Latent images as conceptual art

[cliveh]

You sometimes hear of well-known photographers leaving rolls or dark slides of unprocessed film after their death and I wondered if the demise of film and it’s chemical process know how, could mean that one day it maintains a special value in its latent image state? To process it may destroy the wonder of what it may behold. This may already be the case, but any thoughts?

 

[E. von Hoegh]

You sometimes hear of well-known photographers leaving rolls or dark slides of unprocessed film after their death and I wondered if the demise of film and it’s chemical process know how, could mean that one day it maintains a special value in its latent image state? To process it may destroy the wonder of what it may behold. This may already be the case, but any thoughts?

Schroedinger's cat.

 

[benjiboy]

I don't even want to go there, it's too weird

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Bugger tugging at the forelocks of the dear departed's celluloid record. I'm taking it all with me. There will be nothing for the world to stickybeak at!

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Johannes Brahms was always his own severest critic. When he knew he would soon die, he destroyed all but a very few of his unpublished manuscripts. He did this to ensure that he would be known for only his best work. Other artists have done the same thing. In most cases the fact that films were never developed indicates that the photographer did not believe they contained any memorable images.

 

[cliveh]

Johannes Brahms was always his own severest critic. When he knew he would soon die, he destroyed all but a very few of his unpublished manuscripts. He did this to ensure that he would be known for only his best work. Other artists have done the same thing. In most cases the fact that films were never developed indicates that the photographer did not believe they contained any memorable images.

But did they?

 

[lxdude]

But did they?

Considering that people buy old wines, never to drink them, and which may have gone bad in the bottle anyway, I'd say it could be not that far-fetched. If I somehow became famous, there's a few rolls of undeveloped Kodachrome in my freezer someone could speculate on.

 

[ROL]

...dark slides...

WTF?!? Indeed, all of my dark slides start out with latent images of AA's most famous negatives, But somehow when I develop the film, the transfer has failed and all I get is my own cruddy work.

...and I wondered if the demise of film...

Not if I and other APUGers have anything to do about it.

...To process it may destroy the wonder of what it may behold.

Precisely. That is why I've stopped all processing of film and paper. The mere thought of what is there now prevents me testing virtuality against reality. Tomorrow: I stop pressing the shutter as well. Mind Pictures, that is where it's really at man.

...but any thoughts?

Those are my correspondingly parsed and absurd thoughts, but then why bother posting them as they already existed in their latent state...

 

[Gerald C Koch]

But did they?

The artist didn't think that they did.

 

[lxdude]

Schroedinger's cat.

Schroedinger's cat is/was a photographer?

 

[Vaughn]

I have bleached latent images -- maybe I should not have developed them. Perhaps manipulated latent images are worth more than straight latent images?

 

[removed account4]

garry winogrand i think left 10,000 rolls of unprocessed film ...

i don't think much deserves to be permanent ... unless it is on the internet

sounds like a good art exhibit ...
just filmholders and spooled film
leaving it to the imagination of the viewer
what they may or may not be looking at ...

retina and other unstable images would be perfect for this, seeing they
decompose / are destroyed the moment they are made

great thread cliveh !!

 

[zsas]

Schroedinger's cat.

Well played EvH!

This whole topic reminds me of what Piero Manzoni was trying to get across

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_Manzoni

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I think we should just sell sheet metal and rubber stock to people instead of finished cars, so they can imagine themselves driving a car that isn't complete. That would be great value.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

garry winogrand i think left 10,000 rolls of unprocessed film ...

i don't think much deserves to be permanent ... unless it is on the internet

sounds like a good art exhibit ...
just filmholders and spooled film
leaving it to the imagination of the viewer
what they may or may not be looking at ...

retina and other unstable images would be perfect for this, seeing they
decompose / are destroyed the moment they are made

great thread cliveh !!

Sounds more like an emotional issue than photography.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Schroedinger's cat is/was a photographer?

You won't find out until you open the box.

 

[blansky]

You sometimes hear of well-known photographers leaving rolls or dark slides of unprocessed film after their death and I wondered if the demise of film and it’s chemical process know how, could mean that one day it maintains a special value in its latent image state? To process it may destroy the wonder of what it may behold. This may already be the case, but any thoughts?

I have the most incredible and magnificent images in my head that I never bothered to take pictures of, never stopped the car, never put down my beer and snapped a picture.

When I croak they should put my head on display and people can walk by and know that those images are in there, but just far too magnificent for the likes of them to see.

The greatest pictures never taken.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Bugger tugging at the forelocks of the dear departed's celluloid record. I'm taking it all with me. There will be nothing for the world to stickybeak at!

If film was still celluloid, all the negatives could be made into a bomb, to be used in a modified Viking-type funeral.

 

[removed account4]

If film was still celluloid, all the negatives could be made into a bomb, to be used in a modified Viking-type funeral.

or melted down to make heals for shoes like georges méliès' films

 

[removed account4]

Sounds more like an emotional issue than photography.

maybe you're right, or maybe he just loved exposing film
the file cabinet was full ...
ziplock bags full of thousands of rolls of film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4f-QFCUek&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zk1nkZ3-kE&feature=related


and his leica had so much film through it there was a film image on the pressure plate
http://www.cameraquest.com/LeicaM4G.htm

 

[batwister]

This is like the "If a tree falls in a forest..." idea. And so, it's already been pondered and exhausted. If there are latent images hidden away in an artist's draw, is it art? Does it really exist? Do we care? Who are we? Please kill me? We've already reached that philosophical dead end with images that have been processed and printed. Why waste more brain cells?

 

[hoffy]

maybe you're right, or maybe he just loved exposing film
the file cabinet was full ...
ziplock bags full of thousands of rolls of film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4f-QFCUek&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zk1nkZ3-kE&feature=related


and his leica had so much film through it there was a film image on the pressure plate
http://www.cameraquest.com/LeicaM4G.htm

I think that Winogrand had an obsession, or even an addiction for taking photos - I would say it was on an emotional level for sure.

I actually think that the idea does have merit - if someone offered you a roll of exposed by not developed film that was taken by a master, would you buy it? I have to admit, it would be tempting. THe hardest part would be making sure that its authentic (just like the bits of the Cross that have been sold all over the world!)

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I have the most incredible and magnificent images in my head that I never bothered to take pictures of, never stopped the car, never put down my beer and snapped a picture.

When I croak they should put my head on display and people can walk by and know that those images are in there, but just far too magnificent for the likes of them to see.

The greatest pictures never taken.

You too, eh?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I think that Winogrand had an obsession, or even an addiction for taking photos - I would say it was on an emotional level for sure.

I actually think that the idea does have merit - if someone offered you a roll of exposed by not developed film that was taken by a master, would you buy it? I have to admit, it would be tempting. THe hardest part would be making sure that its authentic (just like the bits of the Cross that have been sold all over the world!)

If you assembled all the bits of the True Cross in all the churches in the world, Jesus would have had to be 14 feet tall with a 15 foot armspan.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

If you assembled all the bits of the True Cross in all the churches in the world, Jesus would have had to be 14 feet tall with a 15 foot armspan.

What about all the bits of His Foreskin? Boggles the mind.....