Photogram/Schadograph/Rayograph
These are all the same thing. They are a unique form of cameraless photography that only requires light on photosensitive paper or a photosensitive substrate.
Photogram
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy was Hungarian painter and photographer. He worked as a professor in the Bauhaus school and was influenced by constructivism (the idea that you construct art for social purposes). He experimented with light and spend lots of time creating his "Lichtrequisit einer elektrischen Bühne" (Light Prop for an Electric Stage) which was a device with moving parts with the intention of having light projected through it in order to create light reflections and shadows on nearby surfaces. He then discovered photograms around 1926, and to create his photogram, he placed normal objects onto light-sensitive paper before exposing them to light. The brightness of the object's silhouette depended on the length of exposure, a longer exposure lead to a brighter image. This helped him continue to experiment with light in the darkroom.
Photogram
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy was Hungarian painter and photographer. He worked as a professor in the Bauhaus school and was influenced by constructivism (the idea that you construct art for social purposes). He experimented with light and spend lots of time creating his "Lichtrequisit einer elektrischen Bühne" (Light Prop for an Electric Stage) which was a device with moving parts with the intention of having light projected through it in order to create light reflections and shadows on nearby surfaces. He then discovered photograms around 1926, and to create his photogram, he placed normal objects onto light-sensitive paper before exposing them to light. The brightness of the object's silhouette depended on the length of exposure, a longer exposure lead to a brighter image. This helped him continue to experiment with light in the darkroom.
Schadograph
Christian Schad was one of the first artists to experiment with abstract photography. He used the photogram technique, in existence since the beginning of photography but before this it wasn't used for artistic purposes. Schad covered light-sensitive paper with different objects and then left them to develop by his windowsill, a different approach to using the darkroom and an enlarger (due to the time where Schad created these). He preferred to use worn materials, such as old scraps of paper and different bits of fabric, often finding these things on the streets and in the garbage. Schad was known for going against traditional art and did this even more by cutting a jagged border around his 'schadographs' which he named after himself thinking he invented them in 1918.
Christian Schad was one of the first artists to experiment with abstract photography. He used the photogram technique, in existence since the beginning of photography but before this it wasn't used for artistic purposes. Schad covered light-sensitive paper with different objects and then left them to develop by his windowsill, a different approach to using the darkroom and an enlarger (due to the time where Schad created these). He preferred to use worn materials, such as old scraps of paper and different bits of fabric, often finding these things on the streets and in the garbage. Schad was known for going against traditional art and did this even more by cutting a jagged border around his 'schadographs' which he named after himself thinking he invented them in 1918.
Rayograph
Man Ray made his "rayographs" (which he also named after himself after thinking he invented the technique behind making them) around 1922. As he used the photogram technique without a camera by placing everyday objects directly on a sheet of light sensitive paper and exposing it to light. Man Ray had photographed everyday objects before, but these unique, visionary images immediately put the photographer on the same level as the painters of that day. Rayographs showed a new way of photography as an art form and Man Ray was one of the first artists to do this.
Man Ray made his "rayographs" (which he also named after himself after thinking he invented the technique behind making them) around 1922. As he used the photogram technique without a camera by placing everyday objects directly on a sheet of light sensitive paper and exposing it to light. Man Ray had photographed everyday objects before, but these unique, visionary images immediately put the photographer on the same level as the painters of that day. Rayographs showed a new way of photography as an art form and Man Ray was one of the first artists to do this.
My Work
All of the artists I have studied used different objects to create their photograms, so I decided I would do the same. Below are examples of my own photograms that I made whilst experimenting with enlargers and cameraless photography in the darkroom.
The photogram above was the product of my first time experimenting in the darkroom. Honestly, this time I had no idea about how long to keep the paper under the exposure and what aperture I was on, but I still think it turned out quite well. I used bits of pages that I had ripped out of a newspaper and drawn on, and the parts that are drawn are shown clearly. It is the scratch writing on the piece of paper to the right of the image and the O and N that stand out on the centre piece were drawn too. I learned that this is caused by a darker, stronger colour and the pen I used was black and inky, and this stood out on thin newspaper paper. I think this is quite similar to Christian Schad's Schadograph due to the shape the paper creates and
Experiments in the Dark Room Challenge
For my Experiments in the darkroom challenge, I've decided to create a fusion between chemograms, photograms and film photography. I will take photographs on my film camera, develop them, scan them into a printer, print out and overlay onto a chemogram to create an effect similar. I decided to do this because after experimenting in the darkroom I found that making chemograms was most interesting for me. I found this interesting because you cannot see exactly what it will look like until it has been developed, this makes it one of a kind and unreproduceable. I decided to do chemograms for this reason and because I just like the look of them in general.
This was the first thing I did to experiment with chemograms. I didn't like the way it was really dark and I wanted the pattern of the chemicals to stand out more than the actual image, so I inverted it in photoshop and I'm more pleased with how those ones came out.
My final outcome of the darkroom challenge was this. A collage showcasing multiple different darkroom techniques. I chose to do this to show how the darkroom has multiple different uses and how many different types of images can be made in there. I included images that I had taken on my analogue camera mixed with chemograms and photograms and also objects to do with the images (stem with thorns on it to represent the outside and pain that comes with it, earphones to represent escaping the outside, college ID to represent conformity and money to represent problems with this) I mainly chose to base this around the images of my friends that I had taken with my film camera.