The Studio Q Show LIVE! From the Rocky Mountains!

Greetings!

I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't had much time over the last couple of weeks. We've been crazy busy moving and getting ourselves set up to start our home build in the mountains.

I wanted to reach out and touch base with you and do a LIVE show today from our place in the mountains here - the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, U.S.A. Not much to show yet, we’re just starting, but we can talk wet plate collodion and "ask and answer" technical questions.

Join me if you can - tomorrow, Saturday, June 27, at 1000 hrs MST. It will stream LIVE on my YouTube channel as well.

We address attending a workshop and getting tutorials/online services.
(Administrated by Jean Jacobson)

Quinn’s Live Stream from Stream Yard: https://streamyard.com/4sffpya3a8

Quinn’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoFXbRk1u4g

The Studio Q Show LIVE! Let's Talk Wet Plate Collodion Photography

Join me tomorrow, May 30, at 1000 hrs MST for the Studio Q Show LIVE!

Come talk about the wet plate collodion process! We'll talk about technical problems, philosophical problems, and even ontological problems (if you want).

We address attending a workshop and getting tutorials/online services.
(Administrated by Jean Jacobson)

TO WATCH OR JOIN CLICK HERE

New Book Released on Amazon and VOD

I've released my newest book the wet plate collodion photographic process on Amazon. I sold this as a LIMITED EDITION book over the last year, this book is the "standard edition" it is not signed and does not have the 13th chapter like the LIMITED EDITION did.

The book comes with access to the Workshop Videos. However, there are a lot of people that just want the videos, so I set up VOD - single videos or the entire series. Enjoy! and thanks for your support!!

My new book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0892DP6T1
Workshop Videos: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/chemicalpictures

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes and The 39-89 Project

It’s almost September! Let’s start with the most obvious change; the weather. The weather here has taken a turn for the cool. We must be entering Autumn (fall and winter are very mild here). Highs are 16-18 degrees Celsius (60s F) and lows are 8-10 degrees Celsius (40s F). It’s nice, I like it. It’s still raining a lot, but then again, when isn’t it raining here?

We’re thinking a lot about the big change coming for us and have our eyes and minds set on the northwest. I think that’s where we belong  -but who knows? Right now, it looks like we should be leaving Europe around the first of the year. However, I always say everything, and I mean everything, is subject to change.

The '39-'89 Project & Exhibition: Generating Ideas
I can’t really work on the Wet Collodion part of my project here (I can research and write but I can’t make photographs for it), so I’m experimenting with some paper negatives and setting up to do some Daguerreotype work. I’ve got the Daguerreotype stuff ready to go, but that will have to wait until I’m back in the States. It’s way too much to do here – too much as in expensive/hassle, too much. The Calotypes on the other hand, are very doable here.

My goal is to setup (individual studio/darkroom space) for all three processes in the States; I call it “The 39-89 Project: The First 50 Years of Photography”. 1839 – 1889, the first fifty years of photography; Daguerreotypes, Calotypes and Wet Plate Collodion. Each process has its own aesthetic and special place in history; I’ll offer workshops in each process when I return to America.

I want to write a piece at some point about why Collodion is so popular today and why the other two processes will never gain that kind of popularity. It’s written in history, however, I want to write a contemporary piece about it. I’ve found some interesting correlations to the digital movement and would like to share those ideas in an essay.

My exhibition in 2012 (in Paris at Centre Iris) will be large Wet Plate Collodion pieces, but I’m going to do an ancillary project (technical and historical) about this period in the history of photography. I’ll include Calotypes and Daguerreotypes. It will give context to the main exhibit and it will be educational and interesting (I hope). And, it will be relevant to anyone interested in photography today (that’s kind of the point, yes?). In a way, you could say I’m doing the technical and academic work while I wait to return to the States. This “break” has been a great time to generate ideas and experiment with some things. I needed this.

Across The Pond… And Back Again
We made a trip to the States this month and really enjoyed it. We didn’t enjoy leaving our daughter, Summer, behind (for college), but we enjoyed seeing our family. It was good to see everyone and we’re really happy for Summer. She’s all settled in at Weber State University, my Alma mater, and is doing great. Europe will always be a part of us and we will return often, but I’m ready to go home.

Coming Up: Daguerreotypes & Wet Plate Collodion Performative Lecture
We’ll be going to Belgium for some Daguerreotype work the first weekend in September and then the second week, we’ll be in Dresden for a Wet Plate Collodion Performative Lecture at the City Museum. I’ll be doing some commissioned portrait work there, too.

Chemical Pictures - It's Finished!

Well, I didn't provide salvation for mankind, but I did finish my book, DVD, and web site.

After an inordinate amount of time, money and obstacles, the Chemical Pictures book, DVD and web site is ready for prime time (opening next week - July 20 - Summer's 17th birthday).

I'm elated, but at the same time, relieved. This has been a trying task, to say the least. While I understand that it's not perfect, I am very happy with it. If I had a couple of lifetime's and all of the resources I needed at my disposal, I could probably do a better job, but this will be fine for now. I think the users will be happy with it, too.

I'm most excited to hear what people think. About half of the content is malleable - at least the web site portion - so if users have suggestions for making it better, I'm going to listen. It's dynamic, too. I will do monthly video podcasts on a wide variety of Collodion topics. The technical forum board (yes, another one) will be active as well - but without the "noise" you get on public boards.

My biggest hope is that the students of my system will understand what I've put together here and maximize the opportunity to have access to a live, dynamic learning system. I hope that they will see the value of spending time with each video, each chapter in the book and ultimately really grasp the process and moreover, enjoy it.

The web site opens on Monday, July 20, 2009 and the book and DVD begins shipping the first week in August.

Chemical Pictures - The Cover

Chemical Pictures - The Wet Plate Collodion Photography BookI'm very happy! After many iterations, the cover of my new book and DVD is finished. Sometimes, I think over-thinking can be as bad as not thinking at all. I may have over-thought the cover, at least on the first few iterations. Remember, text out of context is a pretext. I had some "pretext-ing" going on.

I'm very happy with the results of this cover (click on it to see it bigger) and of the book and DVD. It's been a project I've been working on for years. I published one other book on the process in 2006. That was mostly for my graduate work and I didn't feel like I had adequate time to include everything that I wanted to. This work includes everything you've always wanted to know about making positive Wet Plate Collodion images and even some things that you don't want to know about. I'm very proud of this piece. It's based not only on my own personal experience working in the process for a few years, but on primary literature. Over the last two years, I read and studied every 19th and 20th century manual or book on the process I could find. I was amazed and enlightened at what I found. Not only is there everything in the old manuals that you need to learn the process (technical, formulae, etc), each photographer had their own interpretation and ideas on what worked the best. Not unlike today - there were several people who called themselves "masters" of the process. However, a lot of them had glaring flaws in their techniques and methodologies - the recipes and techniques conflicted a lot. I found it very interesting and entertaining, to say the least.

A lot of people deserve credit for this book and DVD. I've asked people all over the world to be involved in it - contributing everything from a piece on artificial lighting to collaborating on this cover - it's been a great experience and I want to thank everyone that's helped me - I'm truly thankful (and Summer will thank when she's paying her tuition, too.)

The next step: I have to make some changes (after the second editing process) and wrap up the online content (.flv files) and then wait for the printer to make my books and DVDs! Oh happy day!

Time Goes So Fast… Make It Count!

Well, here we are beginning our third (read: 3rd) year in Germany. I can't believe it. Where does the time go? It must have something to do with the knowledge that our time is finite here. Wouldn't that apply to all human beings in relation to life? I digress.

Summer and I have been working hard on my video series called, "The Wet Plate Collodion Workshop DVD Series". I'm excited by all of this. I'll close this chapter of my life out with two new books, two DVDs, and a new web site. I'm going to try to launch, publish, produce all of those by the end of the year.  All of the proceeds from the sales of these books and DVDs will go into an account for Summer. She will be in college in a couple of years and we thought this would be a great way to get her some additional cash/tuition/car/etc. money. She is doing all of the editing on the DVDs and proof-reading/editing the books for me. She's working hard and earning her money.

I have two workshops planned for September and October. One in Vienna, Austria and another in The Netherlands. Those are confirmed.  I also have one tentative for Berlin in September and one hanging in October for Mallorca, Spain (an island west of Barcelona).  A lot of stuff and a lot of fun! That's how I like to roll ;-)  here's a frame exported from the video:

A screenshot from one of the videos in the series.

Next year, 2009, will be devoted completely to my personal work (other than a possible workshop in Finland). I'll be finished with all of the writing, teaching, and video making and will devote myself completely to my project. I still spend a fair amount of time working on my "Kristallnacht" project. It's difficult here and things move very, very slow.  I do have four images of the project showing in San Francisco right now. They are in a show called, "Into the Ether: Contemporary Collodion Work" at RayKo Gallery. I hear the crowd was large and impressed by the work. That makes me happy. However, the German people are the ones that need to see this work. And, moreover, think about it. I'm working on it.