Scanning Nature

Photo challenge

photography a definition

n.
1. the process in art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy.

Over the last few years I have listened to many opinions from all levels of photographers and artists relating to what they think photography actually is, people with big photography studios to others with camera phones and Ipads.

Among this collection of people are people who put themselves firmly into one seat or the other.

Personally I think that photography is the use of any device to produce an image that people like including yourself.

As I kid I remember getting a packet of photo paper from the photography teacher at school and placing an oak leaf over it then placing them both on a window ledge in the sun for a minute or so. I then put the paper back in a black bag and fixed the image in the school dark room. I did one of my photography projects that year based on this and never laid my hands on a camera for it.

So last autumn I returned to this concept and collected as much as I could find from our local woods and hedgerows and using a scanner created the following set of images.

If you would like to have a go all you need is a scanner and old shoe box and some black spray paint and paper. The black paint is for the inside of the shoe box (Spray two or three coats until fully black) the paper you lay on top of the upside down box as follows.

Place your selected object on the scanner screen and cover this with the upside down shoe box, the black paper covers this, it needs to be A3 in size for an A4 scanner. The edged border you see around my scanned objects is the edged of the shoe box.

So my school project comes of age and into the digital world!

April 5, 2013 | Categories: Gallery, Nature and Wildlife | Tags: art, Irish photography, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Scanner art | 17 Comments