Abandoned buildings - Detroit

Rollei RLS low speed developer

Rollei low speed developer

- I will use this developer alongside rollei pan 25 film so I can gain the highest resolution images possible.

Rollei RLS is a deep layer film developer which renders finer grain and improved highlight tonality when compared to standard-type film developers. As with other products of this type, there is some loss of film speed required to gain the improved quality negative. Supplied as a liquid concentrate. Dilute 1+4 to make working solution.

Film research - rollei pan 25

PAN25

Outstanding resolution, sharpness and edge contrast.The ROLLEI PAN 25 is a panchromatic sensitised black & white film with low speed ISO 25/15°. Besides the excellent fine-grain this film has a very good resolving power and a high edge sharpness. The ROLLEI PAN 25 is characterised by a high sensitivity reserve of one f- stop, depending upon development. The thin-section document-emulsion is poured onto a highly transparent base and offers an extraordinary sharpness, with finest grain.

The ROLLEI PAN 25 achieves highest image quality with using very large scales of magnification. The glass-clear material of the PET support makes the material suitable for use as B+W slide film.

Properties:

- panchromatic sensitised with low speed ISO 25/15; - special coating for an improvement of the transport properties of the cameras; - suitable for daylight and tungsten; - polyester base support guarantees the highest level of archive stability (LE 500); - spectral sensitization 400 – 650nm; - very fine grain and high sharpness as a base for negatives with an excellent quality; - with “non-curling” backside coating to improve flatness; - especially suited for digital application for scanner;

Film base:

Layer - emulsion side: - back: Exposure index :

Caracteristic diagram:

Storage:

35mm and rollfilm polyester, 100μm, crystal clear

emulsion coating, antihalation coating NC “non-curling“ coating ISO 25/15°

It is recommend not to leave the film material exposed into direct sunlight, strong heat or relative high humidity. - unexposed film: Up to 24 months in cold storage by 8° C is recommend - exposed film: After exposure, please keep film in cold condition, processing as soon as possible is recommend

Processing:

The ROLLEI PAN 25 must be processed in complete darkness. It can be developed succesfully in all standard. developers such as AGFA, ILFORD, KODAK, LABOR PARTNER or TETENAL. To achieve optimal results, a test development is recommended in order to obtain the correct development times and temperatures. By using other developers - not tested by MACO - decreases of quality can be expected showing rough grain structures and low sensitivity.

Highly recommended are the following developers: Application Developer Pictorial use, standard ROLLEI RHS Pictorial use, extremly fine grain unsurpassed tonal range ROLLEI RLS

The development time chart can be found in the internet under www.rollei.com.

HIGH SPEED LOW SPEED

Film research - rollei ortho 25

ORTHO25

Extremely high resolving power, suited for general graphic purposesThe ROLLEI ORTHO 25 is a technical, steeply working monochrome photographic film with a nominal sensitivity of ISO 25/15°. The ROLLEI ORTHO 25 is characterized by a high sensitivity reserve of up to two f-stops, depending upon development. The document emulsion offers offers an extraordinary sharpness extreme fine grain. The ROLLEI ORTHO 25 is suitable very well for technical-scientific applications and as a half-tone film in the pictorial photography. The highly clear transparent PET substrate opens the possibility of application as b&w slide film also.

Technical – scientific application

For reproductions, radiographic reproductions, astro photography, black-and-white and blue slide, for graphic distancing. Particularly for this application we recommend the LP-DOCUFINE HC developer (1+5, 3-5 min.).

Half-tone film in the pictorial photography

With highest requirements in terms of sharpness and extreme fine grain, the ROLLEI ORTHO 25 offers excellent results in combination with the fine grain balance developer ROLLEI HIGH SPEED (LP SUPERGRAIN). The ROLLEI ORTHO 25 in combination with the ROLLEI LOW SPEED developer, has an legendary call of CONTRAST which b&w developers can compile. The results remind of qualities obtained by the famous Technical Pan film. The comparable steep gradation is bent by this special developer. Extreme fine grain structures and highest sharpness connected with detailled gray tones, can be reached in such a way.

The ORTHO 25 in combination with the ROLLEI LOW CONTRAST developer has compiled itself a legendary call. These results remind of the quality of technical pan-Filme. The comparatively steep gradation is bent by this special developer. Extreme fine graininess and highest sharpness connected with detailled grey tones are reached in such a way.

Properties:

- orthochromatic sensitised with low speed ISO 25/15; - spectral sensitvity 380 – 610nm; - special coating for an improvement of the transport properties of the cameras; - suitable for daylight and tungsten; - polyester base support guarantees the highest level of archive stability (LE 500); - excellent resolving power of 330 lines/mm - extreme fine grain and highest sharpness, as a base for negatives with an excellent qualityh; - with “non-curling” backside coating to improve flatness; - especially suited for digital application for scanner;

Film base: Layer - emulsion side: - back: Exposure index :

Characteristic diagram:

Storage:

35mm and rollfilm polyester, 100μm, crystal clear; sheet film, 175μm, crystal clear

emulsion coating orthocromatic sensitized, antihalation coating NC “non-curling“ coating ISO 25/15°

It is recommend not to leave the film material exposed into direct sunlight, strong heat or relative high humidity. - unexposed film: Up to 24 months in cold storage by 8°C is recommend - exposed film: After exposure, please keep film in cold condition, processing as soon as possible is recommend

Processing:

The ROLLEI ORTHO 25 needs strong chemistry, because the silver content of about 9g/m2 is very fastidious in relation to processing chemistry.

Highly recommended are the following developers: Application Pictorial use for high contrasts

The development time chart can be found in the internet under www.rollei.com.

Christoph Morlinghaus

These images by Christoph Morlinghaus (especially the bottom two) create such an interesting sense of being deserted. Images of amazing buildings that are just empty. Create the feeling that your not supposed to be there..

- beautiful use of natural light

- bottom two pose a great question of symmetry, are the images taken from the perfect spot where everything lines up to be symetrical? or have the images been digitally manipulated to create that sense of symmetry?

José Javier Serrano (yosigo)

These images by photographer José Javier Serrano (more commonly known as yosigo) are a beautiful example of capturing the aireness of abandoned places. The use of natural light unconventionally captures the beautiful graphic aesthetic adopted in the images. Alot of straight, vertical and horizontal lines create a very graphic style, often involving symmetry in the compositions.

Fever hospital - Access etc.

In order to fulfill this project, i will need to gain access to fever hospital from the council.

This is my statement that I have sent to a few people thus far in order to gain access:

My name is Tim Solomon and I am a student at Massey University, studying photographic design (currently in my third year). I am writing to you concerning Fever Hospital.

I am currently doing a project engaging in 'site and place' and looking further into place and memory. I am looking in particular at abandoned places and have a great deal of interest in the Fever Hospital building. Would it be possible for me to talk to somebody about gaining access to this building in order for me to fulfill this investigation? If needed I can send a copy of my proposal for this body of work that outlines what I set out to achieve.

Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Tim Solomon

Concept 2 - Fever Hospital

Looking at Place and Memory,

After developing my initial concept on constructed realities, i found myself at a dead end and just did not have enough interest in the subject for it to be substantial.

So i took a step back and decided to look at an area that has much more interest to me. I am very interested in abandoned places and the certain aireness that lingers around. So i have decided to investigate the wellington fever hospital, tucked away in mt vic.

Here is a brief description of the hospital from http://wellington.govt.nz/services/heritage/details.php?id=8&m=search

Former Chest Hospital; Fever Hospital; Wellington Polytechnic Conservatorium of Music 140 Alexandra Road

Architect:Crichton and McKay Date of Construction:1918-1920 Material:Masonry and Timber NZHPT Register:Category II reference 5376 District Plan:Map 6 Ref 9 & 23 Part of Chest Hospital Heritage Area Legal Description:Town Belt

Statement of Significance The Fever Hospital, built by the Wellington Hospital Board has historic value for the insight it gives into the treatment of infectious diseases in the 1920s, since its planning, and architectural features such as sun porches and verandahs attached to wards, are indicative of medical requirements that were current at the time but do not apply today. Several other hospital-related uses and, in recent times, its upgrading for use by the School of Music of the Wellington Polytechnic, have added to its historic interest. There is technical value in the original fabric of the building, significant parts of which remain intact. Although originally a building of some aesthetic value, and the work of important Wellington architects Crichton and McKay, today the building has an air of neglect. It has suffered from ill-sited additions and its setting, while pleasant enough with the open space of the Town Belt on one side, is degraded by the ruinous condition of the former Nurses Home on the main entrance side. These aspects will no doubt change in time, while its significant heritage value persists through the historical/medical interest attached to this example of a now redundant building type. History This building was built as a fever hospital, by the Wellington Hospital Board, and it was completed in 1920. It replaced the first fever hospital (1911) which had been converted to a diphtheria ward. The treatment of infectious diseases steadily improved during the latter part of the 19th century. The concept of isolation was well understood by this time and the building of fever hospitals was evidence of a gathering understanding of the need to fight disease. Crichton and McKay, who had gained many commissions from the Hospital Board, were asked to prepare designs for the new hospital in 1917. It was to be built on land appropriated from the Town Belt in 1872, on the flanks of Mt Victoria. It was sited above the hospital near the top of the hill, a relatively remote site that would have aided the isolation of fever victims. Access was difficult, with no formed road to the hospital until the 1930s. The tender of E.S. Knight, for £25,500, was accepted and the permit issued in February 1918.1 Construction seems to have taken a very long time, as did the fitting out: the foundation stone was laid on 1 August 1918 and the building was occupied on 17 January 1920, although it appears not to have had a formal opening. The building was closed for repairs in 1934 or 1935 when the leaking asbestos roof was replaced with corrugated iron. In the 1940s tuberculosis replaced infectious diseases as the principal threat to community health. Large numbers of cases absorbed much of the hospital's capacity. Sonja Davies, who later contracted TB herself, worked there during World War II. After the War, consideration was given to upgrading the hospital but, by 1949, it was thought unnecessary to have the fever hospital so far from the main hospital. By 1953 just four patients were accommodated there. The hospital briefly reopened in 1957 for patients from Ewart, the chest (former infectious diseases) hospital After an inspection in 1969 it was decided to repair the building and reopen it as a "Temporary Chest Hospital". A new ward was added in 1973, with the hospital finally closing in 1981. In 1987, after considerable refurbishment, the building was reopened as the School of Music for the overcrowded Wellington Polytechnic. Today the building is empty. Description The former Fever Hospital consists of a main administration block with two wings, each with four wards. Verandas and sun porches were built on the north end of the building and at the end of the wings. The building is designed in an Arts and Crafts version of the Queen Anne style, rather simplified. The detailing of the building is domestic in scale, clearly designed to provide familiarity and comfort to the hospital setting. Typical features of the style, demonstrated in the Fever Hospital, are asymmetrical facades and complex roof lines, as well as decorated gable forms, half-timbering effects, bay windows and wide verandas, and Art Nouveau leadlight windows. The construction is load-bearing brick-cavity masonry on reinforced-concrete foundations and piles. Window joinery is timber, and the roof cladding is corrugated steel. The original plan takes the shape of a 'V', with the reception and administration at the apex. The interior of the 'V' forms a courtyard surrounded by open verandas. A small two-storey wing projects north from the apex, giving a 'tail' to the 'V'. This wing housed the kitchen, dining room, sewing room and store on the ground floor, and bathing and dressing rooms on the upper floor. The interior is spartan, with walls of plain painted plaster and ceilings of plaster and battens. The interior and exterior verandas feature exposed timber strip flooring. The Hospital forms part of a coherent group of hospital buildings designed by Crichton and McKay in a similar style which also includes the Nurses' Hostel (in poor condition) and Parkview Clinic. It is noted that these buildings have been assessed for their heritage value and there is further information held on file.

Slideshow 8/3

Alec Soth - Niagra series.

- looking at niagra as a wedding destination

- very gentle and ironic - very contempory, not theatrical or dramatic.

- observing. leaving the viewer to make up their own mind of the place.

Bert Teunissen - domestic interiors.

- series of images (mostly in southern europe) looking at the way in which people present their houses.

- looking at memoriabilia etc.

- amazing use of natural light.

Bill Owens. - Suburbia

- 1970's America.

- talks to people etc + gives subjects the oppertunity to make a comment.

- its a critique

Edward Burtynsky

- high angles, almost a gods eye view.

- images of quarries

- monumental scale

- textural elements

- modernist out of the modern era

- beautiful images of disturbing things

- is he critiquing, or is he mutual? - is he just an observer or does he have an agenda?


Gregory Crewdson

- theatre. complete constructions.

- very cinematic and dramatic. from smalltown american cities etc. very surreal. whole film crew is needed for the shoots.

Harriet Logan - woman under the teleban

Sandy Sorlien -

50 states. 50 houses.

- a travelling project of 'house portraits'. one photo from each state to summarise each state in a house.

- shot in infared.

Simon Roberts - the russian riveria

Tom Paiva - Industrial night.

- LA. long exposures

- looking at non spaces - unresolved town places.

Te Papa Visit - notes

Faraway places, 19th century travel photography.

- Photographers travelled across the world to bring back photographs of exotic and distant lands that people of the time had generally never seen before.

- the "naked realism" of photography had surpassed the romantic artists efforts that had been there prior.

thesis or message of exhibition,

the curator is showing this series of 19thC travel photography to show how the discovery of new + exotic places was very important to people of the time. only artists had seen the places prior and showed them in a way that is beautiful and romantic, but not entirely real. these images show foreign land as it was exactly, at the time - photo realism.

the exhibition is made up of 4/5 large prints and many books showing a double page spread of specially selected photographs - bar one. one book had a piece of paper covering one of the images. this was very distracting and posed questions of why they covered that image. what are they hiding? That aside the images in the books were beautiful, as were the books in themselves - pretty much artefacts in themselves. gold leafed pages etc. That style of presentation thoroughly relates to subject of the exhibition.

the books in which the images are displayed in are a perfect relation to the context and time of the images. the artefacts have aged over time and have turned into absolute amazing displays of work of the time.

dim lighting, beautiful old cabinet in the middle of the room. the artefacts all have descriptive lables explaining the time/place and a description of what was happening at the time + photographer if known.

I think the presentation of the books is a very strong point, weaknesses - lack of quantity, and the fact that you can only look at two images in each book. very dissapointing as the images are so beautiful you want to flick through the book. lighting could have possibly been a bit to dim, but if it was any brighter would damage the images over time.

Concept 1

Looking at place and memory.

Creating the perfect landscape image - a play on the truth of photography in the 21st century.

Looking at the ideologies of romantic landscape paintings where there was no truth in the paintings. Artists could paint what they want to see, not what was necessarily there in the first place.

- Utilising their artistic liscence.

- Im looking at fully constructing landscapes utilising common land icons/well known places and digitally make the image look and feel as if it is a real place - posing strong questions over the authenticity of the photographic media.

- In a way painting with components from multiple photographs.

Looking at the works of Beate Gutschow -

These images are built composites, each with 30 to 100 different images in each. Very utopian looking images with very high attention to detail.

- creating a perfect surreal image of a non existant place

- using items that draw emotion to people/items that people see every day and can relate to - making it obvious that the images are montages, but then in contrast looking so real that it leaves the viewer confused. ie street signs we see everyday, buildings we all know (bell tower at massey), etc... commodities...

- look at time? parts of the image spanning a vast timeline?

Create an emphasis on depth of field,

- everything in sharp focus...

- depth of field constructed to replicate a camera? focus point then blurring out from that?..or

- all random?

Looking at images from Stephen Tamiesie,

The surreal aesthetic. These images have an amazing aesthetic. Although they are just straight photographs of a retirement village, they have an amazing surreal feel. They look to perfect to exist.

- this aesthetic could be applied to my montage images as they will be created to be extremely surreal.