This week I was fortunate enough to take part in a workshop led
by Rachel Louise Brown, the previous photo director for Harper’s Bazaar. The
workshop focused on the discovery and development of photography and the
process of loading, taking, and developing paper negatives.

Brown began the workshop exploring the history of
photography from the camera obscura to Henry Fox Talbot’s discovery of positives
and negatives. Using historical development of photography, Brown highlighted
the long exposure times needed for portraits and the lack of focus as a result
due to the movement as the photo was being taken. This made me reflect on the
progression and the accessibility of photography today. Due to the improvement
in technology, we no longer must spend time developing chemical coated plates
and sit through long exposure times.

The second part of Brown’s workshop allowed us to experiment
with the large format cameras and paper negatives. We had previously been
instructed to bring an object relating to our project, so I chose to bring a
photo frame with a childhood photograph inside to relate to my project ‘seeking
out euphoria’. Using the large format camera in the studio required every
studio light to be directed to the subject to reduce the exposure time. We
successfully reduced the exposure time to half a second which resulted in sharp
focused images.

Having the opportunity to talk to Rachel Louise Brown and
work with her in the studio was an amazing experience. I found the process of
making my own paper negatives very personal due to developing them myself. I
doubt I would continue to use paper negatives as I find digital photography
more suitable for my practice which is often on location and can automatically
focus when taking self-portraits. However, it was a fun skill to learn with a
professional practitioner and made me reflect on the development of
photography.

Heeley.C (2022), Workshop with Rachel Brown