Darkroom Photography (Pt. I)

Hello friends!
​It's been a while.

   I haven't been able to blog for almost a month! It's been making me so bummed not having a camera because I've felt so inspired but I haven't had a camera. Not only this, but school and work can sometimes build up. That includes appointments and car troubles. Just a lot has been going on in my life. Luckily, my friend Cody has allowed me to borrow his camera until I find a new one that functions properly.

   In the month that I've been gone, I've been really excited about one of my classes in particular--my black and white darkroom photography class.
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​(And, no, I have not seen any demogorgons in my photos yet).

   I'm someone who still isn't quite sure about what specific career I want to be a part of, but I am a visual communications major. One of my favorite things I've done with this major is taking classes that are outside of my comfort zone. Digital courses like design processes and typography have been super informative, but hands-on courses like design drawing and print production have made me the most inspired and excited about design.

   For those of you who don't know what these courses are, I'll quickly explain. Design drawing is a course that utilizes pencils, micron pens, marker, and Adobe Illustrator to learn how to render shapes, subjects, and interiors/exteriors. Although I wasn't the best artist in design drawing in the past, I love using my markers today for any random doodles I decide to add value and color to. Print production is a course that allows people to learn how to use printing equipment and techniques like offset and screen printing. I fell in love with the premise of these classes and remember the most from them simply because they were super hands-on. Screen printing was my favorite method to learn since it allowed me to create my own design on my choice of substrate (so I created some Grins & Needles crewnecks).

   Basically I love doing crafty, interactive things. So using a manual 35 mm film camera (I use a Pentax K1000) and developing not only the film, but also the photo paper, is right up my alley.

​So now I guess I'll show you some of the photos I'm most proud of from only the first two projects.
All of these photos are still untitled.

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Project 1: Perspective (bird's eye view and dog's eye view)

   I think my favorite part about these particular shots is the lighting. I'm a sucker for natural light and contrast. In this first photo I captured a bird's eye view of light peering into a window. It's a pretty simple photo, but something about the lighting and reflection in the glass makes me love this one.

   This next photo is just a simple dog's eye view from the top of my dresser. I just love the variety of values caught in this photo. Also just the shine from the metal (the bottom of my lamp) and glass (from my essential oil's bottle).

   This. Next. One. Is. My. Favorite. I just love the darkness in it and how the light peers in through the window, once again. This photo is just kind of creepy and I think that factor adds overall character. I think it's also neat that you can get the feel of the texture of this chair arm.

   I love the blurred light detail in the background of this following image. Also that the camera is more focused on the crisp lines of the blinds. Contrast is everything in this one. There's just a lot of direction in this image and I think that's what makes it successful.

Project 2: Self Portraits

   So a lot of my portraits took place in the tub. Weird, maybe. But the bath is where I spend a lot of my anxious, depressed, sick, and just normal days when I want to feel more relaxed and cozy. I liked this first photo a lot since, although it's not very perfectly focused, there's a lot of detail in my wet hair. Also the fact that my features are nicely contrasted against the light walls of the tub.

   This next photo might look cheesy. Because well, I was obnoxiously trying to show a message in my photo. You see, my instructor challenged us to consider taking photos of a side of us we wouldn't want other people to see. So I, still comfy in my tub, decided to portray mental illness, imperfection, or even just a bad day. I wanted to artistically show how it might "look" (from the inside, out) to not be put-together all the time. So I just smeared my makeup and sank down in my tub. And looked off, because if my mind can't always focus, why should my expression seem focused? See what I'm aiming for here? This feels a bit weird to post, but this is my blog so I'm doing it.

   Another tidbit my professor added was that the portrait doesn't have to be just of our faces. So I wanted to show a part of me that other people seemed to notice first, instead of my face, when I was in high school. If you've read My Anxiety Story Pt. II then you know what this is about--my arms. So I wanted to show my hand and my arm. There's a nice glow around both my hand and arm that adds a nice detail to my bone structure as well as the texture of my arm. That glow was something that my classmates actually really liked about this image. You can also sort of see me in the mirror as well, and everything is framed nicely by the soft glow of my string lights.

   This last photo was one I debated on enlarging. I loved the brightness of my face against my hair and the background, but as you can see my face is a bit blurry. But what made me want to use this was the focus on my ear. This might seem weird, but bear with me. When I was younger, my ears were huge compared to my head. And I feel like I've grown into my ears (they look small compared to my head now hehe). I think overall this photo discretely represents my physical growth as I've changed from a little girl in a t-shirt dress to a woman with some responsibilities.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Hopefully I can get a camera of my own soon so I can blog regularly again. If you noticed, the title of this ends with "Pt. I". This is because I hope to keep showing more of my projects as the semester continues. I have two currently in the making, ready to develop on Thursday. Which one of these shots is your favorite? Let me know down below!

Oh, and keep on grinning!

Lydia