Topic: SCANOGRAMS

[beck]

So like, I'm either thinking I'm God's gift to man, or your next wife...of course I'll never be neither, so what's next on my list? Genius! Hardly. But I'm going to make you remember me somehow...and what better way than to illustrate scanograms. Well, I can't do that entirely, but I can show you some of the things I've made using a flatbed scanner. I've done these months ago thinking wow, this is neat and I'm going to be the first to show the world! Not. Well, I did think it was never done before. It has. And while I cannot find a whole heck of a lot of folks who are making these scanograms, the ones I've found via the net, seem to be on the same track as I.
 
As hokey as this may seem...I can bet you some works of art can really be rendered. Providing you have an extra scanner laying around...Photoshop, a super printer and a wild and creative imagination. I've pretty much screwed up my scanner then making these damned things. But what fun was had. Almost like cameraless photography, photograms, is what it is really...sort of. Well, if Man Ray can do it, so can you!
 
Scanograms have a historical antecedent in the photogram. A photogram is created by putting objects on top of photo sensitive paper and exposing the paper to light from above. Whereas a scanogram, objects are placed onto glass with the source of light underneath. How easy!
 
Where am I taking this you ask? Hell, I don't know...just read my signature in my profile.
 
Here's one link I found with some scanograms. I bet with some thought, one can really knock some socks off using this technique. Ideas are already swarming around in my head.
 
http://bpfish.tripod.com/scanograms.html
 
If anyone comes across something simliar, a link, examples, etc., please pass it along.
 
Here's some examples I did...some of you may have seen these already...make like pretend you didn't.


 
Thanks for your time...

[Skorj]

Not seen these before, unless you were responsible for the Tragically Hip's cover art on Fully Completely? How did you get the alfalfa out of the scanner? Did you use film at all (a la photogram), or are these all digital? Skj.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[LT]

these have been used to varying degrees of success for some time now - various album covers (Tori Amos' From the Choirgirl Hotel springs to mind)
etc. 

these are really effective works of art and I like them a lot, but they arent really relevent to this forum being solely a digital process - sorry to pull rank on you Beck, but we do need to stick to film related shennanigans here.

[beck]

I feel so, dirty. Digital Process? Well, I'd like to think of it as purely mechanical, though appearing in digital form. I looked at it as sort of like how a camera is built and having the glass top of the scanner acting as a film plane...or even lens...though powered by electricity of course. C'mon, digital process does means to transmit...and a image was captured, transmitted and flown to PS for viewing, and for printing. No digital camera was used here whatsoever. Just an alternative angle to photography...a twist of lime...you know, creative juices. You can't scold me for that can you? One post out of 5000+ isn't going to hurt anything. If the other administrators think so, then pull the post. No sweat really...

[Francois]

Actually these have been around much longer than we like to think!
Remember when in school we "defied" the administration by sticking our faces on the Xerox machine
Well, it is what is called Copy art and it is a surprisingly important part of modern art.
Check out http://tonerworks.blogspot.com/2005/09/what-is-copy-art-reed-altemus-2003.html
for a really nice introduction to the style which is so often related to Fluxus in some strange way.

There are a few major players in the world of Copy-Art, namely Sonia Landy Sheridan, Peter Astrom (who now does plain photography) and Suda House only to name a few.

So just to stay in the spirit of things: if you want to stay in the spirit of FilmWasters, all you have to do is get yourself a rickeddy old copy machine and enjoy

(P.S. sticking plastic wrap on the glass surface of the scanner will make it easier to clean ...)

[LT]

Beck - I'm not wanting to cause upset, but a scanner is a digital camera of sorts - it captures using a digital sensor. If you are using that process as a way to display your film based photography, then that is fine here.  We set up this forum and site to discuss and promote using film in creative photography.  This post is therefore not relevant to that cause.  There are plenty of places where you can show your art like this - deviantart etc.  Please use those to show and discuss this kind of work - and you can link to other sites form here if you so wish, no problems wih that. If we let this one thread go, then everyone could expect to start making off-topic posts.  I'm not going to pull or lock this thread (unless things get a little toasty) but as a moderator I would ask you to try and keep things as per the forum theme.   

I wouldnt start a thread about my greyhound on furrycats.com   

Now, lets see some of your excellent FILM pics

[Susan B.]

Beck these are gorgeous. Really creative work.

But Leon's right when he say's it's a digital process rather than a film process.

No need to pull the thread---Just keep wasting and posting film based photos.

 

[beck]

Awrighty then, film it is, and it's been really...I meant well you see...and maybe you should nuke my post...then I'll go and check out furrycats.com....ahem. And it better make me pur too...or else.

Carry on crew...carry on. 

[JOhn Reeves]

you missed it.
The best roll on the floor crying your eyes out and hyperventilating scanogram webite is no longer up. it was cat-scan.com
http://www.out-law.com/page-5423

[Francois]

John- There's always a way to get a dead site back, it's called the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine

www.archive.org

Beck- Maybe a scanogram done on a Xerox machine and printed on acetate (which is essentially film) would let you go through the loops

[moominsean]

or take photos of them and scan in the negs!

[LT]

come on guys and girls - we're not at home to Mr Picky

 

[beck]

Here we go gathering nuts in June.