S&S- Surfaces & Strategies looking ahead

White inspired on Ed Ruscha

Black background

Ed Ruscha is a photographer who made series of image starting with gas stations and made books of it. I have problems with the collector type of photography, as in collect as many as possible doors or tank station or buildings and all approach them in the same way. Might be interesting for archiving to see what the world looks like in 2019 but is not a challenge at all to make the images (or to much of a challenge for me because it will be boring to me very fast).

The book colored people is different because it has symbolics to it.

I made a series of nature design some years ago: http://hildemaassen.nl/nature-design.html I saw then that a lot of plants have a kind of crown. Never made the series but might be interesting.

Something that I could do as well; I live in an environment with a lot of Turkish, Surinam and Moroccan people and every other country in the world is represented. I could go to the shops and in each of them buy like 5 to 10 items that are typical for the country and not sold by another one. Or better I could get special treats and take images of that (and eat it) Turkish delights, tiramisu, etc.

In the Netherlands people set things in their windows. such as the Sansevieria (a plant that doesn't need much attention) I would like to see if I can "collect" windows with sansevierias ; might be as interesting as manhole covers ;-(

In the end I decided on a series of white flowers and made images of them. Flowers are the sexual organ of a plant that is what my daughter told me some weeks ago (biology class). The white is the color of innocence.

This Saturday I had a workshop on how to make your own paper and we are going to use asparagus for that. Asparagus are known to be a phallus symbol. I can add the paper to the book and ty to print images on it. Ilford has some new, creative emulsion that you can put on your own paper with a brush that way it becomes printable with an inkjet printer: https://www.cameranu.nl/nl/p2394705/ilford-creative-emulsion-trial-pack I never used it before so that is part of the experiment as well.

Since we are asked to make a hand-made book where everything comes together, the paper, images and dried flowers (I am drying some for a kind of herbarium).

I can also make photograms of the flowers using cyanotype. I made handbinded books before.

Prepare for the workshop; 4 kilo's of Aspergus disputes, 3 liters of water and 30 grams of soda, boil 2,5 hours and rinse.

Cut in pieces and blend with water (30 min.) = pulp

Place the pulp on the sieve in a box with water, mix, lift up and let the the water drain

place on a piece of fabric, push the window down and remove it from 1 side

First press between wooden plates and then let it dry, flat and possibly press again to get flatter. At the right sight an example dried in the sun.

The peels are laid side by side in 3 layers

Made on a round led lamp

White flowers in white yoghurt

Later more about the prints and binding