B.F.A Thesis Show
January 18, 2012
“The work I have produced over the course of this year has been based on the social make up of the rural communities I call home, and my own drive to collect. My current body of work begins here, toying with both my desire to document and present my own community and my impulse to hoard and accumulate objects that I identify with. I have chosen four specific professions, to make four very precise and individual portraits, including, a hairdresser, a garbage man, a floor sander, and a secretary. Focusing in on manual labor and the trades, I have utilized materials specific to each subject, to create a particular environment directly concerning the line of work of each individual. Each of the subjects that I have chosen is crafted exclusively from the material associated with his or her trade. The monotony of the ‘daily grind’ is captured by the large accretion of the material defining each figure. In incorporating sonic elements, I have condensed and concentrated audio for each figures own voice and the tools they use, I strategically place the viewer directly in the atmosphere and perspective of the subjects. Deliberately, I selected four individuals, who not only live in my community, but are people who I associate with weekly, if not daily. This familiarity translates into an intimacy and complexity with each of the occupations. ”
Peter Kennedy
September 6, 2009
In between my assignments, for this class and others, I have attempted to enlighten myself on the process that is cyanotypes.
Although I dont mean it as a dorky, brown nose statement, I find the alt process book by Christopher James ,to be an amazing source of information. It is also clerverly writen and find myself ‘lol-ing’ after I read some of his small anecdotes. This book will definitely not be re-sold on amazon in hopes of making a small marginal profit, but will forever reside on my bookshelf , most likely next to my ever growing collection of polaroid cameras. Although I havent finished the chapter on cyanotypes quite yet, it wont be a ‘forced read’, and will go back to my little corner to finish it up most likely after I write this post.
Anyhoo I have found a vast amount of Artists working in this media on Alternativephotography.com, which has been the best source of hunting down artists for my alt. process class thus far.
I was able to find an artist by the name of Peter Kennedy and after seeing some 10 plus images he has created, I found him worthy of blogging about.

Typewriter ©

Blue Jeans ©
His composistion remind me of something I might see on Polanoid, a site thats enables users to post polaroids of all sorts ( from Mamiya with polaroid backs to altered peel aparts from Land cameras) Also a site that I have found myself over the summer, to frequently visit. Getting back to the point , his pictures make me think of users on polanoid, who with their expensive and now obsolete film , take great care in deciding what memories they wish to be transfered to film. His pictures have this soul that I cherish and admire (He also scored mega brownie points with me , who is obsesed with typewriters, found his print of a Brother typewriter.
It also made my heart flutter a bit when I read his bio and discovered he uses a Holga camera ( a plastic ‘toy camera’ that was first produced in Hong Kong in 1982 , but has been reintroduced by lomography at a steap increase in price, for hipsters who frequent urban outfitters and die hard photographers alike. ) It produces vignetting , light leaks, and basically any other so called ‘mistakes’ that most professionals would frown over.

Holga Bikini ©
If you havent guessed by my ‘subtle’ include of polaroids, I have quite the obsession. I would like to post about my new found ‘obsession’ but I am afraid once I start to talk about , I wont be able to stop. However once I find the time, I will most likely ( eventually) post some of my recent polaroids and new found knowledge of instant film . But first I must return to my alternative process book.
Binh Danh
August 30, 2009
While perusing through The Book of alternative photographic processes, I found myself highly interested in the chapter dealing with Anthotypes and Chlorophyll processes. The Chapter ended with striking images printed on leaves by a Vietnamese-born artist named Binh Danh.
At first, I have to admit, I had one of those “ Why didn’t I think of that” moments. Simply sandwich a negative and a leaf in between two sheets of glass , expose to the sun and let nature ( and in this case photosynthesis) do the rest. But Danh’s work is much more than just images juxtaposed on to leaves. Many of his leaf pieces deal with the Vietnam War , a war that forced Danh to move to the United States with his family at a young age. Faces and portraits frequent the leaves, creating haunting images as the sun bleaches the leaf. The leaf also serves as a part of the composition, the shapes of the faces tend to echo the shapes of the leaf.

Binh Danh . Drifting souls. 2000
In the case of Drifting souls. The slender leaf frames the soldiers perfectly. The green and yellow tones that the leaf produces, is noticeably similar to the colors in camouflage uniforms. Danh talks about his work as ‘decomposing’ to creating something else, almost a sense of rebirth.
Danh first finds leafs suitable for the negative that he creates on a computer, he then puts the leaf on a felt backing placing the negative on top, and a sheet of glass on top of that. These sun ‘exposures’ can take a few days , up to a few months. If and when satisfied , Danh then casts the pieces in resin in order to preserve them so the images are not lost.
What I appreciate about Binh Danh’s work, is not only is his method very inventive but his themes are personal and relate well with the media in which he works.