New beginning..

Wow, has it been 4 years? I took myself offline for a bit to get life sorted out. We sold our house in town and tried our hand at downsizing into apartment life, as you can imagine, this life for a wetplate collodion photographer is difficult. After a good long rest, we finally purchased another home in the country, a small home, but we’ll make it work somehow. I am finally, at the prodding of my daughter, getting my photo mojo back on.

This process led me to the beginning again as I was quite rusty and needed to refresh myself on the basics again. I spent time with John Coffer in 2013 at his farm and I began revisiting all the material that I had collected from him. I poured through the “Doer’s manual”, watched his helpful video series and took another look at the photos I made while I was there. I made a short video that strings together some of the 2013 vintage video and put it out on YouTube.

Here are a few other images I made that week..

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Afternoon on North Creek.

DIY Plate Glass Box

So this year I have decided that I would like to try making some 4” x 10” negatives. Glass plates require a box to protect them as I am working and transporting them. There are a few beautifully crafted options you may choose from online, but being the starving artist that I am, I am going to cobble something together from the least expensive materials I can find.
last year I made a box to store my finished glass 8” x 10” negatives and used 1/2” foam board from the craft store and it made an acceptable storage box, but not strong enough to be of any use in the field, I am too rough on my stuff for that.

So, today, I made a run out to the craft store and picked up the materials to try a new design. I was very fortunate to find these nice wooden boxes that were cut almost perfectly to my required dimensions of 4” x 10”.

These nice wooden boxes also came with the frame for a marking tab so I can keep track of them.

Because these were almost made to order, all I had to do was make the slots that will hold my plates. I used some 1/4” square dowels cut to 3” lengths.

Using a sample plate, I lined the dowels up and glued them to a double thick layer of corrugated plastic sheet that was cut to fit the 4” ends of the box to fill the gap and fit my glass.

I know it’s janky. But you know what. No one is looking at my plate box but me, as long as it is sturdy and keeps my plates intact it serves my purpose.

I purchased two of them so I will make another one later. I am living in an apartment currently, with no access to a wood shop or even very many tools, I sold all that when we moved last year. This project just worked out so I could get it done even with my limitations. Now I have to make some for my 8” x 8” plates. I found a plastic box at Staples that looks promising, but that’s for another day.

Making salt printing paper and more..

Another crazy year has passed that has had my day job completely change, a move 30 minutes down the road from the old place, and more general life ‘pandemic stress that has kept me away from my work. If nothing else gets in the way, I will be soon printing out the negatives that I made last spring. I am also studying up on carbon transfer printing methods to print these negatives out as well.

Coated paper hangs to dry.

Today I also made a new board for creating carbon transfer tissue as well as a piece of glass for squeegeeing out my prints. I recycled the glass from an old piece of framed artwork that I found at Goodwill. The metal board measures 2’ x 2’ as I will likely not be making prints larger than 8x10”. The glass is 16x20” because that was the largest glass in stock at Goodwill that day but cheap.👍 I decided to put strips of tape on the back in case of an accident, it’s just thin cheap glass to use temporarily, knowing myself, it won’t last long.

A New Phase.

So, what do you do on the weekends during a global pandemic? Learn the finer aspects of making wet plate collodion negatives and prints of course! I have been at this process now since 2013 and have had success in lots of ways but there have been significant setbacks along the way. Read some earlier posts for all that..

This year I have set myself on the project of learning and becoming proficient in the art of making a good wet plate collodion negative and then P.O.P printing that negative successfully. As I have mentioned before, I am forced to work on a very limited time schedule and this virus crisis hampers that for now too, Saturday afternoons and Sundays only for now. Do the best you can with what you are given right? So here goes.

My setup near the waterfall on the road.

I have a long way to go, but not bad so far….

Got some great exposures right away with my negative chemistry mixes, and experimenting with various methods of intensification. So far, Iodine seems to be the winner, but I think with some formula refinement, the Copper method might be better. I also tried Griffith’s Silver Black as referenced by Anton Tintype on his blog. Works great but it’s pricey and again I will have to find a recipe that works for me. Think I’ll stick to Iodine or Copper for now though.

Nice work area off the Blue Ridge Parkway to set up my stuff away from the road. Don’t lose so much time stopping to answer questions with drive by’s. Here they drive by scratching their heads but don’t dare stop!

Prepping for new work

It’s been a while since I made any new work and this month I finally began the preparations to do that. I ordered new chemistry, made some new equipment, ordered some new toys, and fixed up some old stuff. It feels so good to finally be focusing back on making images again, I can’t wait to get started.

First up is the collodion, I ordered fresh collodion, salts, ether and alcohol from Artcraft Chemicals, those were must have’s. Then I picked up some other accessories, a lab stand for my filters, a new digital PH meter, and a bunch of beautiful, clean new glass bottles.

A fresh batch of Coffer’s Old Reliable..

I am a graduate of Camp Tintype, John Coffer’s farm workshop in 2013. This really is a process that must be taught, you can attempt to learn on your own, there is a wealth of information out there but nothing beats a good teacher. I guess its like how photographers are either Nikon or Canon or whatever, loyal to the team. All I know is I learned it this way from John, and I like the results. There are a ton of other people out there now teaching workshops and giving advice, I have manuals from a few of them and I watch others on YouTube but I use what I learned on John’s farm as my baseline.

The silver bath I have been using has been my primary bath for a while now, and I maintain it pretty well. It gets filtered going into and coming out of the tank, and gets periodically sunned after big events, topping it off with a fresh 9% solution as needed. Today I filtered several times and mixed up a fresh 9% solution. The new tank I made is thinner and requires less solution.

I also re made the silver bath tank box that I use to sensitize my plates. This is an experiment and we will see if it suits my needs or not soon. I made it differently from the one I have used since the beginning. The old one was wider, and held approximately 1500 ml of solution. The new one is made from thinner plexiglass, and holds 1000 ml. It also sits at an angle supported by a wooden stand in the front, the old one dropped through the floor of my dark box and was very low profile. The problem with that design though is that the tank was absolutely vertical. This never caused any real problem as long as you knew how to handle the dipper when you remove the plate so you don’t scratch it.

Nothing fancy, but it should get the job done.

We’ll see soon if this will work, I am so used to my old bath being recessed into the bottom of my box, I will have to adjust to it being higher, otherwise I.will cut the hole back into my dark box and use the old tank, but maybe keep the new thinner plexi inner tank to still save of solution.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile…Life goes on. Time creates its own strange duality. As I perceive it anyway. It “flies” as is often said, and is certainly true for me, things, people and events are in constant forward motion. We grow, age and progress on with our lives at breakneck speed, everyone moving faster each day towards an uncertain future. Friends and family grow old and die, children grow and leave home, material things, buildings and property fall into disrepair and seem to be slowly reclaimed by nature itself. As I grow older this certainly seems to accelerate given my all too fixed position.

Years ago, I enjoyed caving and repelling, and have had the privilege to rappel off Virginia’s Natural Bridge several times and the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia once. A drop of nearly a thousand feet to the New River below. One interesting thing about that descent is that the drop is so long, once you have cleared the understructure of the bridge, you lose any close point of reference and the only way you have to judge your speed is by looking at how fast the rope is passing through your rack ( a friction device that regulates your speed on a rope descent). Everything seems to stop. Because you are only a small, small thing in the much larger picture, motion is distorted and unless you look at the rope to confirm you are actually making progress toward your goal of the sandy beach of the river below, you would think you were not moving at all!

Me and Jerry doing Natural Bridge.

I have to remind myself to check the rope. Slow progress is still progress. However there are clouds below and I’m not exactly sure of my destination. I think that’s true for us all. From where I find myself at the moment, I seem stationary, and everyone and everything else is moving around me. Is that the case for you too? I restarted this website and journal to try to bring some progress back into view. I began my wet plate photography journey in 2013 and was quickly sidelined in 2015 by my parents declining health and eventual death. Gradually I am emerging from that aftermath and find myself needing to create again. In the next year I hope to re gain my skill as an artist, I hope to find something meaningful to say, and I will do my best to make it meaningful.

Thanks for your attention as I descend into the clouds. Onward!

How the sun sees you.

This is a fascinating video that shows the way ultraviolet light affects the appearance of human skin. Much like the way that the collodion camera sees you. You might find you have more freckles than you thought!

Civil War Days. Manassas, Virginia

I had an amazing time this year attending my first ever Civil War Days in Manassas, VA.

This event is held annually on the grounds Of the Manassas Museum. This was certainly

the most urban event I have attended thus far and also one of my favorite! It was well

attended by both reenactors and spectators alike.

I must say the heat was bordering on opressive during the day making any shaded spot an

oasis. I thought that my chemistry would act up on me in this heat, but everything was fine

until the end. Of course my collodion bottle was getting low and in the heat had begun to

congeal. I found this out only as I was pouring a plate for the largest group portrait that I

have yet attempted! No worries, I had a backup mixed but wasted a good whole plate.

Everyone was very patient as I re poured another plate and got it ready for the exposure.

Al Stone, a revered Robert E. Lee reenactor, was in attendance and this was to be his

company's farewell gift to him upon his retirement from the portrayal. No pressure. The

heat and stress were severe but I think it worked out.

I have made a ton of plates this summer in this particular silver bath, and so I was low, the

back edge that is visible on the right here is where the plate was not submerged in the

silver nitrate during sensitization. The developer was getting hot, I was too but this is the

image we ended up with and I think everyone was pleased.

This was a great event that I can't wait to return to. I just hope it's cooler next year!

Allison and Mark

I recently had the distinct pleasure to attend an annual event, held here locally. Mountain

Run Jam is put on by the Coleman family on their farm in Sedalia, VA. Centering on

music and ecologically sustainable farming practices, permaculture and general

environmental awareness. Our hosts this year, Allison Coleman and Mark Angelini were

at the time of this event, engaged to be married. They very kindly approached me about

possibly making an engagement portrait for them.

Heading down to Reed Creek, the stream that runs through the property, I found the

perfect spot that would show off an old tree stump, ( Mark is a spoon carver) and the

rushing waters of Reed Creek. The image below is the result. Dealing with low light and

green light, the exposure for my F8.5 lens was 20 seconds. They held still like pros. You

can see the pupils in their eyes.

Thanks so much Mark and Allison for having me capture this moment! You did great!

Battle of Saltville 2016

Just returned from Saltville, Virginia. A quiet mountain town, steeped in history nestled in

the mountains of southwestern Virginia just north of Abingdon.

According to Wikipedia,

During the American Civil War, Saltville was one of the Confederacy's main saltworks.

The saltworks were considered vital to the Confederate war effort because the salt was

used in preserving meat for Confederate soldiers and civilians. Because of its importance,

the town was attacked by Northern forces intent on destroying the saltworks. On October

2, 1864 the First Battle of Saltville was fought here. In the battle Union forces attacked

Saltville but were defeated by Confederate troops.

Two months later General George Stoneman, a Union cavalry commander, led a second

attack on the saltworks (known as the Second Battle of Saltville). This time the

Confederates were defeated and the saltworks were destroyed by Union troops. The loss

of the Saltville works was considered a major blow to the Confederacy's dwindling

resources.

My camp at the event complete with posing area and backdrop.

The event began on Friday, where the reenacts played host to over 300 of the county's

schoolchildren, where they got to learn about everything from civil war photography from

me, to a camp surgeon, camp life and military drills and firing in addition to the battle

itself.

The weather was spotty with rain showers throughout the weekend but I managed to make

a few nice plates. The pity of these events is the plates always go home with someone

else! The photos that you see here on the website have mostly all been shot with my

iPhone 6 and it's nearly impossible to shoot images of my plates without some sort of

reflection. My apologies. I think I may look into purchasing a small portable scanner that I

can hook up to my laptop and bring to events to get better images of the plates I am

making.

Abingdon Civil War Weekend

I took my traveling collodion camp on the road this past weekend to beautiful Abingdon,

Virginia to camp at the Civiil War Weekend in the historic Muster Grounds in town. The

event is coordinated by Steve Wolfsberger, a veteran reenact and fellow graphic artist. The

event is only a few years old but definitely growing.

Arriving on Friday, I was met by Steve, and joined the rest of the vendors setting up on a

hot Friday afternoon. After camp was set up, I made use of the very generous shower

facilities provided by the park and went into town for a quick bite to eat before retiring for

the night.

Saturday morning, the public began to stream in, I love the chance to speak with people

and explain the history of this process. Throughout the day I made several attempts at

photos, but my wet plate mojo was not in alignment and I got everyone to promise to

return on Sunday.

Saturday evening, the park provided an outdoor film written and produced by a local actor

from the famous Barter Theater, "Freedom" was the title and well worth watching if you

get a chance.

Sunday started early getting prepared for the morning's work. As promised, everyone

returned and left with a portrait.

All in all it was a great event and I would gladly return again next year.

Working on my own..

It's been a while since I was able to spend a morning making images alone. I enjoy the

opportunity to focus on something that I enjoy so much, to practice my craft and in the

end have something tangible that I am happy with. Something that now has a place, that

didn't exist this morning.

I was fortunate enough to inherit my father's pickup truck this summer, and it finally feels

like mine. I think of him every time I use it, it still smells slightly of his cigarette

smoke. He was always eager to help me in any way that he could, and the use of a new

truck is a blessing beyond words. Thanks dad.

The day was forecast to reach 90 degrees but as I was out early, and I had the shade of two

large trees covered in the ubiquitous southern Kudzu plant, I stayed cool. The morning

sun made my long shot images of the pond impractical as the exposures were so

unbalanced. With collodion nearly 4 months old, the contrast would have been too high.

So, I shot close, waiting for another shady evening to return for the big landscapes.

It's been a rough summer personally. The last two years have been rough really. I have had

a hard time finding the inspiration to work again, it seems being creative dries sometimes

like a wild stream that once flowed sweet and true, and has dwindled to a dry bed. That

stream will likely flow again as will my inspiration, it's just hard waiting. It seems like I'm

always waiting for something.

“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, in the end I made two images that I am pleased with. and that is pretty good! I have

two images that did not exist this morning! New expressions of the way that I see the

world when I slow down and look.

“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my
pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement,
and I will go on with my drawing.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

New Portrait!

I had the distinct pleasure to work briefly with Michael Hudson, the director at the museum of historic Avoca house in Altavista, Virginia. He stopped by for a quick portrait on his way home from a living history event at the Museum of the Confederacy in Appomattox.

My chemistry was a bit old and it was pretty overcast and slightly sprinkling rain! With my F8.5 lens I got this one at a full 35 seconds! That's really long but given the circumstances, my sitter did an admirable job. We could have kept making images but the weather was threatening to shut us down and at that long an exposure, we cut our losses! 1/4 plate Aluminum, Old Workhorse Collodion mix. Developed 18 seconds KCN Fix.

New plates with Sara.

I had a great day this Memorial Day Monday making a few new portraits with my daughter Sara today. We headed out early to Lynchburgs Old City Cemetery for a few shots. Setting up out by the old train station, I got to work. Since it was a holiday, there were a few passers by, only one was curious enough to ask what we were doing.

We made 5 images, the first was an exposure test and was too dark, after adjusting the exposure, we made three half plate aluminum plates, and one 8x10 black glass ambrotype. Not bad for a few hours, and I really enjoy the time with Sara making images together with my daughter that I hope she will keep forever!

Prepping Ferrotype plates.

Taking advantage of the great weather today to get some more plates prepared for the spring season. The rolled steel has been cut to size and now begins the process of cleaning and polishing them. After this, they will be ready to receive two coats of black Japan.

Then they will be ready to make your authentic 19th century quarter plate or half plate tintypes! All together, it takes a lot of time and effort for a plate to go from the raw steel to a beautiful portrait. Our tintypes and Ambrotypes are reasonably priced and authentically made. Hope to see you out this summer!

My field Tripod.

Over a year ago I received my camera from Star Camera Co. and obviously needed a tripod for it. Mentioning this to a friend who is a former cabinet maker with a small shop still in his garage, he took the challenge. Working from sketches and historical references in photographs, he made this. He had made a few copies of eighteenth century surveying tripods before for his work reenacting revolutionary era surveyors and was familiar with the basic design.

When I saw the final product, I was floored. There are no words to express my gratitude for this amazing gift. I have to say that this field tripod will last me the rest of my life and will be among my treasured possessions until the end. What makes it even more special is that it was created by a dear friend, and given to me as a gift.

As a fellow reenactor and student of American history who loves to teach about the people and tools that made that history, he was happy to be able to provide me with an instrument that I will be able to use in my portrayal and teach with. It has been used heavily this last year and now shows signs of honest wear. I am humbled by the generosity of friends lately, that's a whole other blog post for later, but after almost 50 years, I am blessed with a handful of pure, distilled, fire tested friends. I hope to return the favor somehow. Thanks Eddie!!

Brittany and Will

I set up on Saturday to make a few portraits of my friends, Will & Brittany. It was Brittany's birthday and they wanted to have something unique made to mark the occasion.

Trevelian Station Civil War Weekend

Had a great weekend in Louisa County last weekend at the 150th anniversary of the battle at Trevilian station. I honestly thought that from the weather reports we would be washed out completely, just goes to show you can't trust those guys. The weather was hot on Friday for the set up and hot again for the pack out on Sunday, but in between partly sunny skies that allowed me to grab some images at 5 & 8 seconds.

Here are a few of those mages, thanks so much for the great hospitality of the Louisa County Parks service for running a very smooth event, and a great thank you to the reenactors that stopped by to talk, and have an image made with me!

New Work. Portrait of Will.

I invited my good friend Will over to the house the other day to make some portraits. The weather has been pretty cold lately, and I have not had the desire to brave the cold temperatures to make images outside. However, last week we had a few warm days and I left the dark box inside to make some images trying out my new DIY studio lights and some outside. The lights work well enough, I just need more. The lens I am currently using on my 8x10 is more an outdoor landscape lens, I will put that to the test in the spring, but for now, wide open, that lens will only provide an aperture of 8.5. Indoor portraits are proving elusive as of yet, with long exposure times of 15 to 16 seconds don't produce he sharpest pictures.

This portrait of Will was made outdoors on the patio with the lens wide open at about 9 seconds, it was late in the day and the natural winter light was getting low, but I pulled this one out of the hat, I think it looks pretty good for a 9 second exposure, it helped that Will was sitting and resting his head against the wall.

When the weather breaks, I will get the camera out and do some more projects soon, I have found that a day spent with my camera equipment is pure joy, and when I get a portrait like this, I am as happy as I can be.