Why Salt Printing?

I have chosen to look at the alternative process of salt print for my final outcomes, salt blocks could soon be used when building houses, however, the blocks would have to be coated with a waterproof material to prevent them from dissolving. Salt may not necessarily be used in the building process just yet, however, a salt print does give photographs an old fashioned sepia effect which I think would work really well for this subject matter.

To make sure that the salt printing process ties in with the subject of construction, I am going to be sourcing materials that are commonly found at building sites such as cement bags, plaster bags or ply wood, anything paper based or anything porous, and I will be using those as my base to print my photographs onto.

My next step will be to go through my final photoshoot and choose which photographs I think would be the most effective as a final outcome, I will then turn the photographs back into negatives using Adobe Photoshop and I will print them onto acetate so that I have, what is known as, a digital negative. From there I plan to coat my surfaces with a mixture of salt and water then I will leave that until it's dry, my next step would be to coat those same surfaces with a silver nitrate solution so that they become light sensitive which will enable me to print my photographs onto them. My final step would be to place my digital negatives onto the surfaces and weigh them down with a piece of glass (it has to be glass so that light can still get through it) so that they are flat and either place them in the sun or onto the UV machine so that they can develop.

Modern Day Approach to Salt Printing

An Example of a Salt Print

Original Salt Printing Process

Final Photoshoot Contact Sheet (Colour Film)

This is the final photoshoot for this project. By using colour film it has taken away the gloomy effect that the black and white film gave and it has replaced it with elements of vibrancy and warmth, which gives it more of a naturalist feel. I again travelled the same route, I chose to stick with the same route so that I had the order fresh in my mind and so I could remember the compositions and framing I used for each site. I knew that if I had tried to mix the travel order around I would've forgotten what parts of the sites I took photographs of so I decided to keep every variable the same to ensure that I produced the same, if not similar, outcomes. 

Second Photoshoot Contact Sheet (B/W Film)

This is the contact sheet of my second photoshoot at the building sites, I'm more used to producing black and white 35mm films so I decided to try that to see how it looked. I travelled the same route as the trial run so that I could start from the furthest building site away from my house and work my way back to the closest site. After analysing my black and white images I like that compositions that I have produced, however, I feel that black and white film doesn't give me the effect that I want for this project so I plan to go back to each site for a final shoot, I will try to recreate the same compositions that can be seen in the photographs below but I will instead use a colour 35mm film as I feel that it will give me the desired effect. By using colour film it will also make the photographs look less gloomy than the black and white photographs.

First Photoshoot Contact Sheet (Digital)

This is my first photoshoot of the building sites. My aim for today was to take my DSRL so that I can take some quick shots of each site, I used today as a dry run to make sure that I was able to visit all of the building sites in one day as well as spend 30-45 minutes at each one, the reason I only took my DSLR was so that I could work quickly and not worry about my films messing up or being under/over exposed. Once I got home I analysed the photographs that I had taken so that I could see what areas of each building site interested me so that I know exactly what to photograph when I go back for the next shoot.

Project Proposal Form and Timetable

My Starting Point

My starting point for the project was that I needed to buy a map so that I could pinpoint where each of the building sites were that I was going to be photographing, at the same time I looked them up on Google Maps on my phone so that I could get the exact location marked onto the map.

These are all building sites that I knew about, I drive past pretty much all of them on a daily basis whether I'm on my way to work, coming home from work, going to university or just driving around my local town. There is a lot of building work going on around Sittingbourne, especially with the new cinema and restaurant area that they are building in the centre of town, however, I didn't feel that the town renovations fit in with my chosen theme as I wanted the project to be solely about County Councils destroying natural areas to develop housing.

Link to Sittingbourne town renovations: http://www.spiritofsittingbourne.com

After marking each building site location on the map it was time for me to decide on the route that I was going to take, I ended up deciding to work backwards, so I planned to start with the furthest site away from my house and work backwards so the order went:

1) Faversham (Graveney Road)

2) Faversham/Oare (Western Link)

3) Bapchild (Fox Hill)

4) Sittingbourne (B2006)

5) Sittingbourne (Church Street)

6) Sittingbourne/Bobbing (Vellum Drive)

7) Sittingbourne/Borden (Wises Lane/Cryalls Lane)

Faversham (Graveney Road)

Sittingbourne (Church Street)

Sittingbourne (B2006)

Sittingbourne/Bobbing (Vellum Drive)

Bapchild (Fox Hill)

Faversham/Oare (Western Link)

Sittingbourne/Borden (Wises Lane/Cryalls Lane)