Glossy (P4/Q2): Diary Entry

This project was a short requirement: one print that exudes the word "Gloss" in some way. We were to go to the parking lot and photograph cars, with the idea in mind of creating a compostion that showed "gloss" while keeping the exact identity of the subject hard to find out.

I focused on shooting cars with both intersing reflection and different curves and shapes of the piece of the car themself. I got a few where the bike shed was reflecting off of the hood of a car, which looked neat as the geometric slats of wood of the bike shed were warped in the surface of the car. I also got two shots that were along the top edge of the car, one with the foreground in focus and one with the middle ground in focus.

It was relatively easy to develop. The new fiber-based warmtone paper took some getting used to, but in the end worked out. I found that at the same aperture, a time of 1 second would turn out, but be grey and milky (and also take a lot of time in the developer), but a time of 7 or 8 seconds would not be too dark, would just require less developer time. In this way the print turned out more black and white. But only to a point. Since 7 seconds had improved the print so drastically, I thought that it wouldn't hurt to try the print at 8.3 seconds and try to get more detail in the foreground as well as make it more black and white. This didn't work, as the 7 second option turned out much more natural and ultimately looked better than the 8.3 second one. So to paper takes getting used to, especially cause it curls when dry, but I think that it will be good in the end for getting suficiently black and white prints.

After I was looking out for glossy parts of car in the parking lot, I found myself seeing many more things that I could have taken pictures of that were glossy, and wehre the identities would be hard to see. I made brownies that day, so I had to melt chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon and that looked especially glossy. It's just funny that once you are looking out for a certain texture or effect, you see it more in things you wouldn't expect.