The second photography assignment took us into 35mm black and white photography, where we were to develop both the film and the images ourselves. The assignment was to photograph things that we have never seen before, or objects in a way that we have never seen before. I felt as though I had a small advantage as I was new to the country. While walking around the city, I found different objects and scenes that I was able to photograph in high detail. The project also stretched my knowledge of SLR cameras and photography, as well as the way in which I arrange myself when taking a photograph to manipulate the final result.
For the photographs of stairs, I was inspired by the photography of Andrew Wright, who photographs trees to put them in their vertical position. This made the photographs of the stairs somewhat confusing, as you wished to tilt your head for the background to be horizontal, but the crop of the image would make it feel abnormal, making you look at the image as it is presented. This fragmented reality through careful cropping and imaging is also seen in the work of Pascal Grandmaison.
Within the dark room, I was able to display my use of the filters within the enlarger, breaking up the number of greys within the image – this is seen in the image of the bin. Dodging and burning was a technique I utilised throughout the development of the images to provide better contrast in certain areas. The final images were clear, crisp and included a high range of tones. The project not only expanded my knowledge of 35mm photography, but also my knowledge of the city of Ottawa.
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