Exp2.0: International Festival for Experimental Photography

The first international festival for experimental photography is taking place in Barcelona, Spain in January 2020 and I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the festival. I recently found out one of my photos will be exhibited at the festival. The exhibit will feature selected photographers picked from the limited number of people attending this small festival. The photo exhibit will be shown in Barcelona from January-February 2020 and is in talks to have the show extended for a year and travel to Poland, England, Argentina and Mexico. I’m really excited to go meet with artists and attend workshops and talks about the field of experimental photography.

The festival is organized by BADEM and being sponsored by the Institut d'Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya and the Pati Llimona cultural center. The festival had the goal of achieving gender equality, joining the protocol of No Sin Fotógrafas which pledges to having at least 40% of women participating in the festival. The final numbers updated on November 14 show 50/50 male and female speakers at the festival with 55.5% of women participating overall in the festival to 44.5% men! Despite the fact that women are the overwhelming majority in art schools across the US, we are still underrepresented in the art world. I hope exhibitions will continue to strive for greater gender equality.

The festival was originally open for 80 photographers from around the world, and an application and portfolio were necessary to apply. There was such interest the festival has now opened up to 200 international photographers, with myself being among the 30 people further selected to exhibit photographs. Participants are coming from 24 countries. In order of most participants photographers are coming from England, France, The US, Germany, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, Poland, Greece, Australia, Colombia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Singapore, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Kuwait and more!

For more information on the festival: https://www.experimentalphotofestival.com/?lang=en

Recycled Disposable Cameras

My recent batch of photos (Nuclear Sunset, The Inside Out Band Tour, and Outer Cape 2019) are the first rolls of film I’ve gotten back using Sunflash disposable cameras. These bulk cameras online were available cheaper than Fujifilm or Kodak and I decided to try an experiment. Once I received the cameras and peeled off the paper cover, underneath were single use cameras from a variety of brands. The “single use” cameras had been opened and new film was placed inside it. The cameras were then taped up with electrical tape and the Sunflash brand paper cover was placed obscuring the original camera.

I like using single use cameras for a few reasons. They are simple, easy to use and I’ve noticed the smaller and cheaper the camera, the less people pose or react to having their photo taken. I like the stealth element, and of course I can physically destroy them in a way I would never do to a normal film camera. That being said, the wasteful element of this practice has been bothering me for awhile so it was exciting to try and use cameras that were being recycled.

Out of the 20 Sunflash cameras I ordered, probably about half were defective. Either the film would snap or get stuck, the numbers would stop progressing, or the button to take the photo wouldn’t work. It took the unpredictable, chaotic part of my process and amplified it tenfold. When I started with this first batch soaking the cameras using my film soup technique, I was pretty nervous. These cameras aren’t sealed in the same way the single use cameras I’ve used before have been and the results were going to be even more unpredictable than normal.

I started off with light and quick film soups with a typical base of alcohol, soda, detergents, spices and chemicals. The rest of the process (rinsing in cold water, drying out for a few days, freezing overnight, thawing again and drying) were kept the same. I was very happy with the results but I wish more of the cameras worked.

What do you think of the results?

Film Soup

This week Lomography published an article about me on their online magazine and it discusses my uses of “film soups”. This is a technique I really enjoy and have been experimenting with for about 7 years.

https://www.lomography.com/magazine/341116-juliana-gagne

During that time I wasted a lot of film and learned a lot about the limits you can put on 35mm film! Shooting analogue is always a science experience and usually requires a touch of luck. There are a lot of different ways to use this technique, and I think my version is probably the laziest I’ve heard to date.

Since I primarily work with disposable cameras and I don’t remove the film from them (too afraid of the voltage, does anyone have any tips to try it safely?) I just soak the whole camera in the soup. Typically I hear about photographers soaking their film before shooting and I do that occasionally, but typically I do most of the souping once the roll has been shot. I also experiment with light soaking in the beginning and middle of the roll and a heavier soak once the exposures have all been taken.

I use a variety of liquids, spices and chemicals to soak my film in and sometimes I just go for a swim with it and call it a day. I love the effect of salt water from swimming in the ocean with my camera (do it too much and you tend to get lots of black dots and orbs) and of swimming in a chlorine pool (but be careful with this technique, the chlorine will destroy or wash away your emulsion more quickly than the ocean).

These are some liquids/chemicals/detergents/spices I work with a lot and I typically will combine a few different ones for my soups

  • coffee

  • red wine, rosé gin, whiskey, sangria

  • vinegars (red wine vinegar is a favorite)

  • soap, detergent; either “wash” the camera or pour it on the camera before putting it in the soup

  • cleaning sprays, bleach (be very cautious with using these chemicals)

  • juices

  • salt, paprika, cayenne, turmeric

After soaking (usually 7-16 minutes depending on the combination of liquids and the amount of liquid) I wash the camera in cold water and put it in the drying rack for about a day. Then I usually put my cameras in a freezer overnight before thawing a final time!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new website and my blog! You can follow me on instagram @jai_gagne or shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/JaiGagneStore? and https://society6.com/jai_gagne