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These are the different sequences of footage composed in Final Cut Pro. The average number of photographs per footage is 800, the frame rate is 8fps.
Dark Canal Water
Blue Canal Water
Close-up Reflection of gasometer
Reflection of gasometers
The next one is a composite of two sequences overlayed, as I said in the symposium, to mirror the process used on the valve images where I merged two different exposures I am exploring the merging of two different footages into one. This presents to the viewer a double set of information of exactly the same location captured at different times, bringing the concept of time capture closer to mind.
The sequence shown below is just the basis for the final piece where the pace of the sequence will slow down at random intervals reminding us of the static nature of the footage and bringing back the pensive quality of photography.
The following are two rough sketches for the proposed installation of the screens that will show the final footage. The idea is to show the same footage on three screens sequentially so the water movement is emphasized, traveling from one screen to the next one (past-present-future), showing the time line and narrative by using the vertical spatial display. I think that the formalism of this display ties in with the formality of the valve typology displayed on a frame. It makes a connection in between the two pieces of work strengthening their viewing context.
Front view
Back view
A previous idea was to have it in a low rectangular box, with the monitors looking up, simulating the way I took the footage of the water.
and this was a former idea of having 3 plasma screens on a corner set, it has an inclusive feeling but it is very different from the way in which I am displaying my valve piece, if I were to have a room just for the displaying of this piece, this shape could have been a good proposal but with large x large scale screens instead.
Location: Regents canal, Andrew’s Road, Hackney
The London canal system played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution, at the time the most common way of transport in land were pack horses. Canals became a reliable way to transport goods. The early 19th century was their golden age, a good number of canals were built and shipping companies flourished.
Regent’s Canal started to be built in 1812 and was extensively used for the transport of merchandise. Most canals fell into decline by 1920s when steam trains became the regular means of transport, however Regent’s Canal continued to be have commercial traffic till 1948 when it was nationalised, by this time the canal’s importance for commerce was dwindling. By the late 1960s commercial vessels had almost ceased to operate. In 1969 the closure of the Regent’s Canal Dock put an end to shipping.
After a few visits to the same spot and 6.681 photographs later I have 5 different captures to start working on compositing time lapse photography footage. The images where taken at regular intervals of 5 seconds from a fixed viewpoint. Below there are examples of individual frames of different footage:
11.00am. Canon EOS20D, 50mm, 200 ISO, f5.6
11.00am. Canon EOS20D, 35mm, 200 ISO, f8
11.00am. Canon EOS40D, 50mm, 200 ISO, f8
11.00am. Canon EOS40D, 50mm, 200 ISO, f8
11.00am. Canon EOS40D, 35mm, 200 ISO, f8
I took this images on a small fine quality setting which equals 1728 x 1152 pixels. If we look at video image quality we can see that HDV can be 1280 x 720 or 1440 x 1080 and HDTV (wide screen) would be 1920 x 1080 so the small fine quality is a good choice for the chosen output.
Chronophotography, a bit of history…
The capture of sequences of images was used at the end of the nineteenth century in a scientific manner to study movement for a variety of purpose such as medicine, biology (by practitioners such as Étienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard J. Muybridge) and ‘scientific management’ techniques for industrial efficiency (Frederick Winslow Taylor). At the beginning of the twenty first century we find artist using these techniques exploring the growing relationship between cinema, photography and what lies in between, this presented a number of possibilities and ideas that have been taken forward within the visual arts. According to Ian Roberston, Chronophotography alludes to ‘…issues regarding the veracity of photography, the use of serialism and repetition, the role of memory and imagination in acts of perception and our subjective experience of time and space developed by Bergson in his theories on felt time and duration which he developed contemporaneously with chronophotography’.
E.J Marey has had a great influence in artistic practice, although the initial intention of his work was scientific his work has been considered not only an influence but art itself. Marey used the term Chronophotography to describe a set of photographs of a moving image taken from the same viewpoint at equal intervals. His work was exhibited in Paris (Palais de Chaillot 1963) along with Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Gino Severini. This exhibition linked the work of Marey with the Avant Garde; setting a relationship in between Chronophotography, Conceptual Art, Surrealism and Futurism.
In 1891 E.J Marey recorded ‘La Vague‘ on the bay of Naples. He was seeking a better understanding of movement. In his analysis he remains objective, his work was developed out of methodological and precise experiments and following a positivist attitude with its coherence, logic and attention to detail. His work also can be seen within the realm of artistic representation as throughout the course of his ‘experiments’ he cultivated a passion for the intangible, the movements of fluids such as air, water and smoke. He allowed the beauty of the shapes he observed to develop within the simplicity of the arrested image.
Étienne-Jules Marey, La Vague, 1891
Another example of Marey’s chronophotography, a collection of his films on Body Motions dating 1893:
Canal water-DV.( First attempt that has made me think about changing my method to lapse photography).
As part of my project I am including a piece of moving image made out of time lapse photography. I am not very happy with the outcome of the above video, which was filmed with a DV camera. It is a good starting point but I think that time lapse photography as an output for my methodology may provide a closer result to what I intend to portray and it will be more coherent with the rest of my project.
As well as documenting the machines and the spaces where the machines are housed I wanted to make a connection not only to the outside but also to an element with which all these inventions/technological advances depend upon: water. My project in this way will document three different elements, looking from the inside out. The valves are an essential artifact for the machine to function, they are a direct referent to the human/machine relationship and dependency. The architectural spaces are a testimony to the people that worked there and the engineers that constructed them. The water unifies everything making a connection with environment and the vital force that made this new technology possible.
The way I want to represent the water is through moving image. I am exploring the possibility of making a lapse photography video which will provide continuity on my methodology, using photography as the base of my practice and allowing me to continue developing my skills on that discipline. It will also provide a better quality image than standard digital video footage and will allow me to work with a bit more flexibility in post production (work yet to be done). I am considering presenting this work as a masked projection that fits into a light-box. The concept would be to have three light boxes, the two on the sides will have a still photographic images and the one in the center will have the projected moving image.
By using moving image constructed out of photographic stills I am also making a reference to the old relationship that exists in between photography and film. If we look at film, in a traditional sense, we see that it was composed out of still images that would go one on top of another constructing continuity and creating movement. Lapse photography allows the subversion of real time to a different pace, it creates a juxtaposition of technologies, photography representing a pensive moment and film representing the present. It also touches the dichotomy of configuration/de-configuration. Photographs when showed one after the other give us the illusion of motion whilst presenting individually captured moments, static images that allow us to contemplate the subtleties of an element in motion.
There is an interesting quote from Anton Bragaglia (1913), Italian futurist photographer who developed Fotodinamismo:
“We are not interested in the precise reconstruction of movement, which has already been broken up and analysed. We are involved only in the area of movement which produces sensation”.
Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Uomo che suona il contrabbasso
Anton Bragaglia used multiple exposure photography to capture motion. The intention of capturing movement with his experimental photography is related to lapse photography although in its base it is quite a different methodology. Personally I find this quote interesting because it talks about the vibration and the essence of a movement captured in the surface of the photograph, these qualities can also be applied to lapse photography where movement is explored and meditated, sometimes giving it a hypnotic quality that allows the triggering of our memory function.
The aim when I took these pictures was to learn about how to photograph interiors and get the maximum tonality out of the negatives. I am learning about the Zone System which is very useful to know if you want to achieve detail in highlights and shadows and also I am developing the film pushing the amount of time (or giving N+1 development) so that the upper zones or highlights have been pushed up a further zone but the shadows and lower zones stay where they are achieving this way a greater tonality.
I have a diagram that explains what happens to the tones with different developing times (the roman numerals refer to the different tonal zones):
To get an even better tonality I developed the film for 20 minutes and the developer was diluted in a 1-100 proportion. I used Rodinal which was patented by Dr. Momme Andresen in 1891. It is the oldest continuously-produced developer formula in the world. At high dilutions Rodinal works as a compensating developer, which means that as the chemicals get exhausted they stop working on the highlights but continue working on the mid tones, thus preventing blown highlights.
There is an useful website to get correct times for developing, it is www.digitalthruth.com
The film I used is Rollei Pan25 which, according to the ad, offers outstanding resolution, sharpness and edge contrast, coupled with extremely fine grain and a long tonal range. This film is ideal where maximum quality is required, and its clear base makes it perfect for scanning. The only fault is that the film is quite thin and it curls a lot making it difficult to scan the negatives an quite fiddly in general.
I took this pictures with a classic medium format camera ( Hasselblad Super Wide). This is the technical data for the following images:
Colour Darkroom:
Meter readings: the floor was on zone II and the sink on zone VI
Aperture: f11, 6 minutes
Sculpture workshop:
Meter readings: the girder was on zone II and the sink on zone VI
Aperture: f11, 150 seconds
Type room:
Meter readings: the back of the room was on zone II and the highlight under the fluorescent light on zone VII
Aperture: f11
