Morgan Bennett - Pictorialist Excursion

Figure 1: My Pictorialist filter kit for the excursion consisted of a clear blue Q-Tip travel container (which could be used with either one or two layers of blue, a bit of fuzz from a used three-in-one laundry sheet, a disposable contact lens container, a bit of gold Twix candy bar wrapper, and my hat. In addition to these filters, I also used a breath-fog technique on the lens of the camera to create a very soft, consistent filter for images where the other filters were not appropriate.

Figure 2: A view of Chatelheraut Hunting Lodge from the gardens, taken in black and white through the laundry sheet filter for a soft focus and the appearance of a thick fog or mist about the grounds in the early morning. The variation in the density of the filter fibers creates some varying densities of the fog effect in the image, as well as added to the thickness of the clouds above the lodge.

Figure 3: Chatelheraut Hunting Lodge from the front. This image was taken in color through the Q-Tip box filter, utilizing two layers of blue (through both sides of the box instead of just one) to highlight the silhouette of the lodge against the sky.

Figure 4: Chatelheraut Hunting Lodge from the front as in Figure 3, but using the gold candy bar wrapper as a filter. The gold wrapper created an interesting effect in the image, but was very inconsistent in that effect, as evidenced by the gradual change in intensity of the original image behind the filter from top to bottom.

Figure 5: Chatelheraut Hunting Lodge, taken through the contact lens  container bulb.  With the sun directly behind the hunting lodge, the scratches in the bulb of the contact lens container really caught the individual rays of sunlight to cast about the now shadow-like form of the lodge.

Figure 6: Chatelheraut Hunting Lodge from the side. I used the vent holes in my hat as the vignette filter for this image, and am quite happy with the result. The filter intensifies the effect of the dark clouds coming in from the right to contrast the light and color of the lodge at the center of the image.

Figure 7: The river at New Lanark. This image was taken in black and white. As a filter, I breathed on the lens of the camera to create a very light, soft fog that was uniform across the image. At the bottom center of the picture are two universal figures sitting on the wall watching the river.

Figure 8: A dog wanders about New Lanark. This image was taken in black and white without the use of additional filters as an image of transience, similar to James Craig Annan's 1903 image of Stirling Castle, but without a major monument in the background.

Figure 9: A flower (maybe an orange rose?) along a stone wall in New Lanark.  Similarly to Figure 7, this image was taken using my hat as a vignette filter, focusing the viewer's eye to the brilliant color of the petals.