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The
exhibition consists of:
12
x 6 month exposure images from June 2009 - July 2015
The
original negatives of these images (which will fade within a few days)
A selection of the cameras used (including some destroyed by seagulls)
Images of the cameras in situ
Information on the photographic process involved
June 2013 - December
2013
Initially I hoped to do several 5 year duration exposures. Technically
(without the funds to create a nitrogen filled camera!) this is tricky!
Previous attempts at 1 year exposures had resulted in the gelatine based
emulsion being eaten by mould. To counter this, I used glass clip frames
and even varnish covering the emulsion as a 'mould deterrent'. The cameras
were then fixed in a weather proof wooden 'cage' at a site looking south
(towards the sun) where the new hospital would be built and where the
cameras could, in theory, stay un-moved for 5 years.
5 year exposure
cameras in position |
5 year exposure
cameras on their backs 6 months later!
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After
6 months the 'camera blocks' were found on their backs. Luckily I had
positioned several other cameras around the area so the exhibition began
its 5 year evolution. Every equinox, Dec 20th or June 20th, old cameras
were replaced with new ones. Midsummer to midwinter to midsummer.
The
resulting images show a continuous exposure in 6 month exposures over
five years. A record of the Sun over the hospital every day from June
2010 to July 2015.
The images in the exhibition are accompanied by their negatives which,
due to the unfixed nature of the technique, will fade and disappear forever
after a few days. This is the same thing that occurred with the very first
photographs, the process Humphrey Davy and Thomas Wedgwood invented in
Bristol in 1802. The impermanence of these images meant they could only
be viewed by candle light.
Impermanence
of time is integral to Southmead hospital where 'arrivals' and 'departures'
for the people of Bristol result in emotional times which affect everyone
and are embraced by the people who work at Southmead with care to all
who require it.
Positioning
Cameras |
Chrissy adjusting
buzzard |
Camera in position |
Severn Bridge
view |
Camera (post
seagull attack!) |
Buzzard 'Seagull
Deterrent' on roof
December 2013 - June 2014 |
Camera and
fallen buzzard |
Unsurprisingly
a pinhole photography project doesn't rank as a significant priority in
a £430 million build of a hospital! Even with this taken into account
I was still allowed onto the roof and to position cameras in places others
fear to tread.
June 2010 - September
2010 |
June 2011 - December 2011 |
June 2011 - December
2011 |
Difficulties:
Cameras being blown over, attacked by seagulls, thrown away as potential
terrorist threat, being stolen by drunks, falling off vehicles and seeing
the cameras carefully positioned 6 months before, now lying beneath a
huge pile of bricks!
June
2011 - December 2011 |
June 2011 - December
2011 |
June 2012 - December
2012 |
Failed
ideas:
On or under a crane, on a wind vain, dangling cans on string to be blown
with the wind,
Starting exposures from a date of birth till the date of death.
December 2011 - June
2012
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June 2012 - December 2012
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December 2012 - June 2013 |
Successful
ideas:
Camera on vehicles, using a syringe to make a pinhole, imaging through
a cross shape hole, incorporating a nurses watch to show time, positioning
cameras under benches and on roofs etc. (Not that these survived!)
December
2012 - June 2013
(Mould fun!) |
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June 2013 - December 2013
(View from a tree) |
December
2013 - December 2014
(1 year exposure) |
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December 2014 - June 2015
(Section of 360 degree image) |
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