In my color photography class (Art 318A) this semester with Prof Sue Jenkins, we have looked at scanography as a different form of capturing color images. This past week before Easter break I tried it out on our Epson scanners that we have in our computer lab in Insalaco with some flowers from the studio. After attempting with only one flower, I tried adding more to the scene and kept some stationary while moving other parts. I think this really helped add depth to the scene and make it feel less stagnant.
Earlier in the semester, we also did the film version of scanography, called photograms. Photograms are made by exposing photo paper directly from the enlarger without a negative and using different objects or ones hands to block the light. This was done in one of our darkrooms using my hands, exposing the paper multiple times.
When doing my scans I wanted to focus on color as well as developing a scene that felt like it was underwater. The shaking feeling that almost mimics ripples in water, which came from the shakiness of moving the flower as the scanner moved, really helped add to that underwater feeling. The other flowers are meant to look like they are floating.
For some later ones I added in my hands and my watch. When editing all of them I decreased the clarity as well as the dehaze to give it a dreamy feeling. I also increased the vibrancy, not saturation as that can be too drastic of a change, to add more color to the flowers. Hopefully when I have more time I can fine tune the edits and make these into final pieces.
In other news, the Shutterbugs Photography Club had their Color Struck gallery exhibition and opening reception last month which was a huge hit! This year we had our first theme, Color, with each participating member choosing a color and submitting photos featuring mostly or only that color. Our club’s executive board put a lot of work into making the show happen and we were incredibly happy with the turnout to our reception, despite the date change and the snow!
