My Nans Family Photographs

 This weekend I went down to my Nan's and looked through her photographs that were just in a box, here are some of the older ones of her as a child. Top row, left to right, my Nan and my Great-Great-Grandmother, Granny Hoy, my Nan as a bridesmaid in the 1940's, my Nan aged 18 with her younger brother Peter on holiday, and my Nan with her parents when they came to visit her in Glostershire when she was evacuated from London during the war. Below is a picture of my Great-Grandmother, Rose Martin, with my uncle Trevor in the early 1950's in London. Some of these photographs are postcard photos while some of the newer ones are paper ones. They are all small examples as it was too expensive to have larger ones and my Nans family was from North London and quite poor.

Silk Screen Induction + Idea

This is a bit late but last week I had a silk screen induction and I used a Victorian silhouette as my image, with the idea to do my own of my own family members. Silhouette's were put into albums just like photographs and kept safe for families to look at. Here is the test samples I did. I really like the process and results and think I will use this machine again.


My idea for my project is to make and album that goes through the different photographic processes, from silhouettes, to Tintypes, to card De Viste, to black and white, to colour, to Polaroid, to digital prints. But with my family as the subjects in all of them. Thinking about the idea of keeping photographs special and that modern photographs should be in albums as well as old ones, showing the years of development in the photographic process and the composition and style of photography.

More Family Albums

Here are some more recent albums with pictures ranging from 1950's to 80's in random orders again, with pictures of my mum and her niece as babies on the same page! These albums have hard covers with bright pictures on them and self adhesive pages to put pictures in any arrangement you want to. I prefer the pages with black and white photographs on them as I just prefer the photographs. None of the pages are labeled so there is no information for people who don't know who is in the pictures. Some of the pictures in these albums are ones that have fallen out of the Red Album and have been put in so they don't get lost.

The Red Photograph Album

Photographs of an old album of my grandparents with pictures of them and my mum and her brothers in it. Even though its falling apart I like this and think it adds character. Its also funny how my grandad labeled the pictures but didnt put them in order and so while they are trying to keep the photographs safe anyone else looking at the album in the future would get confused! Some of the pictures have also fallen out or others taken out to give to family members so there are gaps in the album where photographs used to be. My mum says this was their "Family album" that they all used to look at, I like that idea of a big album that is almost liked a loved member of the family.

Collodion Process

In the library and on the Internet the only process i can find to make Tintypes or Ambrotypes (onto glass) I then cant find the main chemical Collodion, after asking my brother who does Chemistry he said that Collodion was a compound so it would probably have a longer name. The only other option unless I can find a way to make them is to buy a kit, there seems a reasonably priced kit that says it fits in any camera and so I assume would produce what are called Gem Tintypes, (small portraits that are then mounted onto Card de Viste) on this website; http://www.rockaloid.com/products.html#tintype

So I have been trying to think about other ways of producing the look of a Tintype and while this could be experimented with silk screen printing and perhaps etchings and copies its the actual process I am interested in.

Research

It is proving SOOOOO difficult to find a process for making Tintypes that I would actually be able to do!

I went to the library and the one book listed with the word Tintype or Ferrotype in isn't actually there any more, helpful! I did find other books on earlier processes, particularly the Daguerreotypes, made using plates of silver and put into glass frames to stop them getting scratched easily. Here is an example of one I found in a library book;

(AWAITING PICTURE)

The photograph was taken in black and white with the tinting done later by hand. Whilst this process produces much nicer results than Tintypes, the process involves using mercury so there's no chance I would be able to recreate them! Not the safest pictures in the world!

Tintypes

Tintypes! I found two tintypes amongst my family photographs, while I havnt got a photograph of them I have become inerested in the process. I have also seen them in films such as "Cold Mountain" I just like the look of them and the idea that they will last longer than normall photographs.

Whilst looking at the Tintype process I have been thinking about the idea that modern photographs arent cherished and treasured as much as old photographs; is this because our ancestors valued photographs more because they were rarer? And so we value what they valued? Whereas now we can print a photograph for mere pence, or just keep them digitally for free, meaning we produce more and more and they get less and less formal.

Above is just a picture I found of some old Tintypes, they are all formal photographs with just one subject, I like the man at the top in the hat.

In this advert for the Olympus PEN camera they shot over 60 000 photographs and developed 9600 photographs to produce this stop motion, now thats impressive!!

I have seen these adverts for Amazon Kindle's on TV and I really like the way they are made, I am going to try and think up a similar idea and my own video, + the music is great!

Film Project

Film Project: 

Task: To remake the film Avatar in two minutes.

Plan: to film half with group member reading a script and the other half with cut out avatar characters and miniture set of greenery.

Special Effects: Blue face paint, a tourch and cut outs on sticks

Group members: Me, Beth, Karol, Dave, Jack.

Party Project.

The Party Project this week was a fun project, my group were set the BIOLOGISTS PARTY to create. We all starting thinking about Charles Darwin and decided to focus on him as a sort of theme. We stuck up diagrams of dissection and plants and we even stole a tree branch for some decorative foliage!!! 

For our costumes we all made our own, I made a bow tie out of a red plastic bag and a mustache using Cotton wool pads and double sided sticky! Of course the outfit wasn't complete without a checked shirt, waistcoat and over sized spectacles! ;) 

Our chloroplast extract (limeade) and Darwin's Brew (Gin dyed blue) went down well even if Beth did make them a little strong! 

A really enjoyable project and I really liked seeing what the other groups had done, particularly the "Party without any guests" blocking up their party! Great way to get to know the second years, should be fun again next year! 

To The BLOCK!!!!

For our summer project we were told to make a game for six players, I had just been to Hampton Court Palace one of Henry VIII palaces. As the project said to use your interests I immediately thought about Henry's six wives as I am a bit of a history buff! I came up with a board game where each player is one of Henry VIII wives;   

  

     

•   Katherine of Aragon
• Anne Boleyn
• Jane Seymour
• Anne of Cleves
• Katherine Howard
• Katherine Parr

The aim of the game was to be the last surviving wife who collected the most Crown Jewels and avoided the spinning axe in the centre! There are "Guess Who" questions with facts about the wives on them and the player has to guess which wife it is (my group found them much harder than I thought they were!) and chance type cards.The board wasn't perfect but I'm pleased with the actual idea and general look of the game. I called the game TO THE BLOCK!!

What wife wouldn't want to out-smart King Henry!!!