In photography classes at Haverhill High School, we explore a wide range of image-making methods. Of course we primarily use digital cameras and 35mm film cameras to make traditional in-the-camera pictures, but there are many other forms of photography that we celebrate and practice.
So, here are three alternative image-making strategies, and some of the artists who inspire us to pursue them!
#1 Lumen Printing
Lumen printing is one of the oldest forms of photography, dating back to its invention in 1839 by William Henry Fox Talbot, and it does not require any camera or lens at all. It simply requires a glass contact printing frame, objects such as leaves or flowers, plenty of sunlight, and a piece of light-sensitive paper. The artist places leaves or flowers on the paper, closes the glass frame, and leaves it in sunlight for several hours — or days!
A bit of background, first: In a typical darkroom workflow, we would use an enlarger to project light through negatives onto silver gelatin paper, then we would wash the print in a series of chemicals called developer, stop bath, and fixer. The developer reveals the picture, the stop bath keeps the image from turning black, and the fixer makes it permanent.
In lumen printing, however, after exposing the paper to light, you skip the developer and stop bath and just wash the print in fixer. This makes it a fast, accessible method of alt-process print making — great for the first day of the semester — and a good way to use up old, expired photo paper. (Donations are welcome, if you have any in your basement!)
#2 Photo Collage
Photo collage is another technique dating back to the 1800s, but with plenty of 20th and 21st century artists pushing it forward and keeping it relevant. One of my favorite photo collage artists is Hannah Höch, a German artist of the 1930s Dada movement. Her wild combinations of photographs and magazine images inspired a recent series of student collages in Photo 1.
When students begin to take collage seriously as an art form, they learn that the raw materials for image-making are all around them. They are surrounded by images all the time, and dissecting them and rearranging them on paper is not so different from walking around with a camera to frame / compose / exclude the world through a lens.
They also learn that good art can be funny, and they don't have to be so serious all the time!
#3 Green Screen and Compositing in Photoshop
The digital version of collage is called compositing, and it is used not only by advertising photographers but by fine artists, too. Asger Carlsen is a contemporary artist who uses digital compositing to create impossible portraits, like the ones below.
In our class we use a green screen background and studio lighting to make portraits and still life photographs, which we combine with other images in Photoshop to explore unusual or impossible ideas. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks for reading!