Hello! This is my first ‘reflective’ blog on a small experiment I conducted as part of my Time Based Communication class. Through this process I had one thing in mind, post-production work is more difficult when the raw source is not well extracted, so my aim was to exert enough control and direction over my raw images (when shooting film).

The Process

Starting out with a regular maxell CD-R disk, an retractable/adjustable lamp shade, and ofcourse my Sony CyberShot camera. This was the bare minimum I needed to produce some interesting images, until I realized that the shine caused by the lamp shade was overbearing. Turning down the lights in my environment helped to achieve a very objective and focused composition, as the lamp shade was positioned over the disk at a fair distance. I found that as the light moved farther from my disk, not only did the darkness increase, but extremely beautiful and soft shades of color began to cup the rims of the disk. However, I was in search for results that had variation, which came about depending on the amounts of light that hit to disk. The closer the light source came to the disk, the more flourescent and shiny the disk became. Unhappy with this harsh color quality, I knew I needed to implement some diffusion to achieve a softer look. I discovered through mere accident that using three opaque pieces of plastic cards (8.5 x 11 size)(colors: red, silver-blue, and dark sky blue), not only was there more softer reflection on the disk, but also that there was more variation in color.

The Concept

I was very pleased with the experimental, spontaneous and yet a staged aspect of this exercise, from which the concept of a ‘witness’ developed. The way the light hit the disk resembled the eye throughout the series of photographs. All the “funny-business” taking place on the surface of this “eye” helped to tell a story about a witness who sees a series of mysterious happenings. The transitions that I found most useful to advance this concept were for the majority: Channel Map and Luminance Map. These had subtle effects, yet very valuable because they did not overpower the content, rather support it. In places where these transitions came into play had a smooth, slow and mysterious transition from frame to frame.