with the images I had taken using Blakemore's technique and so would utilise it again.

Large format photography is straight forward enough as long as you follow some simple rules. Always take a light meter reading and then its a case of adding or subtracting stop for the best exposure. With macro photography on a large format camera you normally have extended bellows. The rule of thumb is to allow an extra stop of light for each 6 to 8 inches of bellow draw. The image above needed 2 extra stops of light to provide a well exposed negative. By using this light technique and exposure calculation the images below were captured:

Sunflower

Cherry Blossom

Poppy

Carnation

Dandelion

Ivy

Rose

Conclusion

I am really happy with the images  captured. The negatives should contact print well in the gum bichromate process. I chose these examples for a couple of reasons. I had taken pictures of some of the samples in the different stages of full bloom to decay. Some examples have a bit more character if left to decay a little such as the sunflower and the poppy. Others I have dried such as the ivy. The rose was already dried which inspired the ivy shot.