Over the lockdown period, starting during my BA but culminating after I had finished all the work for that, myself and a close friend of mine Ben Ashing decided to try a collaborative exploration into the medium of film photography. One that the results of we have only just been able to develop and view.
Neither of us had successfully participated in a film swap before. I had attempted to participate in one at the beginning of 2020 through a film swap community I had found on social media. I took my pictures and posted my roll off to Ireland but never received any final images back or even any further communication with the person I was to swap with. So, this meant that this film swap was all the more exciting because of that first disappointment.
To get the correct exposure for a film swap there are a couple of ways you could go about it. For the colour roll the film was rated at an iso of 200 so to get a good exposure level for the double exposure we would be crafting we metered the scene as if we were using a film of iso 400 which would mean each individual shot was underexposed. This under-exposure of each layer of images meant that when the second underexposed image was shot over the top of the first, the exposure would level out to a correctly exposed degree for the iso 200 rating the film had. We tried a different method for this exposure compensation when working with the black and white roll. For this we metered the scene at box speed of iso 200, and then when transferring the meter settings to the camera we would just go one stop down, thus creating the same level of under-exposure for each shot as the first method mentioned.
We both had restrictions in what our subjects would be. Ben was in his flat in Brighton so had the opportunity to take his camera with him when going out for his government allotted exercise hour, and I was at home in Worthing with my Dad. Due to the workload I had toward the end of my BA and my Dad's vulnerability to the virus a lot of my images, especially for the first colour roll we did, consisted of locations in our house and garden as well as the dog walking spots we would go to. Brighton and Worthing may be physically close together, but the aesthetics and overall energies of the two places couldn't be much further apart. This coupled with the palpably odd atmosphere the first round of lockdowns created made for some rather interesting and introspective final images.
Toward the end of the XP2, I was due to come back to Aberystwyth to sort out a variety of things that needed me to be present in person. This meant that we also managed to capture parts of the train journey back here as well as Aber itself in tandem with the city shots of Brighton. I feel that a lot of the images that include Aber and Brighton push the clashing of locations even further than those that included Brighton and Worthing. There is one particular image including shots of one of the trains I had to travel on as well as a shot of what I consider my true home, Brighton. This image in particular stirs up a lot of emotions for me as the journey back to Aber was one I was incredibly anxious about. Not only because I had never taken a train to Aber before, only ever coaches, but also because I had been thrust into having to stay in Sussex over lockdown (as I have spoken about in this blog before) and I was now leaving my Dad to almost fend for himself. I know he is a grown man, my parent at that, but I had just finished a very emotionally heavy project about his illness and health whilst I was back home caring for him during an operation and some of the worst rheumatic flare ups of his life. I was the one doing the food shopping because Dad had to shield, and for the whole journey back I was surrounded by a cloud of anxiety and forced hands. I didn't want to leave my dad at home, but I had to come back to Aber to sort out my own life before public transport became even more of a hassle again. This particular image, for me, represents this uncertainty and this forced journey between two 'homes' and is something that I could stare at for hours just contemplating a myriad of things.
A number of the images include people. Either self-portraits of the artist or of their friends and immediate circle. I'm not normally one for straight up portraits, I prefer there to be something more than a face when it comes to my own work. Not to say I don't believe portraiture is an art form, it's just one that intimidates me ever so slightly. Doing a film swap you can't plan a shot beyond the composition of your own scene which I felt brought more joy and less worry to the subject or portraits for myself. Knowing Ben's work like I do, I knew there would be some portraits in there, both candid and not, so I found myself considering the possibility of a portrait over each scene I shot. This whole experience helped me really analyse how I take an image and the thought process I go through when crafting the right shot.
This whole thing has been such an insightful and educational experience. It's gotten me a lot more comfortable with not only the thought process behind each image, but with the technicalities of working with film also due to the exposure compensation needed. As this film swap was intended as an exploration into the medium of film photography, I feel its certainly done its job. I can't speak on Ben's behalf, but I know I thoroughly enjoyed myself and felt myself grow as an artist; I can't wait to do it again soon.
Further images from this film swap can be found under the "Collaboration Works" section of my portfolio page.
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