Photography etc.

Third year photography student at Brighton University. www.laurenshields.co.uk
So i went to my usual spot for creating photograms..and there were some scary looking people in cars all parked up along with some gypsies…..so I drove to another river! I was a bit annoyed at having to change my plans, i’ve got used to my little spot by the river now so i’m starting to work out what works. The conditions are different in the new river so i expected the prints to look different - I didn’t think they would look so aggressive! almost all of the prints have these aggressive marks on them. 

So i went to my usual spot for creating photograms..and there were some scary looking people in cars all parked up along with some gypsies…..so I drove to another river!

I was a bit annoyed at having to change my plans, i’ve got used to my little spot by the river now so i’m starting to work out what works. The conditions are different in the new river so i expected the prints to look different - I didn’t think they would look so aggressive! almost all of the prints have these aggressive marks on them. 

Looking at (the amazing) Susan Derges’ work, I think she might use flash to create her images…this was my attempt of using flash - although it was a bit too harsh! It would have been great to capture the movement of the water. 

I made a RIDICULOUS lamp shade.

I raided my charity shop & bought lots of lace, ribbon, beads, trinkets etc, and used some broken jewellery too to create this ridiculous lamp shade. Hooray!

I’ve now taken it off this lamp base (another charity shop find), and put it on the ceiling light in my bedroom at uni. It makes me smile every time I look at it, its hilarious and a bit pretty at the same time.

onefootout asked: On your post about your friend Amy’s birthday present, where did you get that wax for sealing the letter? I can't ever find the right kind! I love it, by the way :)

Hey! My beautiful friends bought it for me for my birthday - however i’m pretty sure they bought it from a shop in Brighton (UK), called Pen To Paper - http://www.pentopaperonline.com. 

They’ve only got a small selection on their website - http://www.pentopaperonline.com/product.php?productid=440&cat=6&page=1, not sure if you’re from the UK but they’ve got lots more in their shop :) 

This is definitely my favourite photogram yet. Again, it was created in a river local to me.

This is definitely my favourite photogram yet. Again, it was created in a river local to me.

Thought i’d have a go at creating a cyanotype using a plant found by my pond….nice change from all the red i’ve been creating!

Thought i’d have a go at creating a cyanotype using a plant found by my pond….nice change from all the red i’ve been creating!

oohhh I can’t stop listening to Between the Cheats by Amy Winehouse….it’s just so.. <3 

Here i was experimenting with different coloured lights & coloured perspex objects, it didn’t make a huge difference though with the colour. I’d just like a bit of another colour please river :)

After weeks and weeks of just black prints with yellow scratches & lines on them, i’ve finally got some proper colour! I created these while at home for christmas in a river at night. These have definitely benefited from very little light at the river and a very quick turnaround - they were processed in my little make shift colour processing room about 30 mins after they were created.

thank god for that!

This is one of my first colour photograms created in the sea, it was made in Rottingdean. Almost everyone I spoke to about my idea said it wouldn&#8217;t work; colour darkroom paper is very light sensitive and not as forgiving as black &amp; white paper. Most people said that black &amp; white photograms in the sea would be complicated enough&#8230;.but I&#8217;m just not a very black &amp; white person!  It was hilarious getting a long bus ride to a place we&#8217;d never been to before in the dark, getting absolutely soaking wet &amp; cold in the sea trying to create something with no idea what i was doing. Although i&#8217;ve created 3 black &amp; white photograms, using colour paper for this kind of work is a whole other boardgame! I had the help of the lovely http://rachelmcg.tumblr.com/, who got absolutely soaking too, so we headed straight to the nearest pub for a well earned glass of vino. Although this has only captured the shape of my boot (which was holding the paper down, the sea was so rough!), its still something.

This is one of my first colour photograms created in the sea, it was made in Rottingdean. Almost everyone I spoke to about my idea said it wouldn’t work; colour darkroom paper is very light sensitive and not as forgiving as black & white paper. Most people said that black & white photograms in the sea would be complicated enough….but I’m just not a very black & white person!

 It was hilarious getting a long bus ride to a place we’d never been to before in the dark, getting absolutely soaking wet & cold in the sea trying to create something with no idea what i was doing. Although i’ve created 3 black & white photograms, using colour paper for this kind of work is a whole other boardgame!

I had the help of the lovely http://rachelmcg.tumblr.com/, who got absolutely soaking too, so we headed straight to the nearest pub for a well earned glass of vino.

Although this has only captured the shape of my boot (which was holding the paper down, the sea was so rough!), its still something.