Finishing Strong...

Music | Last of Days by A Fine Frenzy

With a rough start to my week of shooting, I'm very happy to have ended on a good note. As stated earlier, I wasn't too happy with the beginning of the weeks work. A strong finish however is what is important. Today, I had Will stop by for a sitting. Because my materials are becoming limited, I had decided on only 3 plates and some 4x5 film. All 3 shots of Will however were really nice.

Having the "studio" set up for the week and being able to shoot every day, I was able to get into a mode where I was learning, from both mistakes and accomplishments. Having this level of being able to learn has been a huge tool to work off the positives and work on the negatives.

Dara...

Music | Kiss Them for Me by Siouxsie and the Banchees

How Fickle We Are...

Music | Deranger Les Pierres by Carla Bruni

Not more the 20 minutes ago, I was concerned about keeping my spirits up, as I was having difficult times with my plates, worrying about materials, worrying about this and that...

Dara is over this evening and after having dinner and finishing up homework, I changed the studio over from shooting still lifes to portraits. That is what I decided to concentrate on for the rest of this weekend and next. Dara was intuitive in that she wore a great top to be photographed in. We worked on the shot and made an exposure, which rendered a black plate... Getting frantic, I looked over all my settings and the lense and packs and found one error. Still unsure I fixed the issue, we worked on the 2nd exposure and we slowly came upon a beautiful portrait, slowly surfacing in the fix. Dara was surprised at my delight as the image came to its brilliance. One shot... That is all it takes for me to have a 180º attitude adjustment.

Minutes after that, I was emailed for a commission for next week... WhaaaHOOOO

photo forth coming...

Fleeting Beauty of Time...

Music | Af607105 by Charlotte Gainsbourg

Amazing how fast time is passing. All ready the beginning of February is gone as we move towards the middle... I've been quiet with the Wet Plates and it has been difficult having to wait to shoot. My time had come at the beginning of this week and now I find tomorrow is Friday, the end of the week and I've only shot one successful plate. I hope to change that this weekend and the following week, but as I check inventory, I'm running out of plates. Always something... So now, I must be judicious with what I shoot.

I do have some 4x5 sheets of film, that I will no doubt shoot with. I also have a few rolls to run thru the Rollieflex.

Trying to keep the spirit up...

R.I.P. Asta

It's been a few days, but I write this still with a heavy heart... Asta, beloved companion for close to 15 years had to be put down for health issues. Until dementia started to settle in, he had the spirit of a puppy. Always curious, playful and friendly, his sense of adventure always made him special.

Asta wasn't a ball or bone chaser. He was a master squirrel stalker, never flat out chased them, but got close enough to get really close enough to get them. But he was no killer, the chase was his forté. He had trail blazing abilities second to none. Walks thru Forrest Park led to him being gone for a time period until he decided to come back, bristles and cuts all over his body, but with a huge smile on his face. That was his time and his time alone. We still don't know what went on while he was out there.

As a puppy, before we became owners of him, he was fed sugar cubes and left in the bathroom because it was said he was just too wild. And while it seemed to take us over 2 years to somewhat manage him, he always seemed thankful for us and Ruby for taking him in.

I'll miss you so, Astaboy...

Confirmation

Music | In a Sentimental Mood by The World Saxophone Quartet

Seems I have reached ground zero and all my tests have come out with a positive outcome. Current collodion and developer, a darkroom that is actually dark, strobe equipment with enough power to gain me correct exposure, even though I'm sitting on the bottom end. I know I can accomplish some things in the studio environment while it is cold and rainy outside. It has taken me months to reach this point and I'm quite excited about it.

I knew I wanted to get in a test to shoot a portrait, which is what I really wanted to do. The still lifes were good, but ultimately, I wanted to get a person in here and see what I could accomplish. Sherry, a long time muse was available to come in short notice and spend a few hours with me. 4 exposures and in the end, 4 useable plates... This one however was both our favorite.



It will be nice to get a bigger light source with more power, but as I said, I'm happy to be where I am at. I'm sure there is room to push the envelope a little wider.

The Squash

Music | Harmonique by John Coltrane

I wish I could bottle the feeling I have when I complete a Wet Plate session and I've rendered at least one great image. I have a wonderful sense of accomplishment and leaves me in some state of euphoria. The only problem is that I want to keep going and produce more images and see where it takes me.

The end of the year has been tough in that I couldn't shoot outside where my main light source is, because of inclement weather - rain, colder tempuratures and overcast skies. I have been able to finagle what I was hoping was going to be enough indoor light, but realized my colodion had aged to a point where it became unusable.

It is great to have friends who share the love and know the feeling one gets by producing images. Both Ray Bidegain and Brandon Fernandez graciously gave me some chemicals needed so I could test my indoor lighting to see if I could produce an image. If it weren't for these to gentleman, I would not have made the last 2 images posted along with the one here. Thanks guys!



Latest wet plate, photographed last night after midnight. Noticed I had about a 1/3 power over, so it is nice to know I have a tiny bit of leeway.

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...

Old Habits, Relived

Music | Fables of Faubus by Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy

It is past midnight and I'm sort of reliving a time in my life that I've spoken often about and reminisce. After I visited Japan for 3 weeks, decades ago, I left a body of work I needed to take care of when I got back. Jetlag was killing me for weeks, so I thought of, instead of fighting it, I would work thru the night while I was at my finest, which happen to start around 11 p.m. Darkroom set up, windows open bringing in fresh air and since it was mostly dark outside, I didn't have to worry too much of my leaky dark room contaminating my film and paper. For weeks, I would get my late start and print thru the morning, often finishing up at 3 or 4 in the morning.

I loved the solitude, the quiet and aloneness. I was freely able to process my film, make prints, tone, alter my images without any distractions. It became somewhat of a ritual for me to start late, finish later...

Since finally figuring out my lighting scheme at the studio, I've been again starting somewhat late, setting up my still lifes and setting up the trays and chemicals to shoot wet plates. The bathroom has become the darkroom once again, with way too much light leaks for me to work with during the day. However in the evening, it is perfectly operational, even with a nice exhaust fan.

I shot my aged pomogranate the other night and worked on and completed a squash this evening. The plate is in the wash rinsing away as I type... It feels wonderful to be shooting again!!!

Ede

Music | Kiss the Sky by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra



What are a curves best friend? Highlights and shadows...

What will preserve an image of you that could be the icon image that your children and grand children will remember of you? A great photograph...

I call Bullshit!

Music | Someone to Hurt by Client

At what point do you finally draw the line and say what you feel, not caring about how egomaniacal you come out looking at the other end. I'm tired of being polite and sucking up my true feelings of the direction photography has gone to. I know that technology has made the medium more accessible and I think that is a great thing, honestly, I do. I love that we can create an immediate image and call it our own, post it on the internet and have it judged by our peers and anyone else who can find it. What gets me is the Political Correct attitude that everything has worth, to the point that we should not suggest anything negative, because there in life, we are all winners... In my daughter's fencing class, there is a sign that says, In Battle, there is a winner and there is a loser. Sometimes life comes to that. There is a winner and there is a loser, there is a positive and a negative, there is good, there is bad... Pick a side baby, because we're gonna forget about political correctness for a moment...

Is it that we want to falsely believe that we can be anything we want, without working hard endless hours to work on a craft we want to succeed in. It used to be you needed to find a mentor willing to work with you and teach you methods and techniques to accomplish a task. But now, we expect to google upon a subject, read about the trials and tribulations of some dramatic writer who also has read thru endless websites on the internet and dabble at that same task we want to achieve? That seems to be the way to get to the milestones of our desires. Where are the sore muscles, banged up fingers, worn thru leather, hours of latenight caffeine stupors til the sunrises?

I hate the easy way out. I hate that there are "photographers" these days that only know what they have read about, and follow the same paths as everyone before them. I hate that techniques in photography now require a key stroke, a cursor and mouse. I hate that reality has gone by the way side and even 5 year old boys and girls has a softening feature done to their skin tones. At what point will we recognize that the portrait of ourselves is not us?

Wake the fuck up and say something...

Through the Portal

Music | Cheryl by Paul Motian Band

Dare I say getting sick might be a good thing? I got to do absolutely nothing for the past several days and never once felt any stress in doing so. I did things I don't usually do, I thought things I normally don't give myself time to think about... I lit candles, took hot baths filled with lavender salts, drank an assortment of various teas, watched intently several movies I might not have otherwise given a chance. I layed in bed and thought of things from a different perspective. And now I feel like I'm coming out of the other side, refreshed...

Nothing Lasts Forever...

Is the time coming for one of the icon companies of the 20th century to fade to black...

Speed of a Turtle...

Music | Dawn by The Cinematic Orchestra

It has been a tough 2.5 weeks for me. As it was, the last time I did shoot a wet plate, it was difficult. And now, because of bad weather, trouble shooting issues and finances, I haven't been able to push forward with more shooting and exploring. The build up of frustration however is a good thing because it shows me I still have the fire burning to create. With the lack of work, I'm not able to figure out what to do next. It has been a difficult time, but I think I'm finally able to have some wiggle room to at least think about shooting. At this point, I'm just lining up my pieces of strategy to be able to at least think about shooting. Sun Silver, make a box for the silver tank, prep tent for location shooting, nail down my strobe issue to shoot indoors... Every step I take to get closer to shooting, the happier I will be...

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.

Life in the Balance...

Music | Rain by RJD2

I have always been in the mindset that things do happen for a reason, which I guess makes me somewhat of a believer that some things are destined... However, my life and beliefs are hardly consistent, so any judgements can make total sense or none at all. I go on and live the way I do, hoping for the best things to happen.

For the past day and a half, I had an event occur that made me think that my life was somewhat in jeopardy. Surprisingly, I've held it somewhat together, not mentioning it to a soul, until I found more affirmation, one way or another. As my existence hung in the balance, I stayed home, took care of business that I had been putting off to keep my mind occupied. On occasion, I was reminded I was in a floating world, on the edge, at least in my mind.

It really is too bad that we have to get to this point, of thinking we are not going to be among the living to start appreciating life. As soon as I was put into this mindset, I immediately wrote to my daughter, my appreciation for her, my feelings, my love... I hoped that the message would come across as I had meant it.

Unimportant things fell away, things I felt important to accomplish became a check mark on my to do list. All the sudden, things were crystal clear...

This morning, by the happenstance of nature, I got my answer to my future. I took a deep breath and the impetus of my fears were washed away, at least for now.

Where will I go from here...

2011-10-15 Pair of Pears...

Music | Someone Like You by Adele


2011-10-16 Bosc Pear>


2011-10-16 Asian Pear

Time Waits for Nothing...

Music | Anonymous Melody by ORG Lounge

Another step of the eventual demise of film occurred where there are no longer any manufacturers of motion picture cameras. Those that have survived and the new start ups are all making digital cameras. Soon, just like the recording industry where there is no longer any recording tape being made, film will soon follow in its footsteps, still and motion...

I'm not sure what the statistics are, but I wonder how many brand new still cameras are being sold. Anyone interested in film cameras have huge selections to choose from at great prices, mere fraction of the cost of anything new. The same can be said for anything related to film photography... Why buy new cameras, lenses, enlargers, etc... when the used market is so huge.

Over 2 years ago, I did buy a brand new film camera. In my lack of faith in being a creative in the digital world, I decided to go back to film, go back to large format and bought a 4x5 Chamonix field camera. It wasn't until this year where the camera is getting a nice work out, being used often thru spurts of shooting. Ironically, the last 3 cameras I've purchased were film cameras. A few years ago, I couldn't pass up on a Nikon FM with a 50mm f:1.4 lense. A few months later I got a nice inexpensive 35mm lense too. Sometime last year, I picked up my first Rolleiflex tlr. I haven't shot with it a lot, but I do enjoy taking it out and shoot when I can. The experience is totally new, since I have not had history with it. My next film camera will be the camera I regret selling the most. A Hasselblad cm500 with an 80mm t* lense and an A12 film back. I sold mine back in 2002, but yearn for one now.

I wonder is it that I'm in the age range when folks think things were so much better in the past that I feel so nostolgic about mechanical analog devices, or that digital is just bowling over everything and really changing the way we do things. I'm just not ready to let go.

Jaimey

Music | Blue Lines by Massive Attack

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