Sam Cornwell

Sam Cornwell the photographer was the guest speaker this week in our art class. Cornwell did not choose to photograph landscapes instead focusing on something that can age. Windows were a common choice at the beginning of the slide show, he said he like the clean appearance, with no distractions. He then began to show us a more colourful works, such as the kites which he one an award for. I liked these works but I thought his work got better as he went on. He began to experiment more once he had gone to university which focused more on the art side of photography. He began to get used to it; he then showed us how different his work was after it was much more experimental and abstract. He called this part "Finding His Voice", this was the first time he got to use dark room photography. His told us about how different black and white and colour was when in the dark room, he told us that it would take 8 seconds to process these images. The first "Wet Plate Collodion" was in 1850 apparently at Lacklock abbey, this is where his next project took place. He created his photos of a large window in Lacklock abbey, they were in black and white and it was highly contrasted. He sold it but regretted it afterwards. He then showed us this camera which was really very simple, he also showed us the hood which keeps the view dark so it can focus. A bit of glass was put over to take the image. The chemicals used were called silver nitrate and Collodion. Another similar picture he took with this method were portraits, which he passed around they were on metal. 

Condensed landscapes, they next images were of three landscapes that took three years to create each. He started by taking pictures in places such as Blackpool, Chicago, they were very highly contrasted. they were very good. Cornwell during this time took no pictures but those three as he was focused only on the perfect. I liked these images and they looked rather complex. I found the whole idea good but I can see what he meant by too perfect. In the next part of this career he started to focus on something completely different. This time he bought 127 disposable cameras, with these he would take as many pictures as possible as he only had six months. He bought the cameras in Morrisons as they were only a pound each and took as many pictures as possible everything from wallpaper to processing all the images on to one image. The Next part was about his family and how this inspired him filming his son every for a second a day, he called this A Second A Day From Birth. It was interesting to see how many areas he has worked it was great. He mentioned Polroid cameras where the image comes straight out once the image is taken. This now reminds me of one I had from years ago and how simple it was. 


Atstrophotophy, is photography of space and this was favourite part of his presentation. What I liked about it was the clear darkness and mystery of space. He would go to a place called Kielder Observatory and take images. He got one picture of the solar eclipse and one of Venus. Another of his pictures included the torch of his iphone to create affect.

In one of his works he showed us were of his red cameras of which he had created a sculpture using all these red cameras. This work was called Tacky red cameras, He also had used a 3D printer to create one of these cameras which was impressive.

Synesthesia Party Posters,
For this he asked a friend of his with synesthesia of taste to create posters of what political parties taste like. For the Conservatives he said they tasted like hard toffee, the Labour Party tasted like an eraser, Lib Dems were rubber bands and UKIP were wet tweed and sweet cakes. I remember seeing this at the election as Niall had shown us them and it also got posted in the Guardian which I remember looking at after college on that day,

Overall I really thought it was a great presentation, I enjoyed seeing how his work transformed after he had went to college and I think it helped me with the idea for my Extending Specialist Techniques unit of which I am considering photography. At the end I looked in his large camera with the hood to keep out the light, but I saw nothing, later I was told the image was upside down.