Fires on the Plain – print final
Fires on the Plain is an autobiographical novel by Shohei Ooka dealing with the complete degradation and isolation of a man by war. Set on Leyte island in the Phillipines during the end of world war II, the Imperial Japanese Army is disintegrating under the hammer blows of the American landings. Private Tamura, the main character a sensitive and intelligent man slowly loses his hope, sanity and himself as he wanders the war zone in an ancient tropical jungle starving and hallucinating. Heres a small part of the project
reflection
This has been a really interesting semester for me. I had a rough start in photo with getting my cyanotypes and van dykes to come out like I wanted and got easily frustrated. Mid semester I started to get the hang of cyanotype and vandykes and the other processes we learned got easier, I became much more understanding and patient with the processes and was rewarded with much more success. End of the semester things really started to pick up, platinum/palladium and callotype were awesome I really liked the amount of detail I could get out them. I was also getting a ton of ideas which seems to happen often for me in the end the semester rush so they are hard to implement. Overall the semester was great however I constantly felt as if I wasn’t getting enough done especially mid semester, but tonight looking at my work desk with everything I’ve done this semester piled on, underneath and around it there is a lot I like, and if I dislike it I see how I can improve upon it. I also see improvement not only in my work but in the way I’m working, which is more consistent and with a tad more responsibility.
Liquid light is by far the most challenging photo process I’ve done, it seems to have a mind of its own but is so rewarding. It was deff my fave process to learn. Using it for my final brought up a lot of issues and new set of challenges, I indented to print on both sides of 5 large rusty steel plates for a total of 10 images. I only got 7 to work though 5 of which are actually decent. Half of my images cracked and peeled off, became overexposed or changed color when exposed to light. I spilled my last half bottle of liquid light over the weekend and rush ordered a replacement but it still hasn’t arrived. I intended to shoot holes through the plates with my Mauser then hang them with heavy industrial cable in a row so you could walk around them seeing both sides. Since I only got 2 plates to work with images on both sides I had to scrap that idea and just nail them to the wall. Still I’m satisfied with how it all turned out, just wish I had more time, liquid light has so many possibilities and is a great challenge, I look forward to working with it in the future.
I had a lot of fun this semester, everyone in the class was great and produced good work, I learned a lot about my work and myself, not much more to ask for. Thanks all
