Pigeons
The concept is to capture close-up photos of pigeons in motion. I aim to explore the space and ambiance that comes with using black and white photography. In my research, I found out that pigeons represent honesty because they stay loyal to their partner after death. It symbolizes loyalty and marriage, and at the same time, as with all winged animals, spirituality represents the sublimation of instincts, elevation, transcendence, and the release of the earth. The idea of a moving pigeon suggests running away or instability. I mainly took inspiration from Masahisa Fukase; he has played a huge part in how I shoot with black-and-white photography. His book Ravens captures in a unique and thought-provoking way. I didn’t use to think about capturing something simple like ravens in this way. He also has a way of expressing his feelings. During this time you can feel his pain and sadness from his divorce and his artistic self-identification with the raven, which ultimately spiraled into a solitary existence and artistic practice on the edge of madness. I want this project to be more whimsical and less sad from Fukase's work on ravens. The process of photographing the pigoens with my TLR felt almost like when I was a child I would chase pigeons around.
Process
For this process, I started by printing fiber paper. I did test grids and mainly used a 2-and-a-half filter and a 4 filter to create deeper shadows. I made four prints, all on 8 by 10 inch paper. I did have some difficulties trying to get a feel for what I wanted to print. I ran out of paper, so I was thinking about using my RC paper, and then I remembered I wanted to play with the chaoticness of the photos, so I wanted different sizes of prints. There were two photos I wanted to be printed big since they had a lot of negative space. I moved over to RC, and I wanted to try printing 12 by 17 inch prints. The paper I had was fogged because they were expired. I did some research and put some potassium bromide into the developer to prevent some of the fogging. I made two prints like that, and then I moved on to digital because the chemicals were dumped the next day, and I didn’t have any more. I moved on to digital after that and printed on 17 by 22-inch paper. I think in the end trying to keep the contrast consistent was hard, especially using three types of different paper. But I think I have a good idea of how I want my black and white prints to move on, and I am going to keep exploring this project.
