Blurb Book

So, after with the anthotype project, the next project I have to take on is becoming proficient in Adobe InDesign. Not only will this help me once I go off to college for graphic design, but I have a massive assignment coming up that requires it. Myself and the advanced photography class, along with some other people are going on a trip to Italy at the end of April. It's been assigned to me to take and collect photos from the trip and turn them into a blurb book. A blurb book is basically a photo compilation in book form that you design and customize yourself. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to create but it will also be a huge challenge for me, since although I am proficient in Adobe Photoshop, I have never used InDesign before. I honestly really look forward to both learning InDesign and creating the book. It's really important to me that the book comes out well because it will serve as such a great way to preserve the memories made on the trip, not only for me but also for all of the other people going on the trip. I plan to bring my big professional camera that I use to take my regular photographs for this class, and I also plan to purchase the small camera I talked about in my last post. I think having both types of cameras will allow me to not only capture pictures of the historic aspects of Italy, but also the more random and silly things that will go on throughout the trip I'm sure, since three of my best friends will be going as well. Here  are some examples of what a blurb book looks like;

For more information on the blurb books, check out The Blurb Website

Cute Little Camera!

Recently I've happened upon a super cute little camera. I found it while shopping online at Urban Outfitters. It's the FujiFilm Instax Mini 8 camera. It can be purchased in white pink, blue, black, or yellow. The camera automatically determines the best brightness for taking a picture, and the corresponding symbol for the setting lights up. The settings include indoor, sunny, cloudy, and sunny/bright. They can be purchased for around $100. The camera functions like the old polaroid cameras, where the photos come straight out of the camera. Here are some photos;

Anthotype Examples

 These are example Anthotypes. Instructions can be found in the below blog post.

Anthotypes

Right now we are researching alternative processes, and I decided that I am going to try to produce Anthotypes. Anthotypes are prints you make using plants. More specifically the juice from the petals of flowers, the peel from fruits, and the pigment from plants.

Materials I'll Need:

• Petals from a colorful flower or other plant, or colorful berries
• Electric food blender or mortar and pestle
• Bowl to mix ingredients
• Water or alcohol
• Coffee filter
• Paintbrush
• Art Paper
• Contact print frame
• A large positive (NOT NEGATIVE)
• Sunlight

The process to make an anthotype goes as follows:

1. Make Your Emulsion

        Your emulsion can be made using either a food blender or a mortar and pestle. If the plants or berries are too dry, you may need to dilute them a little. Things you can use to dilute your substance include water, alcohol. lighter fluid, and olive oil, to name a few. You then need to drain your emulsion. Pour your emulsion over a coffee filter, letting the liquid seep through into a container, and then discard the pulp.

2. Prepare The Canvas
         Any paper that can hold your emulsion can be used, but watercolor paper is recommended to start out with until you become comfortable. To get the emulsion on the paper you can either brush it on or dip the paper into the emulsion.

3. Print The Anthotype
          Place your objects or positive onto the material to make a print. The print develops out in the sun over several days or weeks. The sun develops the print by bleaching the colors of the pigment. Each emulsion will have it's own developing time, and each will turn out differently. No rinsing or fixing is necessary.