Light Graffiti Part 2

Today we had another light graffiti class. This time we knew what we were doing more and so could get better results. We were put into groups again and supplied with a variety of lights. The class took place in the gym this time and we took the pictures behind the stage curtain where it was really dark and we had lots of space. The class was good fun as we knew the technical aspects of taking photos this time and we could set our shutter speed as we wanted. These are some of our photos this time!

We then expeamented with motion photography but in daylight. Using the ideas we has learnt from light graffiti we created some interesting results, some of them look like ghost images!

Wall Mural

Today we started on our wall mural which we had been working on before Christmas. We had previously planned out the wall working in our groups , coming up with our design for our section of the wall with the theme of "freedom". We looked at inspiration from other wall murals around the world like the Berlin Wall and the Murals in Northern Ireland.

These are some of the pictures that we looked at with our teacher

The fall of the Berlin Wall

The East Side Gallery which is a section of the original Berlin Wall  which different artists have painted mesages of freedom

Northern Ireland- This shows how different peoples ideas of freedom are.

Bansky a grafitti artist

This is what the wall looked like before....

And this is what the wall looks like after one class of working on our mural!

Light Graffiti

Today we tried our hand at some light graffiti , we all found it very exciting and couldn't wait to begin.
Firstly we learned about basic photography principles including shutter speed, aperture, f-stop and depth of field. This was really interesting. Some of the class had studies this briefly as they had completed photography disciplines in their Junior Cert.
We broke into groups of three and designed our image that we do would create in a  dark room next door to our class. This would involve using torches or different sort of lights, and using these as pencils and drawing in the dark. When a camera is on a very slow shutter speed, it captures all the light available and then creates an image. We mostly used a shutter speed on 10seconds. Anyone can do light graffiti if they have a camera that can be used on a manual setting, and have access to a dark space and a torch.

Our theme was 'freedom' for the light graffiti and we all brainstormed our ideas and came up with a final piece for each group . Group by group we went into the room and tried out our images twice for practice and then a final third time was our finished piece.

Here is some of the videos that we watched in class as inspiration.

Our photos turned out well, but it was very hard to make sure everyone was co-ordinated at the same time. Writing was especially hard to do and we found that we had to write backwards in order for it to appear correct in the photo. We used coloured lights to create nice effects....

Amnesty International Christmas Cards

Today in art class we made christmas cards to help people get out of prison with amnesty greeting card campaign. We are doing an overall theme in class of 'freedom' and so this class allowed us to think more about the theme. We did this to give them support and hope during the  holidays. we made these cards using the method monoprinting,our teacher asked us to create images and pictures with a seasonal theme and we used these to made the shapes of the cards. Every girl in the class did at least one card,to the person of their choice. We put our own personal message inside the cards aswell. Our class thought this was important to do because we thought people should not be lonely over the holidays. It made us aware of abuses that are going on around the world and how some people are fighting for the freedom of others. This is what one of the people who had recieved cards in the past said:

“When the first 200 letters came the guards gave me 

back my clothes. Then the next 200 letters came and 

the prison director came to see me. When the next 

pile arrived the director got in touch with his superior. 

The letters kept coming and coming... 3,000 of them. 

The President was informed. The letters still kept 

arriving and the President called the prison and told 

them to let me go.” 


Julio de Peña Valdez, trade union leader from the Dominican Republic 

These are some pictures of the process of monoprinting

To change colour when printing, simply wash the acetate sheet and start again!

These are some of the cards that we made!