Reed Rhythms explores the translation of camera-less photography into musical composition. By removing the camera from the photographic process and allowing images of reeds to form through chemical reactions with photographic paper, I discovered rhythmic patterns within the resulting images. I transcribed these patterns into musical notation, deliberately omitting traditional elements such as treble clef, key signature, and time signature to explore unreadability. In the final composition, only quarter notes remain, reflecting the absence of these conventions in the original images.

Key questions guided this project: How does the absence of a camera redefine the medium of photography? Can a musical composition be understood if it cannot be read in the conventional sense? What happens when an image is reduced to a sequence of black notes? These questions were investigated through camera-less photographic experiments along the River Lea, employing techniques such as soil chromatography, cyanotypes, and chemigrams, where the unpredictability of chemical reactions rooted the images in the unknown.

Drawing inspiration from Dan Graham's critical approach to photography in Pier 18 (1971) and John Cage's defiance of conventional musical structures in Fontana Mix (1958), I sought to question components of conventional photography and musical notation. Graham's work expanded the possibilities of photography, while Cage's compositions pushed the boundaries of conventional music and musical notation.