The American West Portraits

"Chris Perez" 16" x 20" (40cm x 50cm) Black Glass Ambrotype - Denver, Colorado, USAMaking photographs, for me, is sometimes a painful and difficult ordeal. It creates anxiety in my life. When you want to see what's in your head on glass and metal plates, and can't quite get over the last hurddle, it can be very stressful. I’m in one of those times now, but working through it.

I’ve been making 16” x 20” (40cm x 50cm) Wet Collodion portraits (currently titled, "The American West Portraits"). I started planning this project almost 18 months ago by ordering a 20” x 24” camera, it's been non-stop ever since. And now, I’m struggling to get the look and feel on these large plates that I want. It’s 99% technical mostly a lens issue. I need a lens that will cover the plate and allow me to compose the image in a way that I’m happy with it. It’s more difficult than it sounds.

Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem. I would have plenty of time to resolve any technical or aesthetic issue I might have. However, I’ve got an exhibition opening on March 14, 2012 in Paris, France at Centre-Iris Gallery. I find myself anxious and preoccupied regarding how the images will look for the exhibition. I see them in my mind, I just need to get them on the glass and metal! 

Having been in Denver for six months doesn’t help me either. I need time to build connections and find the right people to photograph. And now it’s winter, the days are short. At best, there’s about three hours of good light to work with. I will say that there would be no better place to be than in Denver for light this time of year, when it’s shining, the bright blue sky is amazing. It means that the sitter I want to photograph must come to my studio within a certain window of time (1000 – 1300). That gets complicated and stressful, too.

These issues are forcing me to rethink how I work and what I work with. And how "exact" things have to be. I have a “King’s problem” and I understand that. I keep thinking, maybe in the end, I will make a far better body of work than if I had a year to work on it. We’ll see. 

This is a "working idea" - these will collect in my studio and I'll look at them over the next couple of months.

Here's a "taste" of what the show will be made up of - all 16" x 20" (40cm x 50cm) Wet Collodion plates.

The Paris Exhibition Part One

I’m sitting here exhausted and elated. I’ve just returned from 9 days in Paris. Needless to say, a lot happened. First I want to thank Jeanne, Summer, Olivier, Pierre, and William. Without you, none of this would have happened. There’s nothing that compares to having people in your life that care about you and support you – thank you, merci, thank you, merci!Leica Group member - he volunteered for the demo - a portrait.

For me, this event was like the striking of a match (wood stick match). If you watch closely, you can see the phosphorus burn and ignite the wood.  So now, my match is burning – in the center of Paris, France. It’s a good feeling.

While I’ve had other exhibitions and have shown my work in some great places, this exhibition is extremely important for me. First, it’s in Paris, France – the birthplace, or home of photography. I’ve always dreamed of showing my work in Paris. Any artist/photographer would say the same. Also, the Parisians/French have a particular love for the art of photography. It makes sense that they would. As you can imagine, I spoke with a lot of people over the last week about my work. Never before have I had so many people make comments about my photographs being important for something beyond the process. In other words, it’s not just the Wet Plate Collodion process that makes the work interesting. The concept of the work goes beyond the craft, or better yet, compliments the craft. Every time I heard that, I was overjoyed – that means a lot to me. It’s too easy to get caught up in craft and forget the concept. I heard none of that in Paris. I’ve always said that the French and Spanish have a certain sensibility when it comes to my work. They “get it”. 

Along with their photography culture, I also love the French for their food culture. We were treated to some of the best places to eat in the center of Paris. One afternoon, we had lunch with Jeroen and Geert-Jan, friends from Holland, in a restaurant that is in the oldest house in Paris (1407). It was surreal, and delicious. And Pierre and Olivier treated us to an incredible dinner at L’Autobus Impérial (check out the video). The food there was unbelievably good, not to mention the wine and final drink at the bar (the flaming cocktail).

The opening of my show was terrific. There were more people there than you could count. A big turn out – it really surprised me. My good friend, Bart from Moscow was there, thank you for your support! And Vernon and Christian came from Germany for the opening, thank you! Christian, that photo you made of me by camera is the best I’ve ever seen – we need to talk.

Pierre worked with the bartender from L’ Autobus and made a special drink/cocktail for my opening. It was like a Black Russian with wine and some other things, we called it, “Black Collodion”. It was delicious – I think I had four glasses of it! There were people from all over Europe that came to see the work. It humbled me, to say the least. After the opening, about fifteen of us went out for Japanese food – I had sushi and Sake – it was terrific!

I did a public demonstration on Tuesday for about seventeen people. It went very well. I made two Whole Plate portraits of two people in the audience. My friend, Chris Nisperos, kindly translated for those that  didn’t speak English.

Wednesday was the “Portrait Day” that almost turned into Thursday. I started at about 10AM, and with the help of Jeanne and Summer, I went until almost midnight making portraits of Parisians that lined up at the studio door. I poured was over 40 plates that day/night! The largest number of plates I’ve ever made in one day/night – and most of them were Whole Plate or 8”x10”. If that doesn’t test your Collodion fortitude, I don’t know what does. I made portraits of some very important people (they were all important, I should say “known” people), too. Well connected in the photography world. One was the managing editor of Photo Magazine. I’m doing an interview this week with them for an article.

Thursday was day one of Workshop #1 – seven people. There was a writer/photographer from Réponses Photo magazine in this workshop. I’m looking forward to a cover and several inside pages in the April or May issue. It was a great group of people and an excellent workshop.

That evening, I did a “perfomative lecture” for the Paris Photo Group (from Bievre). I got to see Marie Jo, the president of the group and we chatted a little bit about the photo fair in June. It will be another banner year! The group seemed to enjoy what they saw and asked a lot of engaging questions. It was a very large group.

Friday, I finished up Workshop #1 and prepared for Workshop #2 that started bright and early on Saturday. Workshop #2 had five people in it. Great group! They made some really nice photographs and seemed to take to Collodion like they had been doing it for years. Saturday night we enjoyed a very nice meal at L’ Autobus (see above).

On Sunday, I gave another “performative lecture” to the Leica Group of Paris. The image above is the demonstration portrait I made. I wish it were higher quality, but trust me, his beard looked wonderful! This group also seemed to enjoy what they saw. I was happy to do “perform” for them, too.

So, in a nutshell, this is what happened; I had an opening of a large exhibition. I sold several pieces the first couple of days and several more are reserved (this blew my mind). I taught 13 people the Wet Plate Collodion process. I made almost 50 portraits. I did three “performative lectures” and I’ve been published in over a dozen French magazines. All of this would not have been possible without the support of my friends and family, thank you very, very much!

Centre Iris Gallery 238 rue St Martin – Paris – The perfect venue for my work!

 This is a short clip of me making Franck’s portrait. It was a beautiful image. He gave me a piece he made of me – a painting/photograph – gorgeous! Great guy and wonderful artist!

A slower, more complete look the day before the opening.

 Summer shows off Jeff’s image – and some other large prints in the show.

We all enjoyed this "fire" drink at L’ Autobus Imperial one of Pierre's inventions – nice!

My Paris Show Part One: Preparing

This isn't the first time you've heard me talk about (or read me write about) my show in Paris. And I can assure you, it won't be the last.

I'm excited beyond words. I'm completely focused on making this the best it possibly can be. So, if I seem aloof, slow to respond or appear to be dropped-out, you know what I'm doing and where my head is!

The Centre-Iris Gallery has started to publicize the events. There will be a few highlights; first, the exhibition (of course!). I will be showing both of my projects; work that I made in the United States and my current European project. I'll have about 50 images from the project, "Portraits from Madison Avenue". I will also have several pieces, I'm not exactly sure how many,  of my new project, "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" (loose translation: "struggling to come to terms with the past"). I'm still working on this project, but I hope to have quite a few pieces in this show.

The content and Collodion variants will span the gamut. There will be portraits, landscapes, still lifes, etc. There will be Black Glass Ambrotypes, Clear Glass Ambrotypes, Albumen prints, Salt Prints, Alumitypes, and Ferrotypes (Tintypes). I'm going to offer sell the work, too. This is a big deal for me and it's very important that I do this right!

Quinn making Pierre's portraits in Paris - June 2009
Secondly, I will be doing a public demonstration (performative lecture) the afternoon of the opening (March 9). I'll also be teaching two workshops during the week. If you're in, or near Paris, drop Centre-Iris Gallery an email and have them hold a spot for you!

And last, but not least, the gallery has asked me to do a "Portrait Day". This will be on March 10. People can come by the gallery and I will make a portrait for them (for a fee, of course). It was a hit in Paris last June. I would expect the same here, maybe even more people Oy! We'll see.

This is a gigantic logistical challenge. I'm going to rent a Volkswagon Van. I need to pack all of my artwork (huge space and very delicate items), Collodion equipment (dark-box, camera, lenses), chemistry and substrate, and luggage. And then we have to fit in it, too! I'm hoping this works! It's a four and a half hour drive to Paris. Have you ever driven in the city of Paris? Oy!

There will be more to follow... I promise.