Glasgow, Scotland

On Friday (May 2) we hopped on a flight (Ryan Air) to Glasgow, Scotland (UK). It was about an hour and forty minute flight. Too easy.

I meet a lot of people through my wet plate photography interests and this is how we ended up in Scotland. Carl Radford and his wife, Liz, (and their dog Lewis) welcomed us, put us up in their beautiful home, fed us, walked us around Glasgow and even picked us up and dropped us off at the airport! How kind is that?

We had never met Carl until last weekend. He is hosting a wet plate Collodion workshop that a Californian bloke named Kerik Kouklis is flying over to teach. Kerik and Carl have been friends for a couple of years.

It was great fun to be involved in the revival of wet plate Collodion in Scotland after 150 years of it being gone. Carl and I made the first plates in Scotland since (probably) the 19th century. It was a blast.

After the wet plate Collodion events, we wandered the streets of Glasgow and went to a great Japanese restaurant (oddly enough) called Wagamama. It was really good. It seems to be very popular in the U.K. The Radfords also cooked us haggis and traditional Scottish meals. Scottish food is outstanding, very, very good. And yes, haggis tastes excellent.Enjoy the photos (click to make them larger) and video (below)!

Bagpipes, bagpises and more bagpipes.

A wee bit more - this guy was actually pretty good.
Carl wanders Glasgow.

Carl, Liz, Jeanne, Summer and Quinn in the Glasgow subway.
Downtown Glasgow, Scotland.

"Hey, there we are!" (3D Map of downtown Glasgow)

Scottish pounds. 1 pound = $2.05 (at this time) - OUCH!

These guys were good, too.
University of Glasgow




 




 



Kristallnacht Lecture: Mannheim High School

On Monday, April 28, I was invited (by Summer's teacher) to be a guest speaker in two honor history classes. Summer had told her about my project. I was happy to oblige. If you know me, you know that I rarely turn down an opportunity to have people listen to what I say and look at what I make. Needless to say, I accepted.

The classes, one with about 10 students and the other with about 18, just started reading Elie Wiesel’s, “Night”.  This is a powerful and disturbing account of the Wiesel family’s torture and suffering in the concentration camps of Germany and Poland. Although my project is directly related to the Holocaust, it’s (Kristallnacht) more obscure and less known.

I started by asking definition of words like “anti-Semitism” and “pogrom”. I talked about what I believe caused the world to turn against the Jews and to allow the near annihilation of them. For me, it was important to stress that living in Germany and understanding this history changed how I viewed the world. How living here made an abstract idea, a real life “concrete” event for me.

I quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." I talked about "indifference" and silence - or turning your head when bad things are happening to other people. I referenced this poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller too.

------------------
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
-------------------

I showed a 6 minute presentation I put together of my work so far and then took questions. It was very rewarding and I look forward to doing it again.

 

We Love You Lucky! 1990 - 2008

We love you and you will be missed!!!

Lucky Jacobson entered Heaven on April 9, 2008 at about 1830 in Viernheim, Germany. He would have been 18 years-old this August 10! He was in kidney failure due to his age. He had a wonderful life and we were there for him to the end. This photograph was taken on one of his many trips around Europe. This was in Lucca, Italy on a beautiful September morning of 2007.

Our sweet little Lucky dog. The best dog ever!

"Ich bin ein Berliner?"

My first impressions of Berlin were, "Ummm, this is Berlin?" In other words, I wasn't that impressed. It's a large city, some 3 - 4 million people. It's spread out and takes forever to get anywhere (by foot). The U-Bahn is good, but again, somewhat inconvenient. However, I think the biggest let down was the "industrial" feel of the place. I'm not going to kvetch about the entire trip or city, because there are some very good things in Berlin to experience.

 Suckin' the espresso!
The Jewish Museum Berlin: This is an amazing place. Moreover, we got to see an exhibit called, "Typisch - Klichees von Juden und Anderen" ("Stereotypes - Cliches of Jews and Others"). The show consists of common stereotypes about groups of people as well as out right racial and ethnicity issues. It's frightening when I think about all of the subtle racial and ethnic beliefs we all have. There were a couple of very moving/interesting pieces in the show. The first was "49 Jewish Noses" from Dennis Kardon. It was interesting to find the "nose" of Nan Goldin in this piece. She's a photographer that I like (and met once). When I met her, I was challenging her on her view, and what she had said about the work of Donna Ferrato. She said I was "belligerent". I thought that it was uncalled for at the time, but I my passion sometimes translates as aggression. Another piece that stood out was called, "You Don't Have To Be Jewish To Love Levy's Real Jewish Rye" by Howard Zieff. I bought the catalog/book.

"49 Jewish Noses" 

Anne Sprinkle, Tit Print

 
"A Bookend"


"You Don't Have to be Jewish..."

The museum is huge. You could spend days in it and not see everything. I had flashbacks of the Louvre when we were walking through it. It starts at the beginning of the Jewish history and works its way through the Holocaust. Daniel Liebeskind did an amazing job with the architecture. If you look at an aerial of the building is looks like a broken star of David.

Jeanne and Quinn The Memorial we were iin.
  
This is the memorial we were in (above photo)
those are olive trees growing on the tops of the
pillars - the ground is uneven and disorienting.

One place that was especially moving is called "The Holocaust Tower". Jean and I were the only ones in it for a few minutes. It's very dark and very cold. There is one bit of light at the top (way up there) and you can hear the outside world. It was eerie. When we tried to leave, I couldn't open the door (I was pulling and should have been pushing) it freaked me out!  There was a large room with metal "faces" called "Fallen Leaves" this too was very moving and eerie - I've uploaded a video here.

Inside the Holocaust Tower
When we were finished at the museum, we headed over to "Checkpoint Charlie" and "The Wall". It was a great day, and like all of our adventures here, will be indelibly burned into our memories!

Checkpoint Charlie: East Germany met West Germany

West Berlin - US Soldier photo.

 
"The 'real' still standing wall that separated
the East from the West - mind blowing history"

  
East Berlin - Soviet Soldier photo.

  
"Quinn and Jean in front of a piece of the Wall"

Wet Plate Collodion Photography: Kristallnacht

I feel comfortable enough now to start telling people about what I'm doing here - in a more public way. It's a difficult position to be when you want to keep the idea to yourself until you know (or at least think you know) you can pull it off and getting attention and support for it. Ultimately, I'm going to have to get a lot of attention on this project for it to be able to do what I want.

Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence that the German people will respond well to this project. It's an unhealed land and people in a lot of ways. Forgiveness and the acceptance of forgiveness isn't evident to me - this is still a very taboo topic here.

Wet Plate Collodion Photography: Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht: The Beginning


I really love this image (it will probably end up on the front of my new web site) - this was the first plate of the day. It's an 8" x 10" black glass Ambrotype shot with a small Jamin-Darlot (c.1864) lens - I like the "keyhole" effect this lens gives the image.

We visited Mainz, Germany today. It's about 45 minutes to the north of us. I made three wet plate collodion images there of the former synagogue. It was perfect weather and a perfect day for it.

The Germans were very friendly in Mainz. We had a paper ready to handout to them explaining what I was doing. There were a few very positive and encouraging responses; I was surprised. There were a few that stayed and watched as I went through the entire process and saw the final plate coming up in the fix. Really great stuff!

I am very excited about this project now; the results were fantastic today and I look forward to going out again in a few days to make more images. Jean and Summer were outstanding! I love you both! Thank you for all of your help - I couldn't do this crazy thing without you!


The memorial plaque - this plate is exquisite in real life. The details are amazing - especially the stones
and the relief of the old synagogue. This is an 8" x 10" Ambrotype on black glass.

 
Quinn exposes a plate as Summer rolls video.


Here's the setup: Toyota 4Runner and a portable darkroom!

Making & Printing A Wet Plate Collodion Negative

I'm always thinking about how to improve my craft. I've found that teaching about what I do helps me learn a lot about what I do.

Here's a video that Summer shot for me today as I demonstrated how to make a wet plate collodion negative and then P.O.P print. I know people will write me and say, "Why didn't you show the details in how you did this or that..." and I'll respond, "You'll get all of the details when I release my revised book and DVD set in July" - these are only demo videos... I'm just testing the waters and getting feedback.

Anyway, here's the video:

When The Concept Is Bigger Than The Craft

It seems that I've been waiting forever for my portable dark box to arrive (here in Germany). It was shipped on February 5, 2008 from Rochester, New York. You wouldn't think it would take a month, but then again one of the biggest and most annoying things about living here is the APO system and the expense of commercial post (like FedEx and DHL). It's outrageous on both ends.

 

Quinn's darkbox

In hindsight, it's actually been a very good thing. I've been able to gather my thoughts about my approach to working through my Kristallnacht project. At first, I thought I would approach it a stand alone, no interference, straight forward (almost documentary) project.  I simply wanted to photograph the locations I have pre-selected and making 8x10 Black Glass Ambrotypes (wet plate collodion images). That’s not going to happen and, moreover, I don’t want it to happen. You see, I realize that the concept of this project is bigger than the craft of this project. It other words, the idea is much stronger than the images I would or could make of former synagogue sites. It’s a strange problem to have. It’s usually the other way around for an artist; it’s all craft and no concept. Hit a random “fine art photo” site and you’ll see what I mean.

The Mainz Synagogue


Here's my solution: I'm goign to include my portraiture work, landscape work and object work all under the umbrella of the Kristallnacht project. I’ve decided that even though these objects, people or landscape scenes, weren’t (necessarily) here, they all share a common link to either the victims or the perpetrators both in idea and the physical world. And, after all, my message is about the questions surrounding Kristallnacht and ultimately, the Holocaust.

Arsenic & Old Lace

Last night was the first performance of Arsenic & Old Lace and Summer was outstanding in it! She made the play. She plays Abby Brewster.

Tonight, she'll do another performance and hopefully I will get some video tape, if I do, I'll post it!

Summer in Arsenic & Old Lace
Summer as Abby Brewster doing charity work for Brooklyn.

 
The three main characters at the end of the show.