SoundCamp 2014. Stave Hill Ecological Park Rotherhithe London

On the 3rd and 4th May 2014, I took part in SoundCamp in a small capacity. I was asked to visually record the event.

SoundCamp was a listening event linked to International Dawn Chorus Day a project of the Wildlife Trust. It was Organised by Grant Smith, Maria Papadomanolaki and Kirsty Collander-Brown and held at the SHED, Stave Hill Ecological Park, Rotherhithe London. This was the transmission point for REVEIL, the first live 24 hour broadcast of dawn sounds as they happened across the world.
The broadcast started at 5am on the Saturday morning, I didn’t manage to get on site at that time but a couple of hours later I was at the SHED and ready to set up a number of experiments and record using a variety of cameras. I had been asked about a week before if I was interested in taking part and I loved the idea, I immediately knew what ‘type’ of images I would try and make for this. As the event was across two days, it just had to be ‘slow’ photography in the form of Solargraphs and Pinholes. I also had a number of other cameras with me, which I would use to document in a slightly different way.

Below is the annotated site plan from above.

 

Saturday

Site 1 SHED 

Recording made whilst watching the beekeepers veil up. Those of you who know the site will recognise the background sounds, for those concerned it was only a football match and he was giving directions!

 

The first solar graph was set up just to the South of the main building, it was attached to a tree by a fence constructed of twigs, wattle fashion.

Solargraph pot 1 The container was a film pot

Angle: 138* degrees South East facing looking toward sound tent across the insect structures in the garden.

Time: set 07.55am Sat 3rd May Removed 12.57 Sun 4th May

 

Lumen

 

Pinhole, Zero 612b Kodak 100TMAX

Exp 1 Approach to park path 3m.20

Exp 2 View from pot 4s at 07.56am

Exp 3 View back from circle 1.5s at 07.59

Exp 4 Lower angled view through greenhouse 2.5s at 08.00

Exp 5 Dandelion Head 4s at 08.03

Exp 6 Insect House 2s at 08.07

 

 

 

From here I walked around to the Sound Tent which was situated at Site 2 marked on the map above. Here there were two tents one was rigged for sound and already broadcasting sounds from the participants around the globe. Some of the more urban sounds were rather incongruous in this setting despite the fact I was in Rotherhithe.

 

Site 2 Sound Tent Field

Recording made whilst Lumen was contacting in the sun. 13.20pm

Solargraph Pot 2 The container was a film pot.

Angle: 149*SE Situated looking toward the sound tent and above a small heap of straw and twigs approximately thigh high and attached to a fence

Time: Set 08.21 Sat 3rd May Removed 13.05 Sun 4th May

Lumen

Pinhole Zero 612b Kodak 100Tmax cont’d

Exp 7 cont’d View of tents 4.5s 166* at 08.28

Exp 8 View from pot 2.5s 144* at 08.33

 

Site 3  Camping Field

Recording A fleeting moment for this one

Solargraph Pot 3 The container was a film pot

Angle: 108* E Situated in a tree slightly under foliage and not quite South, there was just not the right stable anchor point in this field pointing in the right direction and as it was for camping I didn’t want to risk just leaving it near the ground.

Time: Set 08.46 Sat 3rd May Removed 13.07 Sun 4th May  NB shady

Lumen

Pinhole Zero 612b Kodak 100Tmax cont’d

Exp 9 View from pot 1.5s

Exp 10 View to sound tent 9s 27*N

Exp 11 Chest high hand held to silver Birch 1.5s 92* E

Exp 12 4.5s 25*E This pinhole shot is mixed with the one above as a double exposure.

Horizon

F11@125 trees

f16@125 Tent

 

Site 4 Pond and Path View

Recording: made at 09.40 for 2m (1)

Solargraph pot 4 The container was a film pot

Angle: 177*S Situated beside the path and strapped to a hawthorn tree, this was awkward as all the trunks leaned in such a way that the pot pointed downwards so I had to wedge a stick behind to raise the angle of view. There was some cover and I placed a leaf on the visible side of the pot which completely disguised it.

Time: Set 09.36 Sat 3rd May Removed 13.25 Sunday 4th May

 

Lumens

While the Lumens were “cooking” in the sun I made another recording (2)

Recording 3 the sounds of birds and planes made while I captured the Lumen print of the Dandelion.

 

 

Pinhole Zero 612b KodakBW 400 CN

Exp 1 Sun and clouds to pond from pot 1s at 170*S

Exp 2 Pointed down into reflection in pond 2s at 106*E

Exp 3 Pointed down to a dandelion 1.6s at 120*E

Exp 4 The pond through plants 1s At 116* E

View from the top of Stave Hill

The photos below are moments from the weekend, enjoying the sun, taking the tents down and just relaxing