This show was very interesting to me and I really wish we’d have had more time to see it. The idea of creating a Photograph without a camera in strange and new to me. I have always been into the disposable cameras that you use once and send off to be processed, only to be returned as prints. In my mind, that connects somehow to the idea of not using a camera (even though you really are using one).
I always find it interesting how galleries have different rooms. I suppose it is to break up the space and give each piece of work it’s credit due, but sometimes I feel like I miss things because of walls. I like to come back to things over and over, after looking at more work between the one I respond to, so I might like to visit a gallery one day that is just a huge massive room that has art hung everywhere, with no additional walls. I found the steps in the gallery at Wright State interesting because they went up to another level that not only had work, but also provided a different view point to the work down on the level below. Seeing all the work (or at least most of it) in frames gave a refreshing finished quality that we don’t see much in DAAP. Something about frames focuses me, which is undoubtedly the reason that galleries and museums choose to use them.
The one series that got me really excited was Christopher Colville’s gunpowder images. My fiancé and I go trap shooting and are somewhat gun enthusiasts (he more than I). When I saw that the images were made using ignited gunpowder as the exposer, I became very excited and immediately texted my fiancé (who isn’t really into art) who thought the idea was also very interesting.
Being in that gallery with the different types of wet processes made me want to go back into the darkroom. I enjoy what I’m doing now, but there was just something that makes wet printing rewarding. Perhaps it is all of the time and effort that goes into making a single print? I don’t know. I do know that when I did take a wet printing class, I had a lot of issues that semester. It was a rough time for me anyway, and spending hours upon hours alone in the darkroom hiding in a back corner of DAAP jus didn’t set well with me. I was very depressed and because of how I was feeling, I thought that I hated wet photography. Seeing these shows, two years after the last time I was in a darkroom makes me want to try again.
A few weeks ago my family and I watched the new version of Les Mis. It was terrible. It was so long and drawn out, by the time the end came I was bored out of my mind. Even though we all disliked the movie so much (except my sister and brother-in-law who I suspect was wearing a brave face) I keep wanting to watch it again. I keep hoping it will be better the second time. I feel the same way about darkroom printing. I think that since my life is going well right now maybe I can handle being alone in the dark. There is still a part of me that thinks my nightmares will come back if I spend enough time in the dark room, which scares me. Perhaps it would be better for me to stick to digital printing, but this is my last chance to work in a darkroom for who knows how long. After I graduate, I won’t have access to a darkroom and I might regret that.
P.S. If anyone wants a free copy of Les Mis to give it a try, let me know. Like, for reals.
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