Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Photogram: Treat the sheet edge as the frame and choose contact or a gap
- Type
- Set in Photogram's manner (For letters, lay cut stencils on the paper and leave them reversed), and let Solarization's lettering (Add no lettering and let the glowing edge act as the drawn line) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Photogram's material (Photo paper, lamp height, exposure time, distance controlling edge hardness); bring in exactly one thing from Solarization (Second exposure mid development, timed and logged, tested on the same paper).
- Colour
- Build on #f0eee5, #73777a, #111315 and admit one accent from #dedbd3, #8b7a75, #1c1b1b.
Where they fight
- Photogram and Solarization share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
- Photogram and Solarization both belong to Photographic Techniques, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Photogram and Solarization are techniques rather than looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show.
- Photogram and Solarization stand roughly 90 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Photogram This is not black and white abstraction in general. Merely arranging unusual objects records only shadows, while transparency and distance from the sensitized surface are what make the image.
- Solarization Imitating it with a digital inversion flattens the tones evenly, loses the single edge that only the darkroom produces, and leaves a flat effect.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Photogram (technique, 1830s– / avant-garde revival) and their accent from Solarization (technique, 19th century– / 1920s revival). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Photogram exists for: recording small objects of differing transparency by contour and tone alone, or work that shows the experiment with light itself, without a camera. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Photogram - Cameraless - Object contours - Reversed values - Contact and distance Composition: Treat the sheet edge as the frame and choose contact or a gap. Type and lettering: For letters, lay cut stencils on the paper and leave them reversed. ## Accent comes from Solarization, used sparingly - Partial tone reversal - Glowing edges - Metallic feel - Darkroom manipulation Let one material quality come from it: Second exposure mid development, timed and logged, tested on the same paper. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f0eee5, carry the structure in #73777a and #111315, and let a single accent come from #8b7a75. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: technique, calm, play, rebellion, luxury, futurity. ## Where they fight - Photogram and Solarization share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over. - Photogram and Solarization both belong to Photographic Techniques, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Photogram and Solarization are techniques rather than looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show. - Photogram and Solarization stand roughly 90 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Photogram: This is not black and white abstraction in general. Merely arranging unusual objects records only shadows, while transparency and distance from the sensitized surface are what make the image. - Solarization: Imitating it with a digital inversion flattens the tones evenly, loses the single edge that only the darkroom produces, and leaves a flat effect. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Photogram 1830s– / avant-garde revival / Technique / Photographic Techniques
No camera is involved. Objects laid on the sensitive surface and exposed to light turn contour, transparency and distance into the picture.
- Solarization 19th century– / 1920s revival / Technique / Photographic Techniques
Re-exposes the print mid-development, reversing part of the tonal scale into glowing edges and metallic light.
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