Experimental Photography: Panoramic Print

Series Summary

Photography is the practice of making images by exposing film or another medium to a timed flash of light. The basic equipment used for photography has changed dramatically in the last decades, many people finding digital photography an inexpensive and creative hobby. We use photography as a means of communication worldwide: to sell things, to tell stories, capture memories, evoke passions, fight for causes, make new meanings, and inspire the imagination. Mastering the art of photography is a technical and challenging experience. Even with an automatic, digital camera, one has to learn how to frame a shot, choose a background, interact with the subject, use natural light, and select the right supplies and tools. In this free photography series, let a professional photographer teach you different ways of film processing. First learn how to take a toy camera picture and make it a panoramic shot. Then learn the basics of cyanotype with a pinhole camera and 4x5 negatives. He explains how to use liquid light and the Van Dyke photo process. Finally get instructed on Polaroid transfers. Photo processing is not about taking a roll of film down to the film store anymore. Get creative with your pictures!

Video Transcript

"So I'm going to talk about some more experimental ways to make images right now. And what I'm holding in my hand right now is an image taken of the Hudson River, and it was taken with a toy camera, a Holga camera. And essentially, I made a panoramic of this while just advancing the film a little bit and essentially doing a stitch of this image. So what I ended up getting was a negative that was rather large, and had a nice tone arranged to it, that I could print from, while also using a camera that didn't really even cost more than 25 dollars. So in some ways, I really enjoy making images like this 'cause I can get a larger negative, I don't have to spend a lot of money on an expensive camera, and I can really play. I can really start to experiment. Now sometimes my experiments don't come out as planned, sometimes they come out better than planned. And that's one way that I really can look at photography and start to learn different ways of seeing."