Run Your Fingers Through Me

'Run Your Fingers Through Me' (Passa - m'hi els dits), the title of a beautiful book of poems I bought a while ago that I have only just got around to reading. And jeez does Anna Gual (a wonderful catalan poet who lives in Barcelona) know how to write! And Bianca Tschaikner's illustrations are so simple and yet combined with the poetry they create this deeper surreal meaning. I started reading it while sitting on the bank of a river in some woodlands near where I live, no one goes there you see. I can sit quietly listening to the water rushing by, wondering where it's heading...Sometimes I imagine it as this magic portal that if I jumped in it would take me away to some place that holds a little more wonder than this world seems to sometimes take away. 

By that river, reading these poems, seeing these pictures - dreaming and at peace for a few hours at least.

Escape. 

http://www.atembooks.com/producto/may-your-fingers-come-through-anna-gual-bianca-tschaikner/ 

And whilst you've got me here being deep and meaningful, when I would rather be asleep, I'll show you some of the polaroids I took of my own space whilst I was reading this book of poems - a glimpse into my life I suppose. 

I dare you to find me.

A link to the illustrators website, her work is beautiful: http://www.biancatschaikner.com

See the rest of my polaroids on my website: www.sarahpacker.com 

The Hundred-Headless Woman

"To poetry, the poet is a wolf. He fights it, overcomes it and tears it apart with his fine teeth and long claws. He feeds upon it. Like an eternal battle, or the merciless combat of lovers, a passion as strong as hatred and death both unites the poet and his ideal mistress and sets them against each other. Without this taste for murder and blood there can be no valid creation in this territory."   - Robert Desnos

(Undercover Surrealism, George Bataille and DOCUMENTS)

Sarah Packer's photostream

Sarah Packer's photostream on Flickr.

Latest polaroids using The Impossible Project Colour Film

Pollage (Polaroid Collage)

Yes I am now making up my own words - Pollage is my word for a photo collage on a polaroid. Now you may wonder why I have decided to glue pictures over a somewhat expensive sheet of polaroid film, well it started when I experimented with my first pack of colour polaroid film, which I found was more difficult to do then I had first thought so my first 3 images came out very dark, so much so that the image was barely visible - they weren't worth keeping and just as I was about to throw them in the bin, I had the idea of doing little polaroid artist profiles in collage form.

So these three polaroids did have a purpose in life!!

I thought I would start with my favourite photographers (thinking this may develop into a little series if I carry on being shit at taking polaroids haha!).
The first one I did was Helmut Newton (Neustader) and it actually turned out pretty well I think, then I moved onto Nan Goldin and then Robert Mapplethorpe, only took me an hour or so to get them done - an afternoon well spent. I scanned them onto the computer and so the quality isn't as good as the real thing but I was eager to show them so here they are:

PolaroidCollage#Helmut Newton



PolaroidCollage#NanGoldin



PolaroidCollage#RobertMapplethorpe

Polaroids continued...

As you know (if you've been following my blog that is) I have been experimenting with the medium of Polaroid, documenting my life and most recently my emotions, which have been involuntarily coming across in my images, which I don't usually let happen.
I've moved onto colour polaroid, as previously I tried The Impossible Project's Silver Shade film which was brilliant to use, but I just wanted to see what their colour film was like. It takes about 30mins for the image to develop with colour, compared to the silver shade that took only 10mins and the exposure of the latter was easier to control and get right. The exposure on the colour is so hit and miss and so 3 of the shots in the pack of 8 were not even worthy to get scanned onto my computer, I haven't yet been able to put the chosen images on my website so you can have a preview of two of them here until I do.

Polaroid#12

Polaroid#9

I have been finding the lack of control with my camera very difficult when using this film, I'm still getting the hang of the Polaroid style - the soft focus etc and the cool blue tones with this pack are unusual as I am shooting under tungsten light, but with my next pack I'm going to do some landscapes of a place I like to go when I need some space, there are never any people around and it's just by a river and the trees look amazing in the winter. Hopefully shooting in daylight will provide better exposures.

Laura Leal

I discovered Laura Leal's imagery on Flickr where most of the photographers I like are actually found - and maybe they're not famous or well known and maybe they never will be, but that doesn't lessen their images in fact I think it humbles them in a way and it makes me feel closer to the images knowing that I am one of the few in the world who has seen them.

Laura Leal's images are mostly captured on 120 film they are usually colour with a small amount of visible grain, which just adds a whole other layer of beauty to the images. I think I have added every photo of hers to my favourites on Flickr!!
My personal faves are her images of Irene (see below).

Because there is nothing cooler than lighting a cigarette on a gas oven...

For some reason I always love images where smoke has been frozen in time

Stunning black and white portrait - I want to be photographed by Leal, she makes people look amazing!!

I love tattoos so i think that was the major attraction to most of the images in the Irene series!

The cool blue tones are just stunning here and compliment the skin tone beautifully

I think film just has a certain aesthetic to it that appeals to me, the orange and blue tones have created a nostalgic atmosphere in Leal's images. Sometimes when I look at photographs that have been taken with colour film, it's like they're of another world or even another time, they feel outside of the present and yet they feel so incredibly real.

All images: All rights reserved © Laura Leal. Do not use without artist's permission.
You can see more of her work at http://www.lauraleal.com/

Get Your Art on FAD #58

Okay so I don't want to brag or anything but I got featured on FAD again, and okay may not seem like a big deal to most people but it is a huge boost in confidence for me. Especially as this was a piece of work I did back when I was 16 or something and I thought I would submit it because I've always liked doing collages and wondered if they were any good!!

So yeah quite happy with that little achievement :) 

oh and heres the link if you want to check it out, the website is pretty good for art news and emerging artists etc too. http://www.fadwebsite.com/2013/01/29/sarah-packer-get-your-art-on-fad-58/