Kaleidoscopic ImagesI've been working with a little tool I made from mirrored plexi-glass this summer. Thank you Tap Plastics! I lucked out and found what I needed in the "scrap" bin last year.
I was initially thinking of a much larger piece to use with my Canon 5D, Mark II. I put that all together too, but found it just too unwieldy. I made a few images in May of last year with it, but tired of it quickly, So I'd put them away away for a while.
Funny thing is that nearly to the day a year later, I thought... why not try it again, with the smaller version of the prismatic viewer and my phone? I'd been thinking about kaleidoscopes and mandalas; and wondering how I could create something like them with a camera.
WOW! So much more fun and interesting this time around. Of course the desert in Spring and lots of alone time for creating helped too. My trip to the desert and the impact of Manzanar along with how I've been feeling about my country inspired most of this series of photographs. I feel the crazy views align with the crazy thinking and actions I'm seeing around me.
I've experimented with various lenses and I really like the fisheyes with the prismatic viewer. These give a much more kaleidascope look. Using a narrower lens, I'm able to get more control over the image and make something more intentionally mandala-ish.
I'm figuring out how exactly I want to print them. I'm leaning towards the black backgrounds around the circle images. I'm also thinking there may be a way to have them as semi-transparent circles and hang them as a mobile. One idea is to mount them and use encaustic medium to add elements of glass and mirror. I've ordered some little mirror triangle pieces. So maybe in a week or two, I'll have some more experimental images to share. My friend, Sam introduced me once as someone who "makes terrific photographs and then does something wild with them." It can be illuminating to see yourself though someone else. And so the journey continues...
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