Photo. Kit Miller

Friday 28 June 2019

Cyanotypes. Before and After


I exposed the fabric for a short while before laying the flowers in place. I'm not sure how much difference it made, but the intention was to have a slightly softer background, not just pure white.
The flowers were sandwiched between the fabric and glass to keep them flat and still.

The sun is bright today but I left them outside for quite a while as I wanted the blue to be quite strong.

Monday 24 June 2019

Tiny Views

I found what I think is an eye piece from a video camera. It is square with a lens inside. I held it over my phone camera lens and was able to take these close up images. Although my phone shows very fine detail, I liked the effects achieved with this method.
Apart from a little bit of editing such as slightly lighter or sharper on a few of them, the images are in  their original state. The black frame, which has been cropped down, is the edge of the eye piece. Holding the lens in place was a bit tricky though, which is why some of them are slightly crooked. It was such fun that I have taken more than 50 of these photos.



Sunday 23 June 2019

Cyanotypes on Fabric

New chemicals came in the post and the weather was clear and sunny, so obviously I had to experiment with cyanotypes. I pasted thick solution onto plain fabric and left it in the sun, which lead to a slightly blotchy effect. Carrot leaves under glass made a lovely mask on some pieces.
 The thing that I was most keen to try was cyanotype on rusted tea stained fabric. The colour does not always turn out well. Sometimes they just look murky and rather dull, however there were a few samples where the colour was lovely. More practice is needed to get the combinations right.
 I was hoping that some of the pieces would be suitable for making fabric mushrooms and I think  there are a few that will serve that purpose well.

Monday 10 June 2019

8mm Stills

Here are a few quirky images taken from old 8mm cine films that date from the late 1960s and 70s. My mother attached a clicker to the cine camera which meant that we could take thousands of still images.

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Some of them are much clearer than this but I have selected a few of the more interesting ones that have changed as a result of age or damage.
I cannot credit anyone as the photographer for any of the images as several family members would use the camera, even the children. In fact I should say especially the children, which made for some particularly interesting snapshots and snippets of film.



We now have a gadget that can capture and save them digitally, which is so much easier than looking at them through a magnifying glass against a bright light. Of course more importantly it means that the photos can be preserved and shared. Looking through the 20 or so rolls of film is quite time consuming but mostly fascinating, although it is always a bit sad when you find badly damaged strips.