kingakuscikova

Transience of life 1-7

Hand coloured silver gelatin print.taken with a 35mm camera and black and white film.

Hand coloured silver gelatin print.taken with a 35mm camera and black and white film.
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Mar, 2015

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Hand painted photograph.Taken with a 35mm film camera on a infrared black and white film.

silver gelatin print. taken with a 35mm film camera.

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in my home in Manchester. This still life was set-up in my living room as unfortunately I haven't got my own studio yet.

Time

This image is part of a group of photographs titled In Memory of My Father. I took photographs everyday over a period of six weeks to try to capture different stages of fruit decay.

Lighting

I wanted the picture to resemble 16th century paintings that's why is more lit on the left side to create some shadows.

Equipment

This was shot on an old 35mm Russian camera which I inherited from my father. I also used a tripod and two portable studio lights with white boxes.

Inspiration

This project is dedicated to my father, who died of cancer and I never had a chance to say goodbye to him. That's why I also used the camera which I inherited from him. I was also inspired by Dutch still life paintings described as Vanitas paintings, or funerary art and other photographers dealing with similar subject as me (death, decay, loss of a loved one, still life) such as Sam Taylor-Wood, Jeanne Dunning and Laura Letinsky. The word Vanitas translates to “emptiness” in Latin. Paintings executed in the vanitas style were reminders of the transience of life and the certainty of death. Common vanitas symbols include skull, rotten fruit and flowers. The rotting fruits in my photographs reference the physical body, different stages of life and the inevitability of death. This image shows the first stage, the beginning/life. I also wanted to remind people to their mortality.

Editing

The original image is in black and white and it was printed in a traditional dark-room onto glossy light sensitive paper. After processing and sepia toning, I hand painted each photograph with photo oils which links my work with its fine art influence. Every time I took an image with my film camera I also took color images with my DSLR and I used those images as color references whilst hand painting the black and white ones. I wanted the colors to be true to life. The black and white prints combined with oil paints create a sense of the past and gives a painting-like look. After the images were hand-painted by using wads of cotton they were scanned and re-printed in a larger format onto canvas to further reference paintings and for aesthetic reasons.

In my camera bag

I usually carry my DSLR with me which is a Pentax K-r and my little 35mm film camera as I prefer taking photographs on film. I am a more traditional photographer. When I haven't got my cameras with me and something inspires me I take pictures with phone.

Feedback

The art of photography is not just about accurate metering, informed film processing and printing, because even with these important elements the print is still lacking one very important ingredient, the photographers input, that is what hand-coloring photographs provides, which is at the heart of all good photography. By being able to determine which colors to use recording to your own vision I can engage the viewer in ways, that is not possible with a plain black and white or a color photograph. You will also need patience because it is a long process and it is challenging to paint with wads of cotton. Photo oils can't be used with brushes. Each image took hours to complete.

See more amazing photos, follow kingakuscikova

kingakuscikova

kingakuscikova

Transience of life 1-7

Hand coloured silver gelatin print.taken with a 35mm camera and black and white film.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow kingakuscikova

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