Colored Water

In Design Lab last semester we were given a major (and very fun) assignment: Colored Water. We had to photograph water that was colored with food dyes in order to convey cool, warm, neutral and rich (triadic). They were shot in the studio using hot lights, colored gels, glassware and medium format cameras. We were supposed to use Tungsten-balanced color transparency film in order to capture the beautiful hues created in the water. This was a labor-intensive project, albeit incredibly fun.

These images are scans of negatives that I did not submit, but still liked very much. The top is for "cool" and was shot in a glass cube that had been frozen with water that was dyed blue. As I shot, it began to thaw, but I really liked seeing the condensation form on the outside of the glass because I felt that emphasized the fact that the vessel was chilled.

The bottom, "neutral" was shot using a tall pint glass with plain seltzer water. Visually, I wanted to show the repetition of circles by shooting from above and showing the lip of the glass, the bottom of the glass and the bubbles all coexisting in the same space.