Essay presented

27) Conclusion

Throughout this project I've learned that there isn't always an end result and a art project can be everlasting as there is always something new that can be added or changed to take it further. With my project as the results are less controllable and each outcome is different I could simply do another shoot and there could be an element of that shoot that leads into a whole new area of work, and therefor it can never really end. This is something that I will definitely continue experimenting with post A-level as it's something that I can easily dip in and out of when I want to. I won't always want to shoot with destructive film as it can get in the way of other elements of photography that I like.

26) Coca-cola shots

Even though the household items shoots didn't work out very well I was still really pleased with the few that managed to work. I managed to get some really nice colours. I feel this shoot shows the possibilities of photography that push passed the boundaries of a normal photo, it starts going more into creating abstract colours, shapes and patterns. I like to see this process a bit like making a cake. The camera, the setting, the lighting, the destructive film and the development are all ingredients that have their own effect on the final outcome. Even if you followed the same steps you're still going to get a different result every time, which makes each shoot and shot unique. It would takes an enormous amount of time to be able to re-create some of these shots as I have no control over the elements such as the colours created and the arrangement of the dots ect. What I need to do from here is just see what works well and what doesn't and just continue experimenting. If I were to do another shoot with the lemon juice I'd try only leaving the film in the juice for maybe 2 minutes and see if I managed to get some results then. 

I really like the tiny hints of blue and pink seeping into the white area of the image. I also love the little bit of light in the top left hand corner, it reminds me of being underwater and looking up towards the surface.

25) Products from around the house, destructive film preperation

After looking at Matthew Cetta I wanted to experiment further into destructive film than just boiling the film. Matthew Cetta's results were a lot more toxic and artificial as appose to Dustin Adam's shots have a much cleaner modern feel to them. Matthew Cetta experimented with a lot of acidic househeld items such a lemon juice, drano and frebreeze. I could only find fairy liquid and lemon juice and I bought a bottle of coca-cola to use as well. I poured the liquid into an old mug that I wouldn't use for drinking and left the film inside for about 5 minutes before leaving it to dry. Then I washed the mug out so that there was no remains of any of the previous liquid that could effect the results of the next shoot.

After taking doing the three shoots I took them to ASDA to get them developed. They refused to take the fairy liquid shoot as the emulsion was all over the canister and they were unable to get any results from the lemon juice shoot. They only manged to get around 5 shots from the coca-cola shoot. So it wasn't very successful but in my research a lot of even the experienced photographers like Dustin Adams said that even though he's been doing it for so long, it's still very hit and miss.

24) Regular film shoot

I did a shoot with the same camera in the same location with regular, unmodified colour film to compare to my boiled film shoot

I really like this image as it shows how even though it's a natural landscape, it's still very man made as the trees are in rows creating a path through the middle.

I find these images of the frozen lake very relaxing. I especially like the composition of the top one and I really like the darker areas in the corners of the pond, I feel it gives the image more depth.

I really like the top image with all the dark areas as it makes the viewer look into it more and use other areas of the image to interpret it, it adds a bit of mystery and uncertainty to the image which is what I want from my images, I don't want it to be 'given on a plate', I want the viewer to look at it for a while and think about the image rather than just glance at it and think, "oh yeah that's a nice landscape" and move on.  

The bottom image out of these two is definitely my favorite out of thew shoot. I was using a 50mm lens as that's the best one I had for landscapes, but as it has a fixed focal point it's better for portraits and singling out a subject in a area. I was able to take advantage of this and get a really nice shot with a great depth of field. I really like the clean organic film feel created with the out of focus area of this image.

23 Matthew Cetta film chemistry

Matthew Cetta has done a ton of experimenting with different liquid substances to see the different effects that you can create from damaging the film. He goes from everyday household items that we consume or use, to much harsher, more dangerous chemicals. Matthew also uses cheap 'toy' cameras often with plastic lenses to accentuate the effects.

Drano

Febreeze

Ginger Juice

This is probably one of the most unique images out of the series due to the edges looking like they've been melted into. My guess is that the ginger juice completely washed off all the emulsion from that those areas of the film.

Olive Brine

22) Boiled film shots

I am really pleased with the outcome of this shoot; the boiling water managed to distort the colours of the photos and add some nice shapes over the top, as well as being able to still see a lot of the scenery.

I don't particularly like the light pinks and purples with the green of the trees and plants but I find it more interesting of an image than if it wasn't there. Yet again, that is part of the fun with film and destructive film photography is that you're never sure what outcome you're going to get, the more I experiment the more I can narrow down what works best, but I still don't have 100% control over it, which I like as it encourages me to do more shoots.

 The top image out of these two is probably my favorite from the shoot as it is the most abstract. I love the warm blues and purples that the boiling water has created. I know as the photographer, that it's a shot of a river and all the light dots on the left is the light from the sun reflecting off the water.

I love the shapes created in the top image. They have a very toxic feel to them whit the big blops and lots of speckles.