Returning From Paris and Reflecting

Paris, France
It’s five o’clock in the morning. I woke up at four o’clock this morning. I flew into Denver late last night from Paris. I’ll be on this “adjustment rollercoaster” (up early and tired early) for a few days. It’s also known as jet-lag. Fun.

Télérama spot - this brought people in for portraits - full days!

It was a good trip. This was our second one in less than sixty days! Taxing and tiring to say the least. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. It is bitter-sweet when these exhibitions end. I’m glad it’s over but it’s sad at the same time.

Wet Plate Collodion: The Past, Present & Future
As I sit here in the quiet this morning and see the Facebook posts and read my email, I find myself thinking how fortunate I was to start working in Wet Plate Collodion when I did. It’s a madhouse out there now. Truly a head-spinning environment - so many people posting “their first plate” and “look how big” etc.  – it’s emotionally draining to me. The competition grows everyday for a place at the Collodion table and there’s simply not enough room.

At some point, it will melt down and everything will even out again. Let’s talk in ten years and see who’s doing what. Most will fade away, I’ve seen it before and it will happen again. There will be less than a handful that make serious work with the process or accomplish anything significant with it. That’s how it unfolds.

My Wet Collodion CV
Over the past 10 years, I’ve accomplished a lot in this small, niche world of historic processes. My biggest accomplishment, and the one I’m most proud of, is that I created three bodies of work that were all exhibited in Paris and all received high marks from the viewing audience there.

2003 – 2006: “Portraits from Madison Avenue” (America)
2006 – 2010: “Vergangenheitsbewältigung” (Europe)
2011 – 2012: “The American West Portraits” (America)

Most artist/photographers would give their left eye to simply visit Paris let alone have a gallery, exhibitions and good representation there. I was told by the gallery owner on Saturday that my show, “The American West Portraits” ranked number one for seven weeks in the photography shows of Paris (Télérama). That’s amazing, I’m proud and honored. How can you feel “unaccomplished” with those kinds of things in your life? Not only did I exhibit there, I also made hundreds of commissioned portraits and taught several workshops; including Collodion negatives and printing (Albumen, Salt and Collodion Chloride).

I’m also very proud of the fact that I was instrumental in reviving the Wet Collodion Process in Europe. My five years (2006 – 2011) of traveling and teaching has spurred on a resurgence of the process that would have not happened without my efforts. My wife, Jeanne, and daughter, Summer made all of that possible. We worked hard and had a lot of fun, but we also changed the direction of photography there (in this context) by doing what we did. As with all educators, you get lost and replaced over time. In other words, the people you teach will teach and so on and so forth. That’s okay, it’s the natural evolution of things. The important thing is to remember the contributions, not simply the teaching of the process. That’s what I’m referring to here. My influence not only taught people the process, but it built community. You would have never seen Wet Collodion at Foire de Bievres (nor even heard of it) or had the Collodion parties and community assemblies without my years there.

Over the years, I’ve written three books about the process, too.

2006: The Contemporary Wet Plate Collodion Experience
2007: Conferring Importance; Thoughts on Identity, Memory and Difference
2009: Chemical Pictures (revised in 2010 and 2011) with DVD and Online Video Workshop

And the final entry in my Collodion CV would be The Archer Project (2010). I spent fourteen months and a lot of money to honor Frederick Scott Archer with a custom plaque citing his invention of the Wet Plate Collodion process. If you ever visit his grave in the Kensal Green Cemetery in London, you’ll see the fruits of that labor. The Collodion Collective that I put together was made up of a couple of British blokes; Carl Radford and John Brewer, but the bigger body consisted of 51 Collodionists from around the world contributing a plate to honor Archer.  Although I had to take on the majority of the financial burden, I have no regrets and wear the effort as a badge of honor to Archer and to this wonderful process.

Reflection & The Future
When endings come in your life, like this show ending for me, you tend to reflect on what you’ve done and ask questions. And you end up in a state of melancholy – you go as low as your highest point was high – it’s tough.

I’m unsure of what’s next. Or if there will even be a next. That’s where I am now. Time will tell. I’ll take some time to rest and think it all through. However, should it end tomorrow, I’m very pleased and very proud of what I’ve done over the last decade. Thanks to all the people in my life that make it possible for me to do what I do. I love you and am eternally grateful for your presence in my life, these are your accomplishments, too.

 

A Short Respite and Satisfaction

Quinn holding three 16" x 20" (40 x 50cm) Ambrotypes. Photos by Jeanne Jacobson

It’s Saturday morning, the sun is shining; I have espresso in my cup and have absolutely nothing on my "to do" list today. I haven’t felt like this for over a year!
For the previous eight months, I've been working seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. I know that’s not healthy, but I had to do it at least for that finite time.
Since Jeanne and I landed at Denver International Airport last June, we’ve been setting up our personal lives, setting up a studio, making photographs, readjusting to America and preparing for the opening of my exhibition in Paris in three weeks. It’s been a long, exhaustive and expensive journey, but I can see the reward coming soon – soon as in less than three weeks – when we board the plane for Paris, France.
Like so many things in my life, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to make this happen had I known what it was going to take. And like so many things in my life, I have no regrets about saying, “Yes, I’ll do it”. Too often, people default to “No, I can’t” to every opportunity that presents itself.  They live with regret and miss out on living life. It’s a lot easier to say, “No”, than to say, “Yes.” It’s easier to be negative than to be positive. Why is that? 
I know it’s trite and cliché, but you have to ask what does “living” mean? I know it’s different for everyone, but the underlying theme is taking chances, taking risks, going where there’s no safety blanket or safety net. Getting out of your comfort zone, getting out there – and I don’t mean that you have to go abroad – it can be as simple as public speaking, changing jobs or quitting your job. Or, in my case, making an international move and then making a new body of work for an exhibition in Paris in six months time. Those things will make you feel alive. An English idiom we use is, “You have skin in the game”. That means you have something to lose or that you’re invested.
Regardless how successful, or not, the show is, I have already experienced something amazing. I arrived in Denver with nothing and in six months time, created a meaningful body of work that I’m proud of and that didn’t exist until I made it. It’s a very satisfying feeling. And to have a gallery in Paris that is excited and supportive means the world to me.  
The plates (glass and metal) are packed in the crate on the left and the photo supplies are in the foot locker on the right. These packages will be sitting in the gallery on Monday!Jeanne and I packed everything up Wednesday night. I had a crate built for the artwork and we used a hard case (large foot locker) for the supplies we need there. The inspiration for the blog was an email I received this morning telling me that the crates cleared customs in Orly, France and will be in the gallery on Monday.
Thank you, Jeanne! You made this happen for me! I love you!

 

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.

Dresden: The Final Adventure

For the past four years, Wet Plate Collodion photography has taken me east to Budapest, Hungary, west to Glasgow, Scotland, north to Gothenburg, Sweden and south to Barcelona, Spain; plus many other cities in between.Some of the places I've traveled to teach, exhibit and make photographs.

I just returned from Dresden, Germany. It was probably the last Wet Plate Collodion adventure for me in Europe; at least until I return to Paris in a couple of years.

Like so many places in Europe, Dresden is a beautiful city with a lot of interesting history. I especially like the photographic history of these places. Dresden was the largest manufacturer of albumen paper in the 19th century. Albumen means “egg white”. The albumen printing process was invented by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard in 1850. He was from Lille, France.

The Dresdener Albuminfabriken AG (The Dresden Albumen Manufacturing Company)
They produced 18,674 reams of albumen paper in 1888. Each ream consisted of 480 sheets 46 cm x 58 cm (~18” x ~23”) in size. To coat a ream of paper required 9 liters of albumen solution, obtained from 324 eggs; only the whites, separated by hand. All of the paper was made by women – all by hand. In 1888, this one factory consumed over six million eggs – that’s about 16,500 eggs per day! There were a lot of bakeries around making custards and other pies/pastries with all of the egg yolks, too. Can you imagine what Dresden’s collective cholesterol level was in the late 19th century? Women in Dresden making Albumen paper.

The Dresden Museum Wet Plate Collodion Performative Lecture
I was invited by the Dresden Museum to do a Wet Plate Collodion performative lecture in conjunction with the August Kotzsch exhibition. Kotzsch was a German photographer working from the 1860s to the 1880s in Dresden/Loschwitz, Germany. He lived in that area his entire life. He mainly photographed rural German life, but wanted to be graphic artist. The exhibit shows his early drawings from the 1840s – he was quite good. He did a lot of still life work, too. His albumen prints are amazing. One of the city historians told me that Kotzsch made his own albumen paper – how strange is that and, moreover, why would he do that in Dresden?

The Dresden museum is beautiful and the Kotzsch exhibition was nothing short of that. It was an honor for me to be there talking about Kotzsch’s process and showing the people how he made his photographs.

The space they had arranged for me was perfect; large (non-UV) windows and even a sink close by. The museum is in the center of the city. People were walking by watching me turning back the hands of time with the Wet Plate Collodion process through the large windows of the museum.

There were about 25 people in the audience; the perfect size. Ernst Hirsch was one of the attendees. Ernst is a filmmaker and photographer. He is well-known and admired. I asked him to sit for the demonstration. I later learned that he made a book about Kotzsch and his work. After the lecture, he presented me with a copy of the book (August Kotzsch 1836 - 1910. Von den Anfängen der Photographie in Loschwitz bei Dresden) and a print from one of Kotzsch’s negatives. It was a very nice addition to my book collection of 19th Century photographers. Ernst owns several hundred original prints of Kotzsch’s and knows his great-great-grandson – who, by the way is a successful fine art photographer today.

I ended up making a few portraits. I had a very nice time. The trip was a great way to end the Wet Plate Collodion adventure in Europe, at least for now.

I want to thank my wife, Jeanne for taking all of the great photos, Richard for translating all of my stories and jokes during the lecture, Ernst and Cornelia for the book and print, Jan for making the trek to Dresden from Berlin, and Frank for the DVD/prints and the long conversation at the hotel about communism and photography. I learned a lot about the former East Germany and the communists.

We miss you, Summer XOXOXO


A Dresden egg. I should’ve brought some home for paper!

Quinn doing his thing in Dresden, Germany
"Is that Chuck Close?" someone asked. No, it’s the museum’s curator, Fredrich. 
Practicing on Ernst – the sitters need to practice before we expose the plate. 
Can someone get a photo of this? Please! 

The afternoon produced these images.

The afternoon produced these images.
Frank



Richard, my translator and museum coordinator for the lecture.


Richard (negative) – so he can print on modern paper.


Herr Kotzsch und Herr Jacobson, standing on the shoulders of giants…

Exhibitions: Closing Out 2010

I’ll  be in two exhibitions in August/September and then one in October/November. The first is at ArtReactor in/near Washington D.C. the advert reads:

“I am pleased to announce the opening of the Whole Plate Project exhibition. The Whole Plate Project is an exhibit centered around photographers working in the whole plate format, the original photographic format (6.5 by 8.5 inches), and its historical and contemporary resonances. The show features work by Quinn Jacobson, Diane Maher, Chris Rini, Denise Ross, David White, Heather Wetzel, Barry Schmetter and Scott Davis. Works featured include cyanotypes, wet plate, silver gelatin and platinum/palladium prints. The opening reception will be Friday, August 6, from 7-9 PM. The exhibit space will be open weekends, otherwise by appointment.
Art Reactor is a new gallery/workshop/studio space in the Hyattsville arts corridor, located at 5614 Baltimore Avenue, Hyattsville, Maryland. For more information about the space, go to http://artreactor.org”

I’ve sent this triptych over for the show:

The second show is at LightBox Photographic Gallery. It’s a show of “alternative” work and processes. I have one piece in it:

 
"Judasbaum" - Viernheim, Germany

And one more exhibition at the same gallery, Lightbox Photographic, called, “The 2nd Annual Spooky Show” (October/November). They asked for these pieces:

 "Jewish DNA"

 
"The Monster’s Suicide"

 
"German Man With An Axe"

With that, it closes out my 2010 exhibition list. 2011 will be a new year, new work and a new exhibitions!

A New Chapter Begins...Now!

It seems I've closed one chapter of my life and am ready for the next one.

As I look back over the last year (2009/2010), I see what I've done and I'm amazed and incredibly satisfied. Having these kinds of opportunities (Paris exhibition, Archer Project, etc.) is a rare and wonderful thing.

Henry David Thoreau said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". For the most part, I would agree with that. They're desperate because they are clueless about their purpose. The trick is to find your passion and pursue it with everything you have. Take risks, push your boundaries, and never quit. Passion is what we need more of - and I don't mean passion as in fundamental religions or passions that hurt people. I'm talking about a personal passion - it's always a positive thing, an asset to society, not a liability. Finding out why you are here and what you're supposed to be doing with your life is what we need to be asking ourselves. For the past 10 or 15 years, maybe more, I've been preoccupied with this idea and have done my best to be honest in its pursuit.

How do you define success? Happiness? Satisfaction? Is it relative? I'm not sure. Regardless of the definition, at this moment in my life I would have to mark 9/10 in all of the categories. I feel accomplished, appreciated and am very happy. Over the last few years in Europe, I've met some of the most kind and wonderful people in the world. Every color, nationality, race and religion - all beautiful, interesting people that helped me get to this point. I can't thank them enough for the difference they've made in my life.

I've talked a lot about stepping out of the spotlight. I'm beginning that process now. Some of it will be a little bit sad for me. I'll miss doing some of the things that I've been doing for a long time. However, it's time to move on and experience the next chapter/adventure of my life. I know it's time.

My exhibition in Paris (Centre Iris) just ended. It was successful beyond words. I'm eternally grateful and thankful for Pierre, Olivier, Benoît, William, Patrick, Bruno, and all of the students in my workshops; almost thirty of you! I would also like to thank all of the sitters that came for portraits. I ended up making almost 175 portraits of Parisians over the last few months. Talk about a body of work! I heard some of the kindest comments and had the honor of making portraits of some very important people in the world of photography. Merci beacoup! It was my honor and pleasure. And finally, Jeanne and Summer, I love you! What an adventure! I could have never, ever done this without you! Hugs, kisses, and someday we'll be having some more Chinese ravioli and Japanese Sushi in Paris!

There are some wonderful things ahead for me (art/photographically). I'm looking forward to sharing them when the time is right. Summer will be starting her studies in August and we (Jeanne and I) may have some big changes ahead, too. We'll see. For right now, let's say the operative word is: CHANGE. Change is good. Change presents opportunity. Don't fear change.

One more thing; I wanted to share some images I'm sending to Washington D.C. for an exhibition. This is Benoît, a Parisian artist and filmmaker. I call this, "Three Portraits in Paris: Chopin's Left Hand". You get it, I don't need to explain it. However, the Parisian model with black eyes may be a different story...

 
"Three Portraits in Paris: Chopin's Left Hand", Triptych - Whole Plate Black Glass Ambrotypes

 "Parisian Model With Black Eyes" - Whole Plate Black Glass Ambrotype

This is Gwen, she was the sweetest lady you could meet. I made two plates of her, I kept this one. Update: I gave this plate to a friend, Joe Baltz, a photographer and teacher in Chicago, IL.

If you would like to see a small sample of the portraits I made in Paris, you can go here. Please forgive the low quality of the images, they were “snapped” with my small digital point and shoot. There are about 150 I never got snaps of!

It Is Finished: “In Honour of Archer”

Whole Plate Wet Collodion Negative of the group at Archer's grave.We did it! I still can’t believe that I’m sitting here in London (Heathrow airport) with glass plates in my bag of Archer’s new plaque surrounded by the people that made all of this all happen. And I have an Aluminum plate of the dead Fox – also known as, “The Death of Fox Talbot.”

Carl Radford made a very nice introduction and John Brewer did an excellent job of presenting Archer with historically correct information. Archer was never without a headstone, but he wasn’t ever recognized for what he did. That’s where we came in.

The unveiling was very special. The very moment Carl and I lifted the black cloth from the plaque on Archer’s grave, the clouds parted and the sun shined bright and beautiful on all of us. A very good sign. A confirmation, if you will, that it was right to do this (see Kim Conway’s photo below). It was moving. I really hope Alastair got that bit on video, it was the pinnacle for me (well, there were many, but this was special). 

Carl Radford (left) and Quinn Jacobson at the Archer plaque unveiling. There were almost 50 people at Archer’s grave. More and more came throughout the day to see the process he invented and to see the wonderful Collodion exhibition. All of it was very well received. Thanks to Tim Soar and Adam Brown for presenting the work properly – a wonderful job, indeed. Adam’s going to be hanging out in the gallery on a Sunday here and there. Stop by, see the work.

The Friends of Kensal Green, Barry Smith, in particular, was a kind and gracious host. He gave us some private tours and shared his passion with us: the history of some very interesting and important people in Kensal Green. We also shared a couple of pints with him. A wonderful experience: it’s all about connecting.

It was a great honor for me to be a part of all of this, a pinnacle in both my personal life and my artistic career. The people I’ve met and the places I’ve been because of this process are the reasons I wanted to do this. Archer made this happen for me. I’m not saying we’ve “paid him back”, but I hope, in some small way, we’ve made a difference for him/his memory and for everyone working in the Wet Plate Collodion process.

P.S.
”The Death of Fox Talbot” - This is an image (whole plate Alumitype) of a dead fox. It was about 150 meters from"The Death of Fox Talbot" - 100 meters from Archer's grave. Archer’s grave. The poor thing probably laid down on the tomb to either get warm or cool off and died (who knows of what). It smelled terrible, of course, but I couldn’t help but make an image of it. Being orange/red in color and lying on a gray slab, Collodion translated dark. I think you get the idea though.  I thought the eye and teeth were stunning and spooky.

Thank you, thank you, thank you – to everyone that donated, helped, attended, etc. It was a great pleasure working with all of you.

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!

 

Glass Memories

It’s funny how time works. A few months ago, I was pouring plates and contemplating what images I wanted toRockin' the "Glass Memories" T-shirt. Limited edition! make for my exhibit. And I was taking days to think about my work, or about one image. I was moving slowly and pensively. Time was a plentiful commodity. Today, I’m scrambling about checking lists, looking in boxes, talking to myself and running around here like a chicken with its head cut off. Time has become a scare commodity and there’s no way for me to buy anymore – we leave Sunday for Paris.

The good news is: I’m almost there. The big stuff is finished (thank G-d). I just completed framing the two big silver prints from Barcelona. I need to put the dust covers and wires on them, but that’s it. I ended up with 70 framed pieces and almost 100 images in this show. Unbelievable!

I got a brand new 8x10 camera from Steve (Rochester, New York) a couple of weeks ago. Much better than the first one I had! Paris will be its maiden voyage. I’ll use it for the demos, the work on portrait days, etc., and the students in the workshops will use 4x5 cameras. We’re taking one 4x5 and the gallery has three. I should’ve set my workshops up like this a long time ago. It’s easier to operate, less stressful and better for people learning the process. There should be some very interesting images coming out of Paris next week.

And yes, that is a bad-ass t-shirt! Notice the design? I illustrated a Wet Plate Collodion camera from the 1860s, with a big Jamin-Darlot (cone) lens and put it on contemporary tripod. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

28" x 32" - 16"x20" Silver Gelatin print from Collodion Negative/Positive - Barcelona, Spain