Art of the street

January 25, 20063 Comments

One of the ongoing photographic projects I’ve undertaken since moving to Vancouver is the documentation of local street artist’s work. I try to keep an eye out when wandering the city and photograph new paste-ups or stencils as soon as I see them because due to the weather and strict anti-graffiti laws, very few pieces stay around for long. I’ve always had an interest in Graffiti but not to the same degree until now because the Vancouver scene distinguishes itself with interesting styles and distinctive work. Some may consider this sort of thing vandalism but I like the idea of bringing art to the street, because it adds a more interesting aspect to the visual landscape of the city and takes art out of the safe and typical environment of a gallery.

Street art is defined as any art developed in a public space, and can include traditional aerosol paint graffiti work, but encompasses many other media and techniques such as wheat pasting, stickers, and stencil graffiti.

A favorite of mine is the work of The Dark, for his large scale, very detailed, stencils and paste-ups. He is one of the most active contributers to Vancouver’s tight street art scene, along with Office Supplies Incorporated and Weakhand. The Dark always throws something up on the boarded over store front on the corner of Nelson and Granville, while both Weaky and OSI currently have new stuff up all over the city, so keep an eye out for it.

This week two gallery shows will begin after the cross country moving service gets all of the art here! Vancouver street artists. “Plumage” opens at Midtown (438 Pender St.) on Friday January 27th at 8pm, and on Saturday “Faces of Basco” opens at Les Gallery (1879 Powell St.) at 7pm.

Cuban Soul

January 24, 2006

In my quest for a suitable venue to show my work this year I came across the wonderful little gallery at Havana Restaurant on Commercial Drive. The current exhibition is called Cuban Soul, featuring the work of Surrey-based photographer Gabor Gasztonyi. His black & white photographs were taken in the barrios of Havana, Cuba and feature the beauty and energy of the people who live there. “They are some of the most beautiful people in the world, full of life and music, this comes through in their faces, even though the communist regime limits their freedom.”

Check it out soon because the show ends this Saturday January 28th.

Utata Weekend Projects

January 23, 2006

Over on the photo sharing community of Flickr there is an interesting and very active group called Utata that was originally started by Catherine Jamieson. She wanted to create a salon in the traditional sense, where people could gather to talk, share, learn and grow. The group has become a very vibrant community that I’m very proud to be a contributing member of. It’s one of the few groups I make an effort to keep up with (besides Vandigicam) because it seems to attract a higher calibre of photographer and many of the members are flickr contacts that I admire.

It’s a constant source of inspiration and ideas because there is often a new project on the go to get everyone out and shooting. This past weekend’s project was the theme “Beam me up” – photos taken in general darkness but lit with an artificial directed beam of light. The above three photos are ones that I chose to submit and I’m looking forward to the end results of the group project.

Click here for more Utata projects.

Polaroid Transfers

January 21, 20062 Comments

If you’re looking for something new to try with your photography I highly recommend experimenting with some of the alternative photographic processes that are available. Years ago I took a workshop on Polaroid Transfer that I quite enjoyed, and was very happy with the results from the session:

About these prints: the top photo is an emulsion transfer and the bottom is a dye transfer, both from polaroids. The technique is one in which the image of a “peel-apart” polaroid negative is transferred onto a non-photographic surface, such as paper, fabric, vellum, or wood.

“Polaroid transfer begins with the exposure of the color film, either in camera or through an enlarger. Instead of allowing the full development time, the film halves are separated before the dyes can migrate from the negative portion. The negative is placed face down on a damp receptor, most commonly a sheet of watercolor paper, and pressed firmly with a roller. After a short period, one to twenty minutes, depending on the artist’s particular technique, the negative is carefully peeled back. If all went well, the fully formed and developed image is now present on the receptor surface.”

A good place to start for further information on techniques for this process and a listing of the appropriate types of films can be found on the Polaroid website. There is also a good description of the difference between emulsion and dye transfer here.

Scanner Photography

January 19, 2006

An interesting item on the scanner photography project of Mike Golembewski was brought to my attention today via Utata. He’s spent the last several years experimenting with homemade digital cameras created from combining a flatbed scanner and a large format film camera.

“Instead of building a camera that mimicked the functionality of a traditional photographic camera, I had stumbled across a new tool for examining the relationships between time, motion, and image. What I thought would be a two week art project has turned into one that has lasted for almost three years, and shows little sign of stopping.”

The image gallery of his website contains a selection of the best results from his experiments. There are some good stock photos but the main focus of the website is on the more abstract pieces. The work is very surreal with a similar look in some respects to pinhole photography or toy camera shots, and with bizarre distortion to moving objects.

Studies in Motion

January 15, 20061 Comment

If you’ve done any reading on the early history of photography then Eadweard Muybridge is a name that you’ll surely recognize. He began his career as a landscape photographer in the mid 1800s, gaining recognition for his photographs of the American West between 1868 and 1873. The work Muybridge is most well known for are his studies in human and animal locomotion, that dramatically changed long standing perceptions of motion of that time period, and led to the development of the cinema.

I was reminded of Muybridge because “Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge” is opening this week at the Push International Performing Arts Festival here in Vancouver. The play explores the darker aspects of Muybridge’s character, and the lesser known event of the murder of his wife’s lover, for which he was acquited. The play runs from January 17th to 29th at Frederic Wood Theatre UBC. Tickets are $18 regular, $10 student, or $12 seniors and can be order by phone at 604.822.2678. I’m planning on checking it out because I’m intrigued by the idea of a play about photography.

Oops Magazine Artist Feature

January 11, 20063 Comments

Oops Magazine is a local bi-weekly Japanese language paper about life in Vancouver. My friend Noriko Miyamura is a writer for the magazine, and I was recently interviewed by her for an article about my work that’s in the current addition. Some of my photographs have been included, as well as a picture of me taken by Joanna Garfinkel. Please do take a look at their website.

Noriko has very kindly translated her article to English, and I’ve included it here:

Rachael’s photos are mysterious, and each one seems to have its own hidden message. People who become subjects of her portraits find them fascinating because it reveals their true feelings or subtle sexuality. Her subjects are mostly ordinary people, not professional models. They look natural in the photos and there is a feeling about them that each person is willing to open up their heart to her.

Rachael was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her interest in photography first developed when she was in high school. As an artist, she always feels the need to create something every day. Over the last few years she has focused on creating digital art, “I love to play with imagery (in Adobe Photoshop) and have fun with the original photographs. By doing so the photographs are telling their own story.” Rachael moved from Toronto to Vancouver in 2004, and is now working towards establishing herself as a freelance photographer. She is an avid blogger with various photo-related blogs. She enjoys interacting with other artists and shares her ideas, thoughts, and inspirations on her blogs. “To maintain an artistic practise, I feel that you have to do something creative every day. It takes dedication and determination to persue your dream, but it’s important to just do what you want to do and have fun with it!”

She often can be found walking around the city with her camera, trying to capture “the moment” of everyday life. Today, maybe you will bump into Rachael as she takes her photos with passionate eyes.

Toy cameras

January 8, 20061 Comment

I’m a fairly recent inductee into the world of the of the toy camera enthusiast (also called trash or crap cams). It’s a very unexclusive group of those who enjoy the challenge of taking photographs with cheap plastic cameras with questionable exposure control and wonky image quality. Here’s an excerpt from the toy camera website on what it’s all about:

Who are toy camera photographers?
The toy camera photographer eschews the modern developments of camera technology, the reliance on computerised exposure systems, motorised film transport, PPI, TTL, CCD, DOF, the drive for higher and higher resolution, for gizmos, gadgets and carbon fibre tripods.
They believe focus is an over-rated commodity in most photographs and a focusing ring to be a needless gimmick on your average camera.
They may however enjoy painting their Holga a pretty color.
Toy camera photographers are rebels who want to prove that you can make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Toy cameras are for the artist within. It’s all about the photograph, and not about the price of your gear.
They may even make their camera themselves out of an oatmeal box.
They agree that depth of feeling is more important than depth of field. Toy camera photographers probably would probably get kicked out of the f64 club.
Toy camera photographers would probably call themselves Neo Photo-Secessionists who believe in the intrinsic revelatory power of the snapshot, if they knew or cared what that means anyway.
They are also sick and tired of getting stiffed by ridiculous ‘collector’ prices for old Diana’s on e-bay.
Toy camera photographers believe:
“If it’s plastic, it’s fantastic”.
“I can never be bothered with dials and things anyway”.
“My camera is not a status symbol of my upwardly mobile social standing”.
“You may or may not use the viewfinder- it’s up to you”
“It’s all just a bit of fun”.
-Don Brice

My first introduction to toy camera photography came in 2005 when I began shooting with a low quality medium format camera called a holga. I found this camera fascinating and challenging because of it’s limitations, and was determined to figure it out and make it work for me. A full set of these shots can he found here on flickr, and more of my thoughts on the holga can be found in it’s own section of my portolio.

My success with the Holga, in combination with the influence of my friend Christopher Evans, has led to further acquisitions of trash cams. The two shots below were taken with a Time Magazine camera that I bought for five dollars at a camera show last fall. At the same event I picked up a Konica Super Wide disposable self-portrait camera, and I absolutely love it for the weird distortion of perspective the lens creates.

I’ve found that part of the fun of toy cameras is trying to find interesting ones at places like camera shows, flea markets and second-hand stores. Yesterday I went on a hunt for something new, and hit the jackpot at Value Village of all places. I am now the proud owner of an Akira focus free, a Kellogg’s Snap Crackle & Pop, and a no-name yellow camera once intended as a starter model for kids. I can’t wait to get out and start shooting with these once the weather improves, and see the weird and wonderful things these cameras can do.

2005 pictoral review…

January 2, 20061 Comment

In honour of New Years day, I’m presenting some of the photographic “Year 2005 in Review” slide shows for your viewing pleasure.

Reuters – 2005 Pictures of the Year.

MSNBC – Editors and Readers Choice.

CBC – Faces of 2005.

CBC – Canada The Year in Photos.

Looking back through my own photos from the past year, I realize it’s difficult to choose just a few that I feel are the “best of” or that sum up the year for me. It’s been a very productive and inspired year artistically, thanks to the photo community at Flickr and to my local group of Flickr friends in Vandigicam. I’ve decided to select some of my favorite photos from a few of the series I worked on this past year:

In 2005 I was inspired to explore self portraiture in a way I never have before, and in the process I think I learned a lot more about photographing other people.

I took an endless amount of portraits of the people around me,

and generally photographed the heck out of the year….

Expired film

December 26, 20052 Comments

I really enjoy meeting other photographers because of the unexpected influences their style and techniques can bring to my own photography. Take for example the work of my friend Joanna and her use of cross processed expired slide film, which she mostly shoots with for the sake of its lower price and tendancy towards weird colouration. It was not something I would have thought to try without her influence.

This shot of mine was taken with expired Seattlechrome slide film. I’m not sure of the age of the roll but I can tell the film wasn’t stored properly at a stable temperature because of the “fogging” through the highlight areas. The colour shift is very interesting and brings a certain nostalgia to the shot that reminds me of family photographs from the seventies.

Part of the challenge of shooting with this kind of film is the unpredictablity of the results. It all depends on how the film was stored, its age, accuracy of exposure, and the reaction of the film when cross processed.

These three portraits were taken with a roll of Fujichrome 100 ISO that expired in 1993 that I picked up at a camera show. The most interesting colour shift was in the shot on the left because the subject was actually wearing a brown shirt and vest, not blue. Really old expired film can be tricky to find, but I would recommend camera shows and ebay as places to start, and most local photo supply stores tend to have a few rolls they’d be happy to get off their hands for a cheaper price. A good way to “age” newly expired film is through dramatic temperature change, say by experimenting with leaving it on the heater. I’d suggest doing this under controlled conditions, and not just leaving it there indefinately. Let me know if it works!

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life