S+ART

Goings-on For the Weekend

 
If you looking for something outside of the Smithsonian this weekend there is a great exhibition at Gallery plan b, with paintings by Ted Milligan that are intricate, interlaced, multi-layered and colorful.  They are accompanied by a small group show of abstract color photography.  The exhibition runs through March 7 and is free to the public. 

 
If you wish to stay within the Smithsonian museums there are two exhibitions running at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  The first, Grand Salon Installation—Paintings from the American Art Museum includes seventy paintings from the Museum’s collection in the Renwick Gallery.  The installation features landscapes, portraits and allegorical works by fifty –one American artists from the 1840s to the 1930s. 

 
The second is an exhibition called Framing the West:  The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O’Sullivan.  O’Sullivan traversed the mountain and desert west for six seasons between 1867 and 1874 as part of government-sponsored expeditions led by Clarence King and Lt. George Wheeler, returning to Washington with hundreds of photographs of newly explored landscapes.  This is the first major look at O’Sullivan’s photographs in more than 25 years and it would be a great time to see both exhibitions in the same building!  Both are free to the public and O’Sullivan’s exhibition is open through May 9.

Expired Film

A few years ago as friends and coworkers began turning away from their film cameras and going digital, they started giving me their old film.  Of course, I happily accepted it and quickly developed a pretty large inventory in my refrigerator, which sometimes outnumbers the food in there.  Most of this film is standard C-41 color, with slide (E6) thrown in, but I've also purchased quite a bit of expired black and white on my own.

Now, using film past its expiration date, especially when passed through several pairs of hands, can create a few problems, or cool surprises, if you're a glass-half-full type of person.  Without knowing how it was handled, it's hard to predict the outcome, or if there will even be one.  With black and white film, I've noticed an increase in grain and sometimes, when it's really old, a little degradation in exposure or the film loses speed, but it's never let me down.  Color isn't as reliable, however.  Several times I've picked up film from the developer and the entire strip was black; nothing turned out at all.  More often, though, I get dreamy, muted colors, funky exposure, or extreme contrast.  

 

To help reduce the risk of losing important photos, I tend to limit expired film to fun, throw-away types of shots; I would never rely on it for anything important, and I always shoot fresh film backup.  Not knowing how things will turn out can be a gamble, though, and, I'm willing to take it. So are quite a few photographers out there!

Andrew McDermott has a great example of the increased grain and loss of contrast typical of expired black and white film here, beautifully paired with the light leaks inherent to his Holga.  Jennifer Wade has another example of grain and loss of contrast in old black and white film with this photo of the Supreme Court.  She also has a great example of almost everything that can go wrong (or, right!) with very old color film here: defects in the film are front and center, thanks to the loss of exposure latitude, and great faded colors.  This photo was taken using Fuji Superia 800 35mm film that was shared by another photographer from a bag stored in the trunk of a car on a hot summer day.  This photo of mine was taken using film (Agfa Vista 200) from that same grab-bag (note the differences versus film speed between the two):

Slower film speeds tend to preserve much better with less degradation over time, particularly for color.  Granted, the storage conditions do make a big difference, so unless you know that they've been in the refrigerator for most of their lives, your results may not be as perfect as Katy Ray's photo using expired Agfa Optima 100 medium format film.  I took that same film, generously provided by Katy, with me to Italy and happily got those same over-saturated colors for which this film is known.  Emmanuel Ndenguebi, who shoots with expired film almost exclusively these days, has noticed a purple/dark blue color shift in daytime and outside photos like this one on 220mm medium format Kodak Porta 400.  Otherwise, his colors are near-perfect, as well.

Lower-speed black and white film, when stored properly, responds in much of the same way, with just a slight increase in grain and contrast.  A few examples are this one by yours truly using Kodak Plus-X 125 and this one taken by Davin Tarr with Kodak T-MAX 100.

 

So, you have some old film laying around?  Load up your camera and go to town!  Just keep a few tips in mind when you do:

 

*Make some room in your refrigerator for your film, regardless of its age. Cold storage will help slow degradation and preserve is characteristics for longer than if it's in a drawer somewhere.

*Higher film speeds tend to degrade much faster and will produce much more extreme results.

*Since exposure and contrast will be affected, try bracketing some of your shots.  

*Don't use old film for important photos unless you've also shooting fresh film backup or digital.

Don't have any expired film of your own but you're interested in giving it a try?  Check with local film supply stores, ask your friends or relatives, or watch online auction sites.  

1

Have a big bag of old film that you'll never ever use again?  Sweet! I'll take it!

 

--Angela

Tips and Techniques: Pointillism

George Seurat, "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", 1884-1886 

This technique of painting has been used by many famous arts like Claude Monet and George Seurat since the 1800s.  It is a technique that takes long lengths of time and great accuracy and planning.  Each pointillism piece is made up of small dots put together to make one large image.  Many artists combine pointillism in their work, and I will share with you some good tips for starting the process.

Sketch out what you wish to portray before you begin.

Choose a color scheme so you know what colors will go where and how you want to blend them.

Start with the background and move forward.

And fourth, have patience with yourself.

 
 
Claude Monet, "The Art's Garden at Giverty", 1900

This technique is rather hard compared to other painting or drawing styles and it takes time to get a wanted finished product.  But, I recommend it if you wish to branch out and try something new!  Many different paints and other materials can be used with this style and you can also combine it with other mediums.  So be adventurous and try something new!

What's Your View Contest

 
   Rules for TSA Studio Art Photo Contest

After the Storm... Get out there!

Sid Grossman, San Gennaro Festival, New York City, 1948, gelatin silver print.

The National Gallery of Art has an exhibit going on that might interest some of you, In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes before the Digital Age, chronicles the major technological developments in the photographic processes from the origins of the medium to today’s digital world.  The exhibit includes 88 photographs that range from an early photogenic drawing by William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of photography to Polaroid prints by Andy Warhol.  The exhibit is free to the public and will run through March 14, 2010.

Jasper Johns, Target with Four Faces, 1968, screenprint, working proof with chalk, ink and collage.

I would like to also highlight the National Gallery of Arts Exhibit, Editions with Additions: Working Proofs by Jasper Johns.  The exhibit includes 45 proofs from lithographs, etchings and screenprints that the artist expanded in a range of media, including pastel, ink and paint.  The exhibit runs through April 4, 2010 and is free to the public.

At the National Geographic museum they are running a special image collection that is free to the public.  The collection of brand-new LED lightboxes that surround the exterior of the Museum showcase National Geographic’s extraordinary photography from an archive containing more than 11.5 million images.  The exhibition is based on the book, National Geographic Image Collection.

 Carmine bee-eaters in breeding plumage

The weather is supposed to be much better this weekend so get out there and fill your life with art!

Filters

So, I guess I timed last week's post really well, huh?  If you braved Snowmaggedon and headed out into great white vastness of the city, I hope you found those suggestions helpful.  Since once again it's snowing in the DC area, I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss filters and how they can improve and enhance your snow photos. Because who can have enough snow photos?!  Exactly.

Not only do they help protect your expensive lenses from damage and the elements, filters can help create specialized effects.  You may already be familiar with skylight or UV filters, which many photographers use to help protect expensive lenses from damage and the elements.  Both of them block out the bluish haze that can cloud the background of your scenes, but the skylight filter, which is usually tinted yellow or pink, also has a slight warming effect.  Snow is a very good UV reflector, so using one of these filters when shooting in bright, snowy conditions will definitely cut down on the occurrence of blue snow in color photographs.  

 

When I asked my photographer friends which filters they use when photographing snow, the consensus was the polarizing filter.  I tried to learn about light and waves to give some background information on how polarizer filter works, but that got a little complicated and technical, so I'll stick with what these filters do for you and how they will help your photography.  Polarizing filters can be used to help reduce reflections from glass or water, such as the frozen reflecting pool on the National Mall or the reflection pond in front of the U.S. Capitol, and create more contrast by darkening the sky.  Effects are best when positioned perpendicular, or at a right angle, to the sun.

 

Here are a few photographs of snow using a polarizing filter:

Karon Flage

Ramune Rastonis

It may take some practice to get the feel of how the polarizer works and how to obtain the results you're looking for.  I'll try to find some examples of polarizer versus non-polarizer shots for next week, and I'll go into more detail on other types of filters.

 

-Angela

Tips and Techniques: Watercolor

 

Watercolor has many dynamics and techniques that can change the way that paint flows on paper.  One technique that is considered a “negative” technique is to lift the paint.  In doing this you take away from what you have put down on paper but also create more colors and shapes.  To do this on wet paint you can use a normal tissue to blot and dab gently or you can use a natural sea sponge.  Using a sea sponge can lighten colors and add texture. 

Another technique for lifting color and creating a dynamic to any piece can be done on dry watercolor.  You can use a normal watercolor brush; it is great for having more control over what you are trying to lighten.  You can also spray clean water on an area of your painting and blot it with a paper towel or tissue gently because towels absorb the water quickly and tissues and tear apart. Again, with dry pieces you can use natural sea sponges that are damp.  With a quick whipping motion you can lighten color.

 

There are many more watercolor techniques that can be found online and through our classes here at the Smithsonian.  Watercolor is a way of painting that takes great patience and planning because a piece can be ruined very easily if colors mix or fade into each other in ways unplanned.  Explore some techniques and tell us what you find!

Quote of the Week Answer

It's Georgia O'Keefe!

 
Her work is amazing on so many levels.  Have a great weekend! 

 

Art of the Weekend

The 6-foot-high plaster working model of the celebrated seated Lincoln statue by American sculptor Daniel Chester French designed for the Lincoln Memoriam on the National Mall, will be on view in honor of President Lincoln’s 200^th birthday.  The plaster sculpture will be joined by the wood model of the Lincoln Memorial that renowned American architect Henry Bacon used to bolster his entry in the design competition for the memorial.

The exhibit is made possible by the support of Robert H. Smith and organized by the National Gallery of Art and will be open there from February 12th through April 4^th.  The exhibit is open to the public, free and on the main floor of the National Gallery’s West Building.

 
At the C. Grimaldis Gallery John Waters is displaying his “Versailles from January 20 through February 27.  The work in this exhibition will include photographs and sculpture from 2000 to 2009.  John Walters states it as, “Two Neighborhoods, two realities.  A garden apartment complex in Baltimore defies the real thing in France.  The real estate agent’s cry of ‘Location! Location! Location!’  Never seemed more confusing.”  The exhibit is open to the public daily.

 The College Park Aviation Museum has a free contemporary exhibit open from December 2, 2009 through June 11, 2010 called “In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight”.  The exhibit is a large format of photographs by Carolyn Russo showcasing the aesthetic quality of some of the National Air and Space Museum’s iconic aircraft.  Including close-up facets, sculptural forms and life-like elements the exhibit grabs viewers attention to the often-overlooked simple elegance of aircraft design.  The exhibit is open to the public and has been organized by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

For more weekend ideas visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/?nid=top_gog

snOMG

When snowmaggedon hits, it's hard to stay indoors.  I love to get out while the snow is still falling and take photos before the snowplow disturbs the tire tracks and while the tree branches still have have their white outline against the dark bark.  Right now, it's starting to snow, again, and I'm dying to head outside and finish up that roll of 1600 that's been in my camera for over a month.  But, first I have some work to do.

 

Usually DC winters get one to two good snowfalls each year, if we're lucky.  El Niño winters, on the other hand, often bring the snowpocalypse all winter long.  Lucky for you, this winter is giving you many snowtastic opportunities to get out there and photo our city in all its snowjestic glory.  But, first, some tips to help you capture those scenes perfectly.

 

Your camera's light meter measures the reflected light and adjusts the exposure based on that information.  Scenes with a lot of white, like snow, cause the meter to assume there is more light than is actually there, even if it is cloudy, and adjusts the exposure according to that information.  This usually causes snow to be dull and gray with loss of detail (in black and white) or with a bluish tint (color film and digital).  In these cases, green square mode is not your friend.  Take a meter reading of your scene in auto-mode, switch over to manual, and deliberately overexpose by 1-2 stops.  Bracketing is another way to overcome the exposure issue, as well.  If you are shooting digital, adjusting the white balance will help avoid blue snow.  

 

If you're using an automatic camera, read the manual for information about it's pre-set modes; it might have a "snow" setting.  Even if your automatic camera won't allow for exposure control, there is a simple way to trick it into submission.  Many of them allow for the shutter to be depressed half-way to collect information about the exposure and to properly focus your photo.  Simply point the camera to a mid-range color that's equal distance to your desired scene (a face, for example), press the shutter half-way, hold it there, then reposition your camera and press the shutter down the rest of the way.  It may take some practice to get the feel right.  Oh, and please turn off your automatic flash.  

 

Now that you've got exposure under control, think about composition a little.  If snow confuses your camera's meter, it may also overwhelm the photo, itself. Try to find interesting shadows, buildings, or people to break up the sea of white.  Early morning and late afternoon light will provide long shadows and contrast to black and white photos like this one taken by Davin Tarr, while colorful clothing pops in this photo by Erin McCann.  

 

On these cold, snowy days, make sure your batteries are fully charged, or replace them with brand new ones, and take a back-up, if you can.  Cold drains batteries fast (I left my camera in my car during the last big snow and the month-old batteries died in one day).  Keep your camera under your jacket whenever possible to protect it from the elements and keep it warm.  When you head back inside, remember what happens to your bathroom mirror after a hot shower; this will happen to your lenses, too.  Give them a little time to adjust to the warmer temperatures and for the fog to naturally fade away.  After being outside all day, you'll need to warm up, too!  Once you've set down with that cup of hot chocolate and put the cookies in the oven, your lenses should be thawed out before the cookies finish baking.  You'll have a snownormous amount of photos to go through.

 

Oh, and one more thing: the less you carry means the less that gets damaged when you slip and fall.  Be careful out there!  No one wants a snowtastrophe.

 

Have some snow tips of your own?  Leave them in the comments!