31 Days Reflection
Around the second month into the UK lockdown, I had the completely original idea of documenting my days with polaroids – 31 days precisely. Instead of polaroids, I decided to use Instax after a brief online research on which instant camera is the best. The Fujifilm Instax Square SQ6 came up, and before I knew it, the rose gold version and two packs of Instax Square Instant Film were on their way to my house.
The project is a result of partial boredom, a mix of wanting to come out of this with, at least one, mediocre project and an actual need for a routine – no matter how small. Instead of digital photography, I decided to use analogue because, well, I wanted to own an instant camera for a while now. I also like the scrapbook potential of instant film, not to mention how forgiving it can be. Let's say it how it is: I'm bad at photography. With analogue my photographic incompetencies can be masked with "organic errors" produced by film. Additionally, ever since writing a couple of product reviews for my day job, I started to enjoy scanning photographs and creating collages. (I scan analogue photographs to showcase in-camera functions etc.) Scanning, for me, also results in a higher quality image since I don't own a digital camera, nor do I know how to use one. I got creative with this process and created a cover image for 31 Days that in my humble opinion, is actually pretty cool.
"Thirty-one Days is a photographic exercise. Over 31 days, I aimed to take one Instax a day without pre-planning the photo. The photos were taken during the UK's 2020 lockdown, and as a result, I only photographed my house and my garden – adding an extra layer of restriction to the exercise." Yes, I just quoted myself.
Throughout the project, I experimented with creative ways of making the photos and the scans more interesting. My favourite was utilising a makeshift mirror prism to create an in-camera psychedelic image. [see image 3] This is an old-school technique; a very effective old-school technique at that. Embarrassingly I didn't know before this project how the prism effect was achieved on film. Now I finally cracked the not so secret, secret. After I took one photo with it, I wanted to take ALL of my photos with it. Thankfully, the subsequent photos ended up looking pretty bad, and the novelty of the mirror prism wore off. To make one, you will need three small mirrors arranged into a triangle that is held in place with some tape. To use, position the mirror prism in front of the lens and fire away.
Creating collages and scanning them was also a fun and interesting process of presenting my images. Adding objects such as twigs and leaves also created some lovely imagery. The introduction of foreign 3D objects further emphasised the sketchbook appeal of instant photographs, turning my Instagram feed into a digital scrapbook. Layering photographs also worked well. The scanner captured the shadows created by layering, making the scan more dynamic and 3D.
Somewhere along the way, I found the style of instant photography I enjoyed the most; abstract close-ups of everyday objects accompanied by a strong colour palette. Mixing blues with reds worked particularly well although I tried to experiment with other contrasting colour combinations. To achieve this effect, I utilised the included flash filters and the Macro Mode, which is ideal for close-up photography with a sweet spot between 30 cm - 50 cm. The camera offers seven modes: Automatic Exposure Control, Selfie Mode, Macro Mode, Landscape Mode, Double Exposure Mode (which sold the camera to me) as well as Lighten and Darken Modes – plenty of room for experimentation and plenty of room for hit or miss photos. The Fujifilm Instax Square also comes with three flash filters: orange, purple and green. My favourite one was green which brought coolness to the image, bringing out the blue tones and making the red stand out. My least favourite one was orange, which often unnecessarily darkened the image. As with the mirror prism, I started to limit myself to this style of instant photography and soon was snapped out of it when a few photos turned out poorly. Thankfully this led me to experiment with the other modes and experience everything the camera has to offer.
Photo Album Video
On the topic of poorly executed photographs, even though I meant to take just one, singular, photo a day, I still ended up with "second shots". Here's where I started to play with Lighten and Darken modes. The glass window photos show the striking contrast between Automatic Exposure and Lighten Mode. It's also an example of a successful second shoot. I knew that this photo could be better if I used the Lighten Mode and so I did end up sacrificing a shot to get it looking its’ best. That's the thing; you need to get a feel for the camera to be able to predict when a location might need a little bit more exposure. That takes some practice and unfortunately some wasted film, which can be expensive. I also took "second shots" when the photos were overly exposed – due to the flash going off. (Even though I was outdoors in bright daylight, a situation where I didn't think to disable the flash, because what would be the point if it's not supposed to go off in said daylight? Rant over.) And finally, I took "second shots" when I was curious to see how applying a different effect would change my subject. That was the biggest challenge with taking one photo a day and an analogue photo as well – there was no tweaking of the image or room to take as many experimental shots as I wanted to get "the one". You really need to work with what you have and think about the image, again even though I told myself to just point-and-shoot without thinking. This approach was often fun, but also in some cases resulted in terrible photos and feelings of guilt over the wasted film.
There were of course photos which I hated and days where I felt so uninspired that even a "second shot" couldn't fix the image. I hated uploading images that were not up to scratch to my Instagram. Since writing this reflection, I have deleted a few of the worst ones that were just too big of a thorn in my eye to ignore. It was a bit embarrassing, and it ruined my carefully planned-out feed. This just goes to show that we don't always create our best work. Sometimes our creativity is low, and when we force ourselves to make "art" it can end up looking less than desirable. Some days you can have a genius moment and take a stunning photo in the moment (which was the aim of this project) and some days no matter how many photos you take you just won't get a good one.
On the topic of my Instagram feed, I desperately tried to make it more exciting with a funky background, especially when the photo itself was of poor quality. I finally found a way to incorporate my acrylic pours into my amateur photography in a way that I didn't completely despise. The pieces of wood I made the acrylic pours on could fit into my scanner and I could utilise them as backgrounds for my photos. I also experimented with leaves and flowers as well as fabrics and collages just to make it more interesting. In some instances, I tried to make the background be an extension of the photo and add some more visual context to what is happening. The photo in my studio of the lonesome chair is a good example. The background is one of my acrylic pours made in my art studio. I felt clever. The pops of colour and solid backgrounds did break up my feed nicely rather than it consisting of just white squares with a tiny photo in the centre.
I also really like cropping my images to showcase them without the white border. It does take away from the scrapbook feel, but at the same time, it highlights the complexity of some of the better photos I took over the 31 days. I enjoyed the limitation of one location, which made me look at a lot of everyday situations and objects in a different way. It was a great exercise through which I learnt how to utilise my surroundings to the fullest. Capturing the daily going-ons of my family life was also nice; some of my favourite photographs are of my family working in the garden.
Somewhere around the middle of the month, I lost my enthusiasm for the project. It reappeared towards the very end when I conducted a small series of shoots in the garden with my family as the focus. I loved it; the photos told a story. There were snippets of the details in the surroundings, which helped tell the larger story of the moment. I decided to end the project with a rare selfie showing off my wonderful family. The surroundings I captured are in our house and garden which we enjoy together – it was only fitting.
Initially, I wanted the photographs to resemble the moody shots Vanity Fair was putting out during the first month of Lockdown – the stylised indoor photos of people's slumped bodies on kitchen counters eating their cereal with a very bright flash. Turns out that I am not this kind of "artist" – if I can even call myself that. My photos were more scrapbook-y and abstract than angsty. I think that they have captured my everyday life in lockdown, appreciating the small things in life that we often overlook in our busy lives. Even though there are some photos which I'd rather have not published, the project has been fun and solidified my beliefs about my working process. Essentially, I don't have to feel bad for not being productive or uninspired on certain days. Rather than forcing myself to create mediocre work for the sake of working, I should relax and work when I do feel inspired and capable.