memories from before i was born

box of old pictures

'all photographs are there to remind us of what we forget'

john berger

 

i couldn't have forgotten some of those faces, because i was too little to remember, and maybe some of them - I've never seen. Some of them i know/knew as old people, my grandma - a walking warmth- usually without a face in my memories, as i was a kid when she died.

i brought this box of forgotten pictures from my parents cupboard and spent a few days just looking at them. Many thoughts - about memories, family, photographs. As a visual sign of those thoughts - here are some of the images. I want to scan all of them and maybe work with them, so that I can feel they belong to me, as well as to the past.

i found a neg from june

before i even start to do something with pictures from poland, i have to clear a way for them :)
this is sopot from june, 2011

playing with chemicals

last weekend i was taking part in the 'old photographic processes' workshop with amazing joy gregory
to say it was fun is to say nothing - mixing the solutions, watching the magic happening in front of your eyes.

the top image is a salt print - you cover the paper with a special salt solution, then make it light sensitive by coating it with a silver nitrate solution

the bottom one is a cyanotype - you don't even need the silver nitrate! just two salts, tap water and a bit of sun. I definitely want more!

snappy snaps occupy london

ok, i know it's my mistake - i shouldn't even think of developing films st snappy snaps. but having very little time recently i decided that i will pop in on my way to work, they will develop the films which i would collect after my work. after all - it's not a big deal to develop a 35mm film - you put it into the machine, press the button and that's it. well, surprise, surprise - even pressing the button may go horribly wrong.

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once upon a time in wales

bracing for winter