photosynthesishome

Information

25/5/06

Dear Lloyd,

Hi, my name is Phil Taylor. Currently I am studying a three year degree
in Scientific Photography at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. As
part of our assessment for this year we are required in small groups to
present a small talk on any area of interest related to photography.

Our group chose to research and speak on photosynthesis as a means of
photography, and whilst researching I came to your website of wonderful
images.

As part of the talk, we will be running a powerpoint presentation, and I
was wondering whether it would be possible to use some of your images
(from your website) in the show. Of course, proper acknowledgement will
be shown of your work.

Regards, Phil Taylor.

Hi Phil,

I sent you a quick email earlier, but hanging out the window of a 4th storey building in to pick up a free wireless connection is not ideal, so I thought I would drop you a more detailed line.

You would be most welcome to use the images etc. I have been working with this process since 1996. In fact I did my MFA through RMIT working in this area. It’s interesting that there are many similarities between photosynthesis and photography – ie the way silver crystals grow when exposed to light etc.

I’m not sure if you found my main site at

www.lloydgodman.net

The pages which probably contain the most relevant information are at

http://www.lloydgodman.net\Photosynthesis\PHoToS\Psyn\pmask.htm

this work also relates

http://www.lloydgodman.net\Photosynthesis\PHoToS\field\index.htm

http://www.lloydgodman.net\Blue\index1.htm

Also more recently I have been working with grass.

http://www.lloydgodman.net\planetII\planet1.htm
Click on next image to see the grass works

Click on next page

There is a lot of material this needs to go on line, so im not sure what you have

You might find this text useful to create a context for my work and your presentation.

Best wishes hope it goes well

Lloyd

Jan 10 2007>

Lloyd,
>
> Interesting work! My wife who is also an artist agrees!
>
> I'm afraid that I can't explain your findings with those bromeliads.
> The red pigments that color bromeliad foliage generally become more
> intense the stronger the
> containing organ's exposure to light. In fact, the the synthesis of
> these anthocyanins is light-dependent as is the manufacture of
> chlorophyll. Also chlorophyll turns over in leaves and if you keep a
> leaf in the dark, its green color slowly fades.
>
> Possibly the area masked with tape remained green simply because it
> was insulated from whatever killed the exposed portion of the same
> leaf.
>
> Bromeliad offshoots draw nutrients from the attached, declining
> parent shoot, but light plays no direct role in this transfer. It is,
> however, needed to drive photosynthesis in that parent shoot so that
> it can manufacture the excess sugar that gets transported to its
> offshoots.
>
> Hope that this helps.
>
> David Benzing - Emeritus Professor of Biology

http://www.oberlin.edu/biology/faculty/benzing.html

Lloyd,

Thanks for the images. Several of them look like what I'd expect
given the light-dependent basis of chlorophyll synthesis. I'm less
sure about the leaf that features the red circle. Was that leaf
covered except for the circle, or the other way around?

It's now well established that CO2 concentration in the atmosphere
does effect the development of stomata and why. But rather than
affecting the size of the individual stomatal apparatus, something
that's highly constrained developmentally, the response involves
stomatal density--specifically, density falls as CO2 levels rise and
vice versa (fewer stomata needed to saturate photosynthetic capacity
with CO2 when the source is more CO2-rich). In fact, stomatal
density is such a reliable indicator that it is being used as a proxy
for past conditions (ancient CO2 concentrations) as read from
fossilized foliage.

I don't know much about CO2 enrichment and its affects on growth
rates in bromeliads. Much work has been done on other kinds of
plants, and the results are mixed. Some plants respond by growing
faster, some do so for awhile and then fall back to base levels.
Other kinds of vegetation don't respond at all. Some of the
mechanisms that underlie these responses are known, others are not.

My wife does mixed media art mostly featuring nature, mostly subjects
associated with a local river system. Lots of her stuff is digital
photography, and other things involve fiber media combined with
photography. She doesn't maintain a website at the moment.

A fair number of people in NZ belong to the international bromeliad
society so replacements for the plants you lost should be available
fairly close by.

Yes, I'd like to see your published work. My address is 1674 Alta
Vista street, Sarasota, Florida 34236

David Benzing

Hello David

thank you for your informative reply. I come to science through art so here is always a huge amount to learn and understand.

The image with the circle was masked where the circle is so it was a surprise – The image was actually the alchemical symbol for silver, which of course is light sensitive and the basis for all chemical base photography. The tape that I cut the symbols from and worked best was two tapes combined - one top of the other – an opaque aluminium tape to block the light produced the best results but was too sticky an ripped the plant tissue – so I stuck this to a wide plastic which was less effective light wise but allowed a better release from the leaf. Just working this out took about 4 months of experiments.

This work was part of my MFA project – I ended up exploring lots of areas to try and satisfy my supervisors who were actually painters with modernist ideals and found it difficult to relate to what I was doing. They really though I was a plant nutter. We had some huge discussions that almost tuned to arguments at times. At one point they tried to challenge me and said that “didn’t I realize that if it wasn’t for people plants would not exist, as plants need people to plant them.” Not surprising since he had lived all his life in central London. In the end he said “ well you seem obsessed with this notion of plants, photography, photosynthesis and light, why don’t you work with light.” And this is what I did for my final presentation. So the bromeliads were suspended in a dark room with 7 infrared activated projectors and each one turned on and off as the audience moved through the space. You can see it at. http://www.lloydgodman.net/Photosynthesis/PHoToS/enlight/enlightA.htm

The great thing was my independent assessor loved it all.

Maybe the out come could have been very different if my supervisor was a plant biologist?

So there are quite a few areas I need to go back to and resolve a lot more – the photosynthetic work is one such area. When I get some more results I will let you know how I get on.

I will put a copy of my book in the mail for you – and I hope you enjoy it- I certainly got a huge amount of information and pleasure for the Biology of Bromiliads.

Very best wishes Lloyd

Masking experimentsFeed back