Yuta Kato

Music | Transfatty Acid by Lamb

My afternoon session had to cancel, so I had time to scan the earlier session. I met Yuta Kato at a photo shoot a few months ago for Portland Taiko for a poster they were working on. It is great to see a fantastic face and be able to ask for a sitting. It has been a few months as the man is constantly in motion, traveling around the world, so it seems. Fortunately, our schedules worked out and he became my first sitting for the latest shoot fest I am having for myself for the next week.

I love this image as it is so timeless. We talked about the plates and how they aren't so obvious as to when they were taken. Could be mid 1850's or today. Of course one of the dead give aways are the ear rings. But I thought what would someone think 100 years from now. Where would they assume this photo was taken.


Yuta Kato

A Step Up...

Music | Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen

Must be close to 25 years since I last used this camera. I remember purchasing it from one of the eminent photographers of the 50's thru the early 80's in NYC and Chicago. Dick Boyer was sharing a space with a photographer I was assisting and he was in his waning years of his profession. He was selling off some old equipment he had used over his career and I happened to get this Century 4A large format camera. I got it more as a vintage piece I could display, but used it to shoot some portraits with film and paper negatives. My biggest problem with the camera was a lack of a stand or tripod big enough to accommodate its large size. So the years stacked up as the camera sat on various shelves, showing off it's gorgeous dark hardwood body.

My friend Brandon I knew had an old camera stand, that would be able to support the Century and I was headed over there to help out. I asked if I could bring the camera by and shoot off a plate and he obliged. I really wanted to get off at least one exposure so as to see the characteristics of the Kodak 405 Portrait Lens and to see if there were any light leaks in the bellows. The stand was a perfect mate for a camera of this magnitude. As a matter of fact, the stand was made to hold even a larger camera than mine.

After taking care of Brandon's test shot, we got the Century mounted and I was able to get a test exposure off. I'm happy to say the camera was a dream to work with and worked flawlessly. All the movements worked smooth, no leaks and best of all, I really like the character of the lens. I'm really wanting to find a stand or tripod to hold the beast so I can start using it.

The 8x10 plate is 4 times the size of what I'm used to shooting. Prepping and holding the final product is an awe inspiring feeling. I'm a little concerned about the expense of shooting so large, but at this point, I know I will have to.


Century 4A w/ Kodak Portrait Lens 405mm f:4.5"


My first shot with the Century in close to 25 years.
8x10 aluminum plate of Brandon"

G.G.

Music | In the Waiting Line by Zero 7

It has been a difficult 2 weeks to get sitters to come to the North Light Studio, aka the dining room, side yard and now the living room. I got blown off 3 times during that time, but did manage to get 4 portraits in. It is important that I keep working at getting better and figure out the things that will make me a better photographer/wet plate collodionist.

Today was a great afternoon. I got my long time muse, G.G. to come and sit for me. As usual, we had a great shoot, pushing some boundaries. Even though we've known each other and have worked together for close to 10 years, it is great that we haven't stayed stagnant and able to move forward.

Lately, I've limited my shooting to 2 to 4 plates per session. So long as I know I have one piece that I am happy with, I shut it down. Today, we started out with a great shot, but we kept going, working and building to an end result we both wanted to achieve. In order to get there, we knew it was a building process. I ended up shooting a total of 7 plates in 3 1/2 hours. By far, that has also been the longest session I've worked through and it was really satisfying. Of the 7 plates, I am happy with 5.

Saddened and Amazed at the Fact Time can Travel so Damned Quickly...

Music | Mad World by Alex Parks

There are some people who are always kids, children in the minds eye. Kids of friends, friends of your kids... Suddenly a decade goes by and in a matter of seconds, you realize you've just gone thru a time warp.

Cole is a prime example of how time travel is possible. I can only remember vague recollections of her playing violin and seeing a 10 year old stopping by her Mom's café with her older brother.

Fast Forward...

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Music | Triumphant by Royksopp

North Light Studio has been in full swing since Thursday and will be for the next week. In the last 3 days, I've managed 3 shoots, one commissioned and the plates are looking good. Repetition is a great way to fine tune and learn the process. I can learn from my mistakes and hopefully not make them again in the future.


Nej


Tony


Dara

Out of the Comfort Zone

Music | Shh by Frou Frou

Not a planned for today, but it appears Brandon was as wired to shoot as I was. I had mentioned wanting to shoot at Peninsula Park and he was ready to go. I was thinking it would be nice to have 2 shooters as one watched over gear while the other prepped to shoot.

This was a good exercise for me as I hadn't shot out in the field with wet plates in over a year. I made the mistake of forgetting my dark cloth and loupe. Brandon brought along his dark room tent that we shared. It was nice and refreshing being outside, under a lot of shade which was good. The temps rose close to 90º.

I don't think either of us however became too inspired. I managed to shoot only 3 plates and only one of those was worthy. I went thru 6 plates as my collodion started to thicken. I then realized I should have some alcohol available to cure the issue.

I have come to the realization that I should be much more consistent when working under more controlled circumstances. So many things can go wrong as it is, but on location that becomes ten fold. Working at the studio, in a real darkroom, controlled lighting and temperatures should make the process easy... hmmmmm... what am I doing wrong...


Peninsula Park Rose Garden

Your Way or the Highway...

Music | Minor Seventh Heaven by Oscar Pettiford



Strobed and shot on location at a rental studio of Pam and Nick.


I have to remember that I don't have this beast under control like I do otherwise. Wet Plate Collodion demands respect, or it will spit you out and stomp all over you. It took me several plates to get into the groove and I just have to remember to take deep breathes and relax, just like I ask my subjects.

Shooting several hundred photos during a digital shoot makes the process easy. Time, effort and costs are minimal and with so many to choose from, there is bound to be a few nice selections. This day, we shot 9 exposures during our time together. It wasn't until the 3rd plate that I started to feel comfortable. This was the 4th plate and I think it was the plate of the afternoon.

There is no resting on one's laurels when shooting wet plates. Not for me at least. The only laurels I have is my past work, and only the good stuff I show. I do love that each time I go out and shoot, I have to be in that mode, that groove to be able to produce. It takes effort and thought. It forces me to work! In the end, if I meet my end of the bargain, I'll get nice plate.

Studio, aka One Car Garage...

Music | All at Sea by Jamie Cullum

It has been almost a month since I did my last shoot. It's nice to get back into the saddle and make a nice piece of work. G.G. has been a muse for me for years and there hasn't been a time where we didn't come out with something nice.

Today I set up the garage as a studio, background, strobe, reflector and camera. There was plenty of room to work and actually, the surroundings of hanging bicycles, lawn mower, rakes and such sort of disappeared with only the model light illuminating the set. I'm realizing I really don't need a lot of space to work my portraits and still life.

Today was more of a test to make sure all my chemicals were in order. I knew my existing collodion was going to be slow because of age. It was nice to make a comparison with the old and new... about a stop and a 1/2 difference! Having this reference point is comforting and brings on confidence. I hope to shoot a lot in the next few weeks.

I had the results I needed from 3 plates, but we pushed forward and shot a few more. I'm glad we did because this is what came out with the last one...

The Payoff

Music | Lay Your Head Down by Keren Ann

Fingers black stained of silver...



Black Stained Fingers

mixing more batches of developer than I thought I would, actually varnishing plates shortly after washing, scanning, correcting, printing, then back to my fingers again, using them to put the final stamp on the back of the prints for delivering.


hanko

It isn't over yet. I've got 2 more days and at least that many more sessions to shoot. It has been a great 2 weeks. Every time I go through this process, I gain just a little more knowledge and confidence.

Nothing but portraits this time around.


a few of the portraits...

Photographers

Music | Name Taken by Massive Attack

For this series, I was fortunate enough to photograph 2 photographers whom I hold esteem to in high regards. Both are older than I, have much more experience in the world of photography, and put out amazing work.

Dennis Purdy, I've known for maybe the last 4 years through introductions from a large format group that used to meet once a month in Portland. His artistic vision is far beyond my own, but within the grasp of my own imagination - Meaning, his work, though on a higher plateau than I am accustomed to, I still get it. There is sincerity and honestly in what he tries to accomplish that makes it accessible.

I've known of Jamie Bosworth for almost as long as I have been living here in Portland. After being introduced to the photography community, Jamie's name was always passed around as being one of the finest journalistic photographers in the city. Paying great attention to detail of her weddings, she captures truth and beauty on a consistent basis with the sensitivity only a journalist has.


Dennis


Jamie

Both Dennis and Jamie will die with cameras in hand. Always shooting and creating is what I hope to emulate from these 2, as great examples to follow.

1000

Music | Travel in Time by Kate Havnevik

I had posted on my Facebook account that I had hit for the cycle yesterday, meaning I went 4 for 4 with my portrait session with Shannon - each shot progressively better than the last. I wasn't sure what to expect from this session, as it was mentioned to me that she doesn't like being in front of the camera. So I put undo pressure on myself when she agreed...

After the 1st photo was shot and processed, and it looked beautiful, I had a great sigh of relief, especially after sensing that Shannon too liked the photo. If we managed not to shoot anything else, I was all ready happy. The culmination of the hour we spent came to this fabulous portrait...

Angry Dara

Music | Blues Minor by John Coltrane

Getting back into the swing of things, my first pour to photograph Dara was horrendous. But because of the lack of all chemicals, I decided to just work thru with what I had. The somewhat angry look fit well with the angry looking plate. It works...

180 in 912.5 Days

Music | Lush Life by John Coltrane

In conversation with one of my peers, I came upon and amazing statistic, regarding my love of all things Wet Plate Collodion. I have worked with this medium for the last 2.5 years, more so this summer. I remember saving and eventually purchasing the necessary equipment, chemistry and other expendable materials where I was finally able to do wet plates on my own. One of the things I recalled was that the cut sheets of aluminum I purchased was in the quantity of about 130. I also remember that at the beginning of this year, I had to put in an order again, since I was running out. What this enabled me to figure out was, in the 2.5 years of shooting wet plates, I've only shot approximately 180 plates total. That means I've tried to take 180 exposures in 2.5 years. On the average, I've shot per month, 6 exposures.

The humorous aspect is that number... In the digital realm that now pervades us all, I could shoot 180 exposures in an hour for a portrait session. We can now shoot frame after frame, memory card after memory card until we eventually get the photo that will be pleasing to both creator and client.

This goes back to a post I made about Chance and Intent. The idea that as we shoot less, we are more apt to creating what we want as opposed to shooting until we get something we want.

What I Hate...

Music | Jericho by Weekend Players

I hate bad lighting... What I love? I love the fact that I can shoot a Wet Plate Collodion, process it, scan it and show it. I'm not taking an image, processing out the raw file, adjusting and fine tuning and making it look vintage or adding textures to change the photograph and the scene all together.

I like the idea and taking time to create an image, a scene and work towards the goal. It is so much more fulfilling, direct and meaningful. I am lucky to find something I love doing, and the ability to create a piece from it.


Grace Page Ryder

Location, Location, Location...

Music | The Chartreuse Mean by Ravi Coltrane

Today was a stellar day. Brandon Fernandez and I finally took Wet Plate Collodion on the road. Because a dark room is needed to prep and process the Plate, all of our shooting has been done at the studio. After months of talking the talk, we finally made efforts to shot at an industrial area in North Portland. We both hired models to work with, and brought everything we could think of that we might need.

The weather threatened rain since the beginning of our morning, but no one spoke of it. My guesstimation of a 6 sec exposure was nicely off by one stop. 3 Seconds wide opened worked fine for my 2nd exposure, but because the clouds were varied thru out the morning, I had some difficulty reading the light. Though I managed 9 plates, I only nailed 3 correctly exposed.

Fortunately, this was one of them...



As it turns out, this is probably one of the technically most dead on plate I have shot to date. It was a last minute shot and just before the rain started to fall and gusts of winds picked up. A fantastic way to end our shooting day.

Floating...

Music | By Many Names by Fred Anderson

It's a strange place to be, riding the wave and knowing you own it, at least for now. Along side other life's issues, I've been meandering on a cloud of productivity and shooting and feeling like I'm getting some wonderful images. From a visit to the market bringing home objects to shoot, to varnishing the plates, scanning and finally printing; I look over my work from the past 2 weeks and feel great about the collection of photographs I've done. They belong to each other and work as a cohesive unit.



Pomegranates next... Any other suggestions?

...on a roll...

Music | Shine by Arkestra One

It has been a very good 9 days since I shot Pears to start getting out of my rut. Since then, I shot some tomatoes and garlic. I also got my Wet Plate Collodion website going as well. I just want to start getting my images out there...

Not shooting in the comfort of people these last almost 2 weeks, I didn't have too much to transition to. When I felt like shooting, I just did. I didn't have to plan out and meet schedules in order to get going. So long as I had subject matter to photograph, I was comfortable. The weather however did cooperate and I had great lighting conditions to work with. I had almost no work to show under my Still Life catagory of my site to at least having an acceptable number to show and put the site up, without feeling I wasn't ready.

Inspiring Pears...

Music | Taurus in the Arena of Life by Charles Mingus

In my continuation to work at creating, today I finally photographed the pears I've been meaning to shoot for the past 4 or 5 days. I actually think the wait was not a bad thing, though not intentional either. The pears aged just enough where the texture and feel seemed right. But in all honesty, the wait was just because of my procrastination. The evil devil has been rearing its head lately and I've been having to really convince myself to get back on track and start my trek back to creating.

Yesterday, feeling pretty sorry for myself, I got a gift of a call for coffee from Ray. It was just the thing I needed to get out of the house and talk shop, talk art, talk about creating... I managed to come home and print up some of my photographs to put into a portfolio of sorts to have with me at all times to show people my work. The result would be to be able to shoot more people and maybe sell some work. However, the point was merely to exercise movement to get from point A to somewhere else. I've been stagnant and it is certainly time to move.

Today started much like yesterday, but at least I had some inertia from yesterday. Out came the pears, camera, tripod and background. The rest seemed to move much more easily. I was so happy that the first plate came out a winner. It was much easier to focus on the rest of the morning.





So it is apparent that I am battling some demons right now. In order to get beyond this situation, I do hope to keep myself busy and at least hone my skills of the Way of the Collodion. No point being stagnant and starting from the same place I left off...

Know it All... Not

Music | Distractions by Zero Seven

I work hard at what I want to learn and master. As much as I'd like to be prepared for a shoot, sometimes shit happens and nothing goes right. I was very excited to get back to my North Light Studio, my outdoor daylight studio which renders beautiful light. This is the 2nd year I have shot there and I am slowly learning to utilize it under various conditions and circumstances. I did 95% of my wet plates there last year and had planned to go after another one today. I had a wonderful muse lined up and ready to go...

Frankly, I'm very ignorant to the ways and means of a Wet Plate Collodion image. I know the steps involved and the movements I need to make to create an image, but I don't know the process... Today, during my session, the first 2 plates I attempted were way off... Not just exposure, but contrast and dmax... Flat, no black blacks, or white whites. I had my possible ideas of solutions, but unfortunately, I didn't have the resources to try and fix them. It hasn't been more than 3 days earlier where I made 2 wonderful plates that I was very happy with. Today, I got nothing...

Frustrated, but still having the willingness to go on, I went and got my digital camera and decided to move forward. I kept the pace slow and very mechanical for the most part. I didn't want to go and blast off 300 exposures, just because I could... My mindset was still in Wet Plate mode.

I have to say, the thing nice about both Wet Plates and digital is the immediate feedback you get just right after taking the photo. We see what we have done and move forward. I like the idea that the WP Process has affected the way I shoot. I never was finger to the shutter, full blast ahead type of photographer anyway. But I think my photos that I take, digital or other forms of film has made me even more contemplative.

So, from a miserable start and a blow to the psyche, I did manage to shoot some exposures with the digital camera and came up with this...

Push

Music | Jericho by Weekend Players

Close to the middle of January, I found a Call to Artist for a show that will be exhibiting alternative forms of photography. It is the same show I saw 3 years ago which I appointed as one of the most important shows I had ever seen in Portland. My eyes were opened to the amazing technique of wet plates. It was at that point where my interest became focused.

Last year was really the first time I was able to explore the medium, which I still have not mastered. There are so many variables and so many things to comprehend in order to merely get an image on plate. Throughout last summer, I shot, but came no where near a plate I felt great about that stood up on its own.

With that in mind, I decided to go after this Call, short notice, lack of skills, lack of confidence... Inside my head, I knew I wanted to use this opportunity as a spring board, a new beginning to push me out of where I am into a different way of thinking.

Since the exhibit was about alternative photography, far removed from modern technology, I decided to not only use the wet plate as the medium to my images, but to use subject matter without any modern adornments. What would beauty look like without fashionable cloths, jewelry, material objects...?

I've been wanting to work with Françoise Weeks, one of Portland's premiere floral designers. I knew of her work and always thought I wanted to collaborate with her. This was the project. I was overjoyed that she wanted to meet with me to discuss the project and then work with me.

A muse of many years, Cain was the first person I thought of to be the subject of this project. I'm always assured at least one great image everytime we get together.

I know most of my hurdles from this project are my own mental blocks. Having looked back at this, from the perspective of one day passing since the shoot, I realize that just getting the wheels turning was the hardest part. My hours spent with Cain, Françoise and Ray, who let me use his studio was a ton of fun!

My main goal at this point is to keep moving and push my mental insecurities.