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!

Boerdonk, The Netherlands

It's always nice to return to a place where you've been. We just spent three days in Boerdonk, The Netherlands. I went back to do another wet plate collodion workshop. We were there last October doing a workshop.

 

"Look right here, Ger"

We stayed at "The Miracle" hotel/bb. Ger and Jan Coppens own it and run it. It's not what you think - they don't advertise, or have regular hours - you almost have to be invited by someone they know - not that it's elite or exclusive, it's just that they run their business in a different way. Jeroen, the workshop coordinator set us up with Ger and Jan. The rooms are nice, the Dutch breakfast, made by Ger is tasty and the little dog, Lennon, is cute and loving. We sat around in the evening and drank Westmalle (Trappist) beer from the tap and told stories - it's too involved to go into here, but Ger told some very funny stories about people who had stayed in the hotel or came into the cafe to drink - "Dickemeat" and "Zombie" - my personal notes for future reference. 

Jan and Ger - Whole Plate Black Glass AmbrotypesWe did portraits of the Ger and Jan. They really liked the images and appreciated the process. I'm going to do a still life of a Westmalle bottle and glass and give to them for their bar/cafe. "Ger" - Whole Plate Balck Glass Ambrotype

Jeroen and his parents had us over for dinner Saturday night at their house. They have a beautiful home and are wonderful people. They fixed Dutch mussels and Portuguese chicken. We drank three bottles of wine and talked about life, art and politics. Another wonderful time.

I had six great people in the workshop. As always, they did a terrific job. I've posted some photographs here they already emailed me - Sanne (from Belgium) and Willie Jan. I'll post more (from the workshop) when I get them.

It's a little bit frustrating trying to write about these experiences. I don't know how they translate, but I know it doesn't even come close to the experience.  

Drizzle that Collodion Home Dog!
Workshop Students (and me) - Veghel, The Netherlands (Pieter Brughel Art School) 

Wet Plate Collodion in Brussels, Belgium

I did a demonstration/performance (that's what I call them) for a group of photo artists, collectors and friends in Brussels, Belgium Saturday. My friend, Carl Fransman (lives in Brussels and organizes all things photo related), sent me some great photos from yesterday's shoot/demo/performance - thanks Carl! All photos by Carl Fransman.

Quinn explains the "tastiness" of ripe Collodion. 
Bright eyed and bushy tailed - that's Quinn in his darkbox.

The preparations begin in the darkbox.
Cleaning the plate.
Pouring, or flowing the plate, with the aforementioned "tasty" Collodion.
Quinn acting like a magician, trying to keep the "tastiness" on the glass.
Draining the tastiness. The gentleman behind me has one of the most exquisite 19th century camera/photo collections in Europe - he owns two, yes, two Dubronis. We've been invited to his home for dinner and to see his collection! 
The first plate - 8x10 Black Glass Ambrotype (not fixed yet) - a group of photo artist/collectors from Brussels. 
The second plate - a Whole Plate Alumitype - varnishing the plate. 
The portrait of the Belgian Artists (and Quinn) is varnished! 
The Belgian Artists (and Quinn)! Near the Grand Sablon, Brussels - February 7, 2009 

An Ambrotype Plugin for Photoshop

First of all, Happy New Year (2009)! I hope all of your dreams, goals and aspirations come to pass. Most of all, I wish you peace. It feels like we're going to need a lot of it in 2009.

Collodion and the Making of Wet-Plate Negatives I've been reading Geoffrey Batchen's book, "Each Wild Idea". I was very moved by the idea of protophotographers and the theories he proposes about the invention of photography and the identity of photography. This got me thinking (again) about wet plate and how we see it today, its past and even its future. What it all means, and why we're even interested in it. It's an ongoing thing with me, I'm still trying to get my head around it and formulate some thoughts about it - forgive me if this is redundant.

I have about ten books (technical) about the Wet Plate Collodion process. The majority of them are from the 19th century. I have one from the Eastman Kodak Company, published in 1935 called, "Collodion and the Making of Wet-Plate Negatives". It's really good, loaded with great information. I've found bits and pieces about the process here and there in various other 20th century books, like "Light and Film". That's where I found Joel Snyder a couple of years ago and his wet-plate revival work that no one has ever talked about. He responded to my email and said this:
 
Dear Quinn,

Thanks for your note.

I produced a permanent exhibition for the Department of the History of Photography of the Smithsonian Institution in 1967. I was in my mid-20s. The exhibit contained 16 examples of important photographic processes, including three forms of wet collodion. In 1976, Doug Munson and I co-founded the Chicago Albumen Works. CAW is now doing all sorts of work preserving, archiving, and replicating negatives for major institutions in the US and Europe. It has been printing in albumen, salt paper, platinum, and POP since 1976. CAW has had printing commissions from MoMA (we printed about 300 Atget negatives on albumen paper for its 4 Atget exhibits 1979-1983), the Met (NYC), etc.

I've been a historian of art at the University of Chicago since 1977. I've no idea why others have received the credit for being first to use use the collodion process in recent times, but it isn't something that concerns me. Doug and I taught ourselves to work with collodion. I was very lucky to meet John Ryan, a retired photoengraver (for R.R. Donnelley, a major printer in the US) who had used collodion for plate-making until the late 1950s. He gave me bottles of Eastman Kodak collodion and Eastman chemicals for making "hard-working" (straight iodides) and "soft working" (iodides, chlorides and bromides) collodion. Most people don't know that Eastman produced collodion for the photomechanical trade. Ryan gave me a few useful tricks for aging collodion rapidly, and for varying the acidity of silver baths in order to get variations in the properties of the sensitized collodion. I still have the bottles, tightly sealed and unused.

Best,
Joel Snyder, Professor
Department of Art History
University of Chicago

Joel Snyder's project in the book, "Light and Film".

Which brings me to my point; A long time ago, I realized that everything that we know about the wet plate collodion process today, we know because of the 19th and 20th century literature. Even the guys working in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, used that literature. I haven't found one thing, not a thing, that I can't show you in the old manuals that's being used today - recipes, techniques, vocabulary, methodologies, etc. There's absolutely nothing new! Every one of us teaching wet plate today, is simply regurgitating what all of the photographers in the 19th century knew. We're not inventing anything new, nor are we offering anything that can't be found, for free, in the old manuals.

 "Flowing the plate with Collodion"Before you send me emails telling me I'm wrong, I know that they didn't have hair dyers, Rapid Fix, and suction cups back (or did they?) then, so I want to be clear; I mean there's nothing new in the core of the process. Yes, we have some new fancy gadgets to make things a little bit easier today, but there's nothing fundamentally different in the process at all.

That's a very cool thing to think about. Something so good, and so desirable, and yet we can't improve on it after 158 years! We can't make it obsolete! Even my computer is replaced after a couple of years! I know what you're thinking, you're saying, "C'mon Quinn, dry plates, film and now digital have all replaced the wet plate process, so your theory is bunk!" I suppose you could say that. However, I'm talking about the drive to get the same "look and feel" - the same aesthetic, and maybe even the same experience (actually going through the process). It doesn't seem to have become outdated or undesirable. Or am I just looking at this from a tiny, delusional worldview? I suppose I could be writing about Atari Pong, or some other small, obscure niche group, couldn't I? After all, that's what this is.

With today's technology, why can't we, or why won't we, replicate the aesthetic of wet plate? There's a demand for it, no doubt about that. But is there enough demand to profit from it? There are all kinds of filters and effects in Adobe Photoshop - watercolor, canvas, crosshatch (my favorite), dry brush, film grain, fresco, neon glow, plastic wrap, and a lot more - why not one for wet plate? If there was an Ambrotype Plugin for Adobe Photoshop, would you stop using the process? Or are you after something more, something beyond Photoshop?

 

Videos, Graphics and My Hopes for The New Year

The videos series has been in the making for about three year (since 2005). With help from Summer and Jeanne, I've made major progress on my Collodion Workshop videos. I appreciate the email I get (almost daily) regarding the video classes. It motivates me to get them done. It's a huge undertaking and I'm glad there are people interested in them.

Over the last few months, I’ve kind of reinvented myself. I designed a new(er) logo and launched a new web site. I believe everything is in flux, always changing, and that’s how I tend to live. I’m always in need of something new, it keeps me going. Having said, that, I’ve posted a couple of ideas for my new logos. I really like these. The circle has always got me going - representing infinity, eternity, etc. And the simple black and white “Q” rocks. It’s clean, it’s easy on the eye and is completely me. Actually, the text around the logo is what’s new. I like this because it reminds me of a stamp. It’s tidy and circular. I would love to have a metal (embossing) stamp made of this - like a notary stamp. It would be cool to emboss photographs - paper ones, not glass plates.

Also, this "collodion video venture" forced me into buying another domain. It's a long technical story about servers. It's about IIS versus Linux and ASP versus PHP. The membership software needed to live on a Linux box, my studioQ.com domain lives on a Windows box. I ended up buying studioQ.info - I like it, it's very appropriate for what it will be used for. It was Jeanne's idea to go with .info - thanks Sweetie! Great idea!

Well, I'm glad the consumption holiday is over. Now all we have to do is to get through the gluttony holiday. Here in Germany, they light fireworks, and I mean HUGE, NOISY ones. I can't stand it. They have some strange rituals at midnight on New Year's as well too. The first year we were here, it freaked us out.

I hope everyone has great plans for the new year. 2009 is going to be one of personal work and introspection for me. Of course we'll do some traveling too. Right now, we're planning to spend some time in  Brussels, Belgium the first week of February and The Netherlands the last week of February. In April, we'll be back in Vienna, Austria and possibly Budapest, Hungary.

New Year's resolutions? No, I don't have any New Year's resolutions. The only one I might have is to not make any resolutions. However, here's what I hope for the new year:

1. Live my life to the fullest and to be present as much as possible.

2. Don't be a participant or a bystander in the evil in the world.

3. Take chances and don't be afraid to fail.

4. Be grateful for everything.

5. Make a difference in other people's lives.

6. Put other people before myself (as much as possible). 

Those are my hopes for the new year. Why six? Because my number is six.

 

These Collodion Videos Are Kicking My Ass

They really are. This is why I know I could never make movies. This is much, much bigger than I anticipated. One thing after another is going wrong. I think I get prepared and something I didn't think of happens. Today, it was the batteries dying in the wireless microphone system.

I shot all of the intros to every chemical yesterday, two hours of tape, and the battery was dead in the receiver in 90% of it! I didn't know until today when I went to capture the tape. I almost had a breakdown! And today, the battery died in the transmitter halfway through the video on making varnish! I can't get anything finished! Why is all of this happening? It's like bad joojoo is living in this project. It upsets me and makes me sad all at the same time.

It's too bad that I don't have access to a college or university. I could recruit three or four interns that would love to work on this project with me. It's a shame that no one here is interested. I could use the help!

Anyway, I'll do my best to move forward with this project and make it happen. However, I don't see it being completed at the first of the year (as I had originally intended). With any luck, I'll open the web site, send off the master DVD and the book for publication sometime in January. And hopefully, I'll look back on all of this and laugh.

I'm off to go buy some batteries!

Let The Video Podcasting Begin!

"I can't be everywhere, all the time! Or, can I?"

I'm going to immerse myself into online education. Not as a student, but as a teacher. I have this (brilliant?) idea to teach Wet Plate Collodion via video podcasts. And it's not only to educate, but to also build community.

I've fallen big-time for audio podcasts over the last few years. I have a whole heap of them that I listen to almost daily. Ira Glass, "This American Life", Joe Frank's radio show, Bill Moyers, Bill Maher's HBO piece, NPR bits and pieces, etc. I'm amazed at the amount of information we take in. Sometimes, I think my head is going to explode. There's never a dull moment in the 21st century, is there? Remind me to tell you about the Ira Glass story about building a better mouse trap - OMG! You'll freak!! I digress.

My theory is that if we use this technology the right way, everyone wins. Not to get off into politics, but look at the presidential election. It was all about Barack's presence online and especially the email campaigns his staff organized and executed. I for one, am very happy they could reach so many and that so many responded, as I said in a previous post, we have a chance! I digress, again.

I'm home for a while now and will be finishing up my new book and completing the video workshop series on Wet Plate Collodion. I'm being quite anal about the text and information in these publications. I'm trying real hard to listen to what people want to learn and write about it in an articulate, "easy" way. The last book (2006) was "sky-blue" stuff... nothing to go off of but instinct and my own experience, it was just the basics. This time, I have a lot to say about the history of the process as it applies to my work and, moreover, all kinds of new, modern gadgets and tricks to use in the process to make it easier. I'm psyched about it.

On January 1, 2009 (or a few days before), I'm going to allow access to a large amount of video data on the Wet Plate Collodion process. This will be the very first complete workshop online. It will be a series of "on demand" videos broken down into chapters. Subscribers will be able to view them anytime they login, jump to any part and watch them as much as they want. It's going to be uber cool!

It's about time, really. I get at least 4 -5 emails a week, sometimes more, asking about resources to learn the process. I hope to accomplish several things by doing this. One of the big ones is to quickly and easily point people to a high-quality, cost effective way to learn the process. This will be so sweet.

There are a few places in the United States where you can learn the process, but more and more, people are using the web to gather information and communicate about it. There are a lot of people that learn it on their own now. This is in large part due to the massive amount of information online now. My Wet Plate Collodion forum board has over 500 members and almost 15,000 posts. It's posted to daily. My point is that it's about time I do this. I know that it will be successful and fulfill a huge need out there. Not to mention, it will be fun as hell to do.

So, if you are interested in learning the Wet Plate Collodion photographic process and have $99 bucks, on January 1, 2009 go to The Contemporary Wet Plate Collodion School and signup! Within a couple of minutes you'll be watching videos and learning the process! See you in class!

A Week In Glasgow & Edinburgh, Scotland

The Jacobsons in Edinburgh! After spending a few days in Glasgow and Edinburgh, it makes me long to live a creative, free life. Not bound by conventional standards that include the "9 to 5 grind" and all of the meaningless motions that we go through everyday for money. It's not that Glasgow or Edinburgh brought this out in me, they just made me very present to the fact that there is life beyond the monotony most people live, day in and day out.

Glasgow is a beautiful city. It's our second time here. However, it was our first visit to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. There is a big difference between the two cities. Edinburgh draws a lot more tourists. Glasgow, not so much. While Edinburgh is worth a visit, we prefer Glasgow. We are not, and I repeat, not, fans of doing the "touristy" things. They are actually embarrassing to me. I know that sounds elitist, but that's how I feel. They are gross money traps that have very little or no cultural or human value. We avoid them like the plague. However, we found ourselves walking the "Royal Mile" yesterday, all the way to the castle. Every other store was full of plaid and kilts. Cheap, touristy plaid and kilts. It was gross. It reminded me people getting suckered into a "shell game" in a big city, only worse, they don't even have the illusion of winning anything, just dumping their quid.

The castle in Edinburgh Our visit was three-fold. First, we wanted a family holiday (vacation). It had been a while since we had a day or two to hang out and explore.

Secondly, we visited the "uni" or university with Summer. She wants to try to go to University of Glasgow. It's a beautiful campus/school. It's 550 years-old! It's amazing to walk on the campus and see all of the old buildings and grounds. Amazing. We were able to meet with an advisor and ask questions and get information about it. It went very well. The people in the UK, and all over Europe for that matter, are very lucky, they pay very little for higher education, if anything at all. We are looking at £9,400 per year, do the math.

And last, but not least, I was invited as a guest speaker/demonstrator by our friend, and fellow wet plate aficionado, Carl Radford. Carl is a great bloke! He and his wife, Liz (see earlier blog, May 2008) hosted the event. Carl invited several wet plate artists from all over the UK to attend this two-day get together. There were eight of us, talking, pouring plates, drinking tea and simply enjoying one another's company.  Jeanne, Summer and I were able to meet some great people on this trip. John Brewer from Manchester, Jo Gain from Coventry (or near there), Katie from Edinburgh, Claire from Wales, Chavonne (sp?) and Craig from Edinburgh or Glasgow, I can't remember.

The book store To say we got a lot out of this trip is an understatement. It was both productive and very, very enjoyable. The wet plate Collodion gathering was terrific. We also enjoyed the galleries and bookstores both in Glasgow and Edinburgh. We went to the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) with John and Jo in Glasgow. We met at a little place called, "The Social" and had an espresso. We just missed a Jo Spence show at the GOMA and wanted to see some photography. We ended up wandering into a place called, "Street Level Photography". They had a nice show of emerging artists/photographers there. There was some literature on the table and I found a card for a camera shop nearby. After the gallery, we walked to the camera store and started asking about old lenses. The owners said, "give us an hour and come back, we have some in the basement". So we went next door for some soup and a sandwich (and more espresso of course). An hour later, we went back and both John and Jo scored some nice wet plate lenses for a great deal. It was really cool.

Carl told us about a bookstore in Edinburgh called, "Beyond Words", nothing but photography books. It's small, but very much worth a visit. I saw some classic books as well as some new and interesting ones. I was thinking, "Mine should be in here... a taste of the wet plate world!" There was a little Phaidon book about Joel-Peter Witkin I almost picked up, but didn't. I will probably regret it.

Summer enjoying "Trainspotting" Summer picked up Irvine Welsh's book, "Trainspotting" (yes, like the movie - brilliant). She's almost finished it. A lot of it is in Scottish too! Here's an example, "Way tae fuck ya radge, ah say, shakin ma heid." Very difficult to read, huh?! And, yes, every other word in Scottish is the f-bomb. It's an adjective/modifier here.

I can't express how wonderful it is to walk into a bookstore and see all of the books in English, a language I'm (semi) fluent in! Brilliant!! We spent a lot of time doing things that we miss or don't have access to in Germany. Most people would think we're crazy, but we enjoy it.

This is our last trip for a wee bit.

Welcome To Wien (Vienna), Austria

Rolls Royce in Wien!We arrived in Wien last night. It was a longer drive than expected due to a 2 hour Stau in Germany. However, we survived.

We have a nice apartment right off of Simmeringer Hauptstasse. The S-Bahn and U-Bahn are close and we explored downtown Vienna a little bit tonight. I saw where Hilter was rejected from (Academy of Art) and made me wonder how the world may have been different had they let him in here - great novel/screenplay waiting to be written. 

The workshop went very well today. One more day (tomorrow) and we'll wrap it up. The participants are motivated and off to a grand start! There are four students; Fritz, Reinhard, Stefan and Zoltan. Three are Austrian and Zoltan is from Budapest, Hungary.

Hypo versus KCN!

Remember, here in Vienna, I'm less than an hour from Bratislava, Slovokia and about 2 hours from Budapest, Hungary. I would like to take a week off and just go!

These are images from the workshop today. Showing the difference between sodium thiosulfate fix and potassium cyanide fix - amazing!

 

A sampling of the workshop plates.
 

 

Reinhard Reidinger