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Week 11: Objects Matter: Materiality and Photographic Surface

Updated: 22 hours ago

When thinking about the history of photography, one might think back to a time before digital photography was a thing, where people would shoot onto film and then develop the images onto photo paper. That paper is what is known as the photographic surface. Traditionally this surface will be specialist paper which ranges from shiny and reflective, to fully matte. There are other materials and manipulations to this process that would create effects on an image, “the visual properties of the surface of the image have depended on the material— for instance, the daguerreotype could be viewed only through physical manipulation in the hand to establish the correct viewing angle” (Edwards, 2004).

Throughout history, there have been many changes, and it will likely continue to change past the current digital age into a new age of new technology where new photographic surfaces would be available. “the light sensitive surface has changed a great deal, especially in the move from paper, metal and celluloid coated with chemicals to the electronic” (Elkins, 2011).

One good example of a practitioner who manipulates the photographic surface is Letha Wilson. Wilson describes herself as an amateur photographer, as many of her images of mountains, deserts, and other landscapes are similar to images taken by tourists on their holidays. She takes these nondescript images and manipulates the photographic surface by pleating it, cutting it, or even sticking things onto it, in order to create a new piece of abstract art.


(Wilson,2021)

These images, although being somewhat visible what the original image was, could have other hidden meanings and agendas, that are only really known by the artist themselves. 

This week also marked the ending of the module, and the last touches on my final project. With all of the images, I had to record the sound, edit the videos and upload them before coding the interactive image.

I had issues whilst shooting with recording sound, so I re-recorded all sound at home, which does mean the sound quality is better, although I do question the genuinity of the project now. I also had issues with Premiere Pro, which I was thankfully able to get working. After the last time I did something like this, I said that if I were to do it again, I would use vimeo rather than youtube as the video quality may be better. I tried to upload to vimeo, however had restrictions on a free account, and wasn’t able to upgrade. I exported them from premier pro in 4k, rather than 1060p, which seems to have helped a great deal. I also had some problems getting the interactive image to line up correctly on mobile viewing, however I was able to fix that by re-coding it. I was originally going to add background sound, however I decided that the moments of silence would be a good time for reflecting and can add emphasis to the words being spoken.

I am pleased with how the project has turned out, and I am glad of the restrictions, as I think if I had many more images per map it would have been overwhelming, and if I had done more locations the original map could have been crowded. So far, the response from my peers has been positive.

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