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Martha Madigan | Camera less Photography

Camera less Photography 



Camera less photography is an alternative to using a Dslr camera. Cameraless photographers such as Man Ray  Martha Madigan and Adam Fuss create their photos using enlargers. Man ray was one of the first people to create an image without using a camera. he called these "rayographs", Which then evolved into photograms. To create a photogram you place objects over light sensitive paper and then expose the paper for around 8 seconds. The downside to using photograms is that the photos will always be 2D and will be from a birds eye view.

Martha Madigan
American photographer Martha Madigan was born in Milwaukee in 1950. she is a very interesting photographer as she creates very surreal photograms with multiple exposures and objects you wouldn't usually use. some of the themes she has done in the past are life and death, nature and culture and the fleeting existence of the body.

the reason why i  chose to research this photographer was because her work stood out to me from other photograms on the internet and therefore wanted to know more about the person. Martha has worked at many art schools such as the art institute of Chicago, Wayne state university in Detroit. she is currently a professor of photography at Tyler art at temple university Philadelphia.


This photo stood out to me in particular because of the double exposures. I like the way that the leaves are very sharp yet the outline of the child is faded this shows contrast. Also the use of the leaves along with the black background makes the image stand out and look bold. Which works well.

 The process of this photogram consisted of either having a cut out template of a baby or physically having a baby under the enlarger. I think that it would be a template because when the exposure is taking place I don'think a baby would sit still and would create a blurry photogram. The leaves were done in the second exposure as an overlay. The photo is linked to a bunch of photos which have a theme of life, a lot of the photos involve templates of babies.

 I think that the photogram is trying to show the start of life and the end of life. The reason for this is because the baby represents new life and the autumn leaves represent the end of life as the leaves have fallen from the tree and are ready to disintegrate.

 If I was to recreate this photogram I would make a template of a baby and then I would collect some leaves to place onto the enlarger. Or I would take a photo of leaves on the ground and then print it onto acetate. I would expose the paper for 6-8 seconds so that the image would be detailed. To take this further I could use different things to replace the leaves such as feathers etc.


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