So I placed these in the compost bin a while ago, and the promptly forgot about them. In some spots the image is mostly latent. Nearly completely gone, the staining came out with very interesting patterns on the print. I am happy with these as well just thought it came out well.
I am working hard on these images. I am a little disappointed that I am not getting the highlights to paper white. I have a feeling I have over coated the paper given that eh shadows seem to be well toned in a deep blue.
I am working with an approximately 1 min 30 sec solar exposure time. This still seems brief to me but if i go farther everything ends up way to dark. I have thought about increasing the density of my negatives but I am feeling that I will start clipping the highlights.
Oh well new paper has been coated much thinner and we will see what happens.
So this is my first work with self coated paper. I am happy with the results it took some work you can tell by the number of prints on the same image i had to go through and work on the negatives a little.
My plan is to make more this weekend. I am looking around 2 minute exposures in the southern California sun. The prints seem to be quite dark though and also rather dense I feel like i may have over coated the paper. Well next paper I coat will be thinner.
Well with in growing the friends in the jar have improved over the last week. I know the post is late, but I swear I have been taking the photos as scheduled.
So bringing them inside helped, I guess some times in life we all need a little shelter from the external elements that are affecting our well being. I think the Compost Jar is at its end point there has been little to no change over the last couple weeks.
I think that the plan for me know is to call this particular project done next week. I will do 2 final photographs next week and then start a new side project, (side project 1 is deceased as stated before, still figuring out how to photograph empty planters). I will combine the contents of the jars into a new vessel, and I will probably start another larger project. Not quite sure yet what cycles 2 will be but I have a few ideas
11/11/2015
So I am honestly not behind on the project I have stuck to my days for the photographs, wordpress was stuck on posting everything I did as a page so I kinda gave up until today.
11/8/2015
So we have neared the two month point…
The compost jar is some what in a stagnant place though things continue to change it is less and less notable. The compost is dark and rich and very moist, i truly think that mixed with soil it would begin to be a great growing platform. The growth jar has run into an issue some of the plants are some what unhealthy, they are wilted and yellow and growth has slowed. The the plants that seem the strongest are still climbing out of the top. I am not sure what is going on here but over the last week the weather has changed rapidly in San Diego, so the much cooler nights may be partly to blame, also the water requirement of my friends seems to have increased I am noticing the soil being dried out much quicker than before, and even the typically reserved water in the bottom of the jar is gone.
So what is my plan, I am going to move the jars inside during the evenings hopefully keeping them warmer and take them out during the still warm days. Secondly I am going to increase the amount of water I am giving the friends. Hopefully that will help in getting them to grow a little stronger again. Hopefully if the are strong next week I can consider moving them to a new vessel and starting this one again.
The struggle of the plants actually makes me think about life again, and in some ways reflect upon things in myself. Some times people just need a little more warmth, and TLC. Perhaps it is a analogy for not taking care of our selves well enough, or needing the kindness an compassion of others to continue to thrive and grow.
After doing some further research on the Cycles project i realized that I needed to thin the plants in the jars so that they could thrive. However over the last several weeks I have grow attached to my little plants and really do not want to just pull them up by their roots and throw them out. So I decided to attempt to transplant them.
I already had the small metal vessels that i had previously not been able to grow herbs in, I was not nearly devoted as I am now to the growth. So I took some of the same soil that is in the terrarium, I placed a few stones in the bottom of the planters to provide for drainage and filled them up. I used chopsticks to try and gently remove the young plants from the jar and then I Planted them in their new homes.
Some of the small plants did not seem to do well and were fairly lifeless after ward I am concerned that i overly damaged them even though I was very careful in moving them. I guess I will see how it goes over the next little bit. I am going to have to thin the jar further eventually so If these little ones do not make it I will get another chance.
Cycles is becoming an expanding project and I am quite enjoying where it is taking me. There are several side projects that are springing out of this one. I soon plan to plant some tulip bulbs in a planter. I once bought a live plant and then neglected it but I am curious to see if i could get this to spring back to life.
I am still on the fence on how often i should shoot these images. Many times through out the last week I have looked at the terrarium and thought maybe today is the day. I held out for the full week to show the drastic changes overall. For this set i slightly changed the camera angle in order to show the level of decomposition in the Compost. I found that shooting from the slightly above angle did not show the degree of change that actually happened.
To this point I still have added nothing to Growing only opening the top to allow for some fresh air in. Compost was turned after the photo in order to not disturb the level of change.
Below are the 14 days collected together
Life exists in cycles from decay to growth and back again. This is a concept that I find intriguing and decided to explore in small controlled environments. In one terrarium is kitchen waste and soil, in the other is fresh organic soil and seeds planted. Over the next several weeks I am going to be documenting the changes of the micro environments.
This project is exploring many things life and death, entropy and organization, impermanence of life. The concept of life and death, growth and decay are ideas that fascinate me. Composting jar decays and starts to become the carbon and nutrients that make up the waste in it the Growing jar will rise, the plants will grow and become stranger. These will be displayed together to show the cycle as at happens. Showing that even as something dies and decays another thing grows healthy and strong. Autumn leaves fall onto the ground through the wet months of winter if left where they are the begin to matt down creating a protective blanket over new seeds on the ground. The leaves decay and become part of the soil then begin to feed the new life that grows beneath, come spring new life climbs through the soil, and new flowers bloom.
Not to mention exploring environmental issues as well. Our current farming system in The united states is no longer sustainable, the Americas are some of the most fertile lands in the world and we are poisoning it by chemical fertilizers and poisons, by not correctly rotating crops we destroy soil, To a point it will no longer grow anything. We throw into the garbage things that can be used to create fertile soil. My whole idea is to start a project that becomes sustainable in its own microenvironment. As my compost become soil i can use that new soil to build new environments. Anna Mia Davidson was a large inspiration for this project, her work with sustainability through her project “The Farm” really moved me. The length of her works is one of the things that wanted me to devote so much time to this project. Michael wolf was the inspiration for the grid display.
I have Lived in San Diego County for nearly 7 years now, and there is always still so much to explore. I have meant to go to the Botanical Gardens for a while now. Being there on a warm Monday afternoon was amazing, this place is extremely calm and peaceful, small streams flow through the landscapes and birds sing in the trees. My journey started at the bamboo garden, bamboo is to me somehow a relaxing plant, learning that the San Diego zoo aquires much of its panda feed from the garden is also a very interesting thing to know. As i wondered through the property I became very interested in the mexican garden with the terra-cotta planters with succulents and faces of dancers.
I have over the last several months began to question exactly what photography means to me, through this i have begun to explore the abstract in photographic imagery, shooting out of focus, or shooting very small portion of things and zooming the lens while shooting a subject. Plants are a good way to explore this, they do not move and are often very colorful to bring interest into the colors. I explored this a lot on this trip, looking for vibrant colors and interesting shapes over what the subject was.
Also I found the wooden Japanese Spirit Houses interesting was well, some how these went back to my wood project and may be included in that later on. I attempted to recreate the feeling I had while looking at these. They are so small, bird house like but so deep in attention to detail. They are weather worn but still standing strong protecting the ancestors spirits.
Jerry Slough Photography 