The Diversity in My New Book

In the Shadow of Sun Mountain: The Psychology of Othering and the Origins of Evil (expected to be published sometime in 2024)

You’re going to start seeing some "comps" posted here every once in a while. These are ideas that I have for my book. As I look through the images, some of the pairings absolutely astound me; they are more beautiful and aesthetically pleasing than I could have imagined.

I’m still undecided about how the final layout will look, but I wanted to play with mixing them up—POP with RA-4 color—living with them and running some ideas through my head. I think it looks stunning. I’ve never seen POP prints paired with Color Reversal Direct prints. Gorgeous! 

Right now, it’s a 10” x 10” (25,4 x 25,4 cm) hardcover, full-color book. I expect it to be about 250 pages with over 100 images: RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Prints, Palladiotypes, Platinum-Palladium, Kallitypes (both K1 and K2 variants), Cyanotypes, Calotypes (Paper Negatives), Photogenic Drawings, and much more. The POP prints are from both wet and dry collodion as well as direct contact printing from plant material (photogenic drawings), like Salt prints.

“What do we mean by the lived truth of creation? We have to mean the world as it appears to men in a condition of relative unrepression; that is, as it would appear to creatures who assessed their true puniness in the face of the overwhelmingness and majesty of the universe, of the unspeakable miracle of even the single created object; as it probably appeared to the earliest men on the planet and to those extrasensitive types who have filled the roles of shaman, prophet, saint, poet, and artist. What is unique about their perception of reality is that it is alive to the panic inherent in creation.”

— Ernest Becker

“The Great Mullein” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative and a 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print

“Antlers Are Bone: Profile,” 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print, and “Mountain Stone Water Dish,” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative.

“Three Aspens” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative and “Ponderosa Pine and Five White Daisies” 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print

“Antlers Are Bone” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative and a 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print

“Dead Ponderosa and Granite Rock Face” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative and “Dead Daisies in a Glass Graduate," 10” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print

“Red Rock Formation-Fremont County, Colorado,” a 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print and “The Great Aspen Man” Whole Plate Palladiotype from a Calotype (paper negative) Greenlaw’s process.

“Turkey Feathers and Antlers,” a 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print and “Medicine Wheel," a Whole Plate Palladiotype from a wet collodion negative.

“The Great Mullein,” a 10”” x 10” RA-4 Reversal Direct Color Print and “Meadow Barley",” Whole Plate Photogenic Drawing from the plant itself (direct contact print).

A stack of prints—almost 200 prints—color, pop, calotypes (paper negatives), photogenic drawings, etc. And I still have about 3 months of image making left this year!

Chapter By Chapter-Chapter 3 Death Anxiety

Chapter 3: Death Anxiety—This chapter is based on Ernest Becker’s book, "The Denial of Death." The book is quite dense and academically written, but it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. It literally changed my life.

It’s my burden to unpack the ideas that Becker puts forth and present them to the reader in a way that makes sense and is applicable to their lives. I’ll also show the direct connection between the photographic work and the psychology behind these theories.

I’m writing and organizing, and then rewriting and reorganizing. There are two chapters detailing how these theories work and the underlying psychology. They are: death anxiety and terror management theory.

What is death anxiety? In a few words, it's the desire to stay alive that is in direct conflict, psychologically speaking, with the reality and knowledge that we will die. This causes a sort of cognitive dissonance; it creates unbearable anxiety, terror, and dread. We do everything we can to deny and avoid thinking about our death.

The human animal isn’t terrified of dying—not of the actual moment of death—but of being impermanent (mortal) and dying without significance. Impermanence and insignificance are what create existential terror. That’s what’s unbearable. And this comes from consciousness—the knowledge that we're here. Soren Kierkegaard (1833–1855), a 19th-century Danish philosopher, said that humans can "render themselves the object of their own subjective inquiry." Think about that! That's our big forebrain in action. And psychoanalyst Otto Rank said humans have the capacity "to make the unreal real." This intelligence is a big part of the problem we face. Some think that consciousness is an evolutionary mistake and that we, like all other animals, shouldn’t be aware of our impending deaths.

However, we’ve evolved to cope with this burden by suppressing that death awareness knowledge through self-esteem and using culture. We create “immortality projects.” According to Becker, fear—or denial—of death is a fundamental motivator behind why we do what we do.

Becker said that the real world is simply too terrible to admit. If we didn't have ways of buffering the fear, anxiety, and helplessness over our death and meaninglessness, it would paralyze us and keep us from getting out of bed in the morning. So there is a need to repress it. We use what Becker and all anthropologists call "culture" or "cultural worldview." This "cultural worldview" is a shared reality that we all believe in or subscribe to—a value and belief system that comes from our culture. We find self-esteem through this cultural worldview.

For example, our culture tells us that having a job and getting promotions is a good thing, as is earning more money, driving a certain type of car, or dressing a certain way. If we do these things, our self-esteem is strengthened, and we have a defense or coping mechanism to repress the anxiety that comes from knowing we are going to die. These buffers can be good or bad. That’s why it’s important to be conscious of these ideas and the psychology behind them. Like Freud said, "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate." We can get ourselves out of it by being explicitly aware that we’re in it. Albert Camus said, “…come to terms with death; thereafter, anything is possible." This is the crux of why I'm writing this book and doing this work.

Culture, or cultural worldviews, are defense mechanisms against the knowledge that we will die. Becker argues that humans live in both a physical world of objects and a symbolic world of meaning. The symbolic part of human life engages in what Becker calls an "immortality project." People try to create or become part of something they believe will last forever—art, music, literature, religion, nation-states, social and political movements, etc. Such connections, they believe, give their lives meaning.

Kierkegaard talked about this dread-evoking mystery. He believed that anxiety comes from our knowledge of finitude and meaninglessness. Becker concurs with this point and expounds on it. Kierkegaard said that humans focus their attention on small tasks and diversions that have the illusion of significance—activities that keep people going. If they dwell on the situation too long, they'll bog down and be at risk of releasing their neurotic fear that they are impotent in the world.

That’s a small portion that I’m working on now. You’ll see, in the end, how this all connects to every war, every act of genocide, and every act of evil in the world. Why it happened and why it continues to happen—again, this is the energy of the book, to help people become conscious of this predicament.

Square Magazine

Square Magazine published some of my work. It looks good!

My Book For Next Year

If I do okay at the show in Paris, this book will follow around this time next year. I think I will do an edition of 10 books  - we’ll see.

This is scaled down (of course) the real book will be 12” x 12”, 116 pages, on very nice paper, hardcover with a image-wrap – I’m psyched about this!

"Vergangenheitsbewältigung"

World Wet Plate Collodion Day Book 2009

I'm happy to announce that the Wet Plate Collodion Day Book 2009 is ready to for prime time! You can order a copy, or two from Blurb:

The Wet Plate Collodion Day Book 2009

Please keep in mind that the preview of the book sucks (quality). That's the only reason I didn't release it sooner. Caron got her copy in the US and sent me some snaps - it looks great in print, so forget about the preview.

Please spread the word about the book. And ORDER one or two copies! This is a great project to support. We need to sell 250 – 300 copies!

Thanks to every one that participated! Great job! We did it!!

8”x10”, full color, perfect bound, 92 pages, 82 images, 51 artists/photographers – great work!

Photos by Caron Gonthier (thanks!)

The Cover shot!

Inside sample.

Inside sample.

Inside sample.

And the back of the book!

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.

Happy Wet Plate Day - I Hope Your Hands Are Black!

It's a beautiful day today and we made the most of it. Today is Worldwide Wet Plate Collodion Day 2009! We're honored and pleased to be a part of it.

Summer and I made plates most of the day and was lucky enough to have a couple of sitters for some portraits. We had a lot of fun. Summer knocked it out of the park with her Converse shot. She'll have to tell you what it's about - consumerism and being a teenager, I think.

As a group (Collodionistas), we decided to set a day aside to honor the man who invented the process - Frederick Scott Archer. We also want to honor the process itself - however ones sees fit to do that (usually by making some photographs). Unfortunately, today is Archer's death date. He died 157 years ago! We don't know his birth date, if we find out, we may change the date we do this on.

It's easy to forget what role photography has played in our lives and in history. Frederick Scott Archer played a significant part in making photography what it is today. We tend to take it for granted - pour a few plates and that might make you think twice - that's not a bad thing, either (ether).

If we really wanted to honor Archer, we would all be making 8x10 negatives and printing Albumen - maybe next year!

Here's some of what we did today:

"Jürgen, der Klempner" - Whole Plate Alumitype - by Quinn 
 

"Schweinehaxen" - Whole Plate Alumitype - by Quinn 
 

"Schweinehaxen" - burnished & cropped - Whole Plate Black Glass Ambrotype - by Quinn (I love the texture of the glass showing through)  
 

"Converse From Berlin" - 5x4 Alumitype - by Summer 
 

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!

Creative Image Maker Magazine (CiM)

Glass Plate Photography Edition I received an email today from David Vickers at CiM (Creative Image Maker Magazine) that the Glass Plate Photography edition was finished. I wrote a piece for it called, "Coming Alive Through An Old Process." And I submitted 12 images with the text, too.

It was surprising to see to that they gave me 10 pages and published all 12 images! The piece looks good. I hope to work with them on a regular basis regarding Wet Plate Collodion photography.

You can download the PDF for free, or purchase a printed copy (~$15 USD) the proceeds go to charity - a good cause. 

Go take a look - Glass Plate Photography - CiM

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.