Inch By Inch...

You’ve heard the saying, “Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life's hard”? That’s how you have to approach what we’ve done here. No HUGE steps or biting off more than you can chew (so many analogies, huh?). Slow and steady. Everything from saving money to planning and planning again. We’ve done really well with maintaining our sanity (for the most part) and making all of this happen. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. In other words, we’re almost finished. And that’s a good thing!

Starting to setup shop! I’m not sure these are the final places for everything - I still need to build tables and stands, but I’m getting an idea at least.

We like to sit out on our deck in the evenings and watch the sun set. And yes, our deck is finished!

Have a Listen To Andrew's Podcast About Photography

LISTEN TO IT HERE

Wow, am I excited to present episode 49.  It was an absolute honour to work with the master of wet collodion, Quinn Jacobson.  If you search for wet collodion online you basically see Quinn’s book and his videos, articles, etc.  Not many people have published and helped us the public learn about this historic process.

We interview Quinn and discuss so many things, so yes it’s a long one (we talked for hours actually)!

But this podcast does contain discussions on:

• Combat photography

• Pixelography + rise of digital

• Machine learning

• Constraints are good

• Photography is not art

• Leaving your mark

• Art changes the world

• F.S. Archer, Daguerre + Talbot

• Importance of 1851

• Quinn’s tattoo

• Family time

• The spectrum of light + UV

• Tattoo removal with wet plate

• Tim Berner Lee revived wet collodion

• Choosing your genre

• Night of broken glass

• Failure is good

• iso/aperture/shutter speed need reasons

Quinn has literally just released his latest version of his book “chemical pictures” which helps you learn the technical aspect of wet collodion.  He is currently doing a special edition of 300 copies which has an extra chapter (listen to podcast for more).  At the time of the interview he had already sold over 200 so these are selling very fast and you will never see this limited work.

RANDOM QUESTIONS

Of course, a man of Quinn’s intellect soars through our random questions, so find the relevance of Kevin Costner and tooth fairies.

TIMINGS

0   – quinn’s background

7  – digital revoluiton

11  – off grid + future of photography

31  – mr archer

37  – entry to wet plate

42  – living in europe

45 – uv light/spectrum

58  – revival of wet collodion

61  – story + meaning of work

67  – mistakes + troubleshooting

72  – quinns new book

77  – random questions

89  – critique/feedback by quinn 

https://phlogger.co.uk/tooth-fairies-kevin-costner-massacres-with-quinn-jacobson/

Garage In a Box

Have you ever heard of a “Garage In a Box”? Neither had I. We are using the “real” garage (attached the house) as a bladesmith/blacksmith forge and shop/wood shop. It’s almost 700 square feet and felt it was a waste of space to park the truck in. So what was the solution? The Garage in a Box!

It’s 12’ x 20’ x 8’ (3,66 x 6,0 x 2,4 meters) or 240 square feet. Plenty big enough for our truck and eventually an ATV. These are very popular for rural places where you have a lot of land and maybe want to park your tractor or RVs out of the weather but don’t want to build another building.

We got the frame put together today. We’re excited to get the “skin” on it and finish it in the next few days.

We found an excellent, fairly level, spot for it. Not far from the house.

It faces east and west and will resist the weather north and south.

The house looks farther away than it really is - easy access from the road and going around the place. Everything is still easily accessible.

Making Progress.... It's September, 2021!

Greetings! I hope this note finds you healthy and happy.

We are making progress on the final steps of our building/homestead journey. We’re getting ready for Autumn! It’s a beautiful place here every season, but fall tends to show how gorgeous the change to winter can be.

We saw two baby bears (cubs) from our bedroom window the other night (at 02:18). We have a motion light on the north side of our house and two big windows. The light came on and woke us up. We looked out and 20 meters away, two cubs walking along headed to the meadow. We assumed Momma Bear was ahead of them. The light came on and one of them stopped and stared right toward us for five or ten seconds. It was surreal, and at two in the morning it took a while to get back to sleep.

We own a shipping container (see photo above) we used for our household goods storage - as well as the studio/darkroom and the forging equipment. We finally got that emptied and moved onto our property. Not only moved, but leveled as well. We’ve started filling it again with our “long-term” storage items. Such an important thing to have. It sounds crazy, but at 2,700 cubic sq feet of storage, it saves time and money (not renting a storage unit).

So, what’s next?
1) Complete the deck - estimated completion date: 1 week!
2) Finish moving items from the house and studio/darkroom into long-term storage (shipping container) - 3 or 4 days
3) Start the darkroom build-out. - 2-3 weeks!
4) Split more firewood ;-) Ongoing!

Setting up to build my darkroom and studio.

All of my photographic and darkroom equipment in is the building! I’m ready to build! P.S. That’s a big silver nitrate stain on the floor already - I’m not even setup and I’m staining the floor with AgNO3! Good sign, yes? It was a broken bottle and the UV here “printed it out” before I could clean it up!

Our deck is progressing!

Should be finished next week!

Can almost imagine sitting out here drinking coffee and watching the deer go by.

And finally… See how our garden grows!

First fruits of the greenhouse - we’ve eaten all of this now ;-) Super delicious!

A small crop for the winter.

Beef steak tomatoes

15 days into flowering..

See all of those little “white balls”? Those are trichomes. That’s the medicine.

Homestead Build Update August 23, 2021

Greetings! We hope you are healthy and happy! We are. It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. We’ve been busy, as usual. Trying to get ready for autumn and then winter.

The Deck
Our deck should be completed in the next week or two. We will be able to enjoy that for September and even a lot in October and November. Very excited to have that coming!

Our deck in progress. It’s 12’ x 10’ perfect size for us!

Jeanne and I stained and sealed all of the wood for the railing, stairs, and deck. It’s gorgeous stuff and will survive the strong UV and weather up here.

The Studio and Darkroom Building
My studio building is coming along, too. We emptied our 40’ shipping container, so all of my darkroom and studio equipment and supplies are in it now. We have to use it for storage right now as we sort out our household goods and unpack everything. My bladesmith equipment and material is in the shop area of our house (our garage) and will be setting all of that back up in the coming weeks.

Studio-Darkroom Building and our greenhouse.

My forge equipment; anvils, hammers, welder, saws, oxy-acetylene rig, grinders, tools and supplies. Ready to setup!

The Greenhouse
I’ve posted before about our “experimental” grow this year. We started late and really didn’t know what would grow here, or not. We’ve been really surprised. Next year, we’ll have raised beds and an enormous harvest.

Beef Steak Tomatoes… must be 20 or 30 on this one plant.

Cucumbers…

Cherokee Purple Tomato. These are gorgeous!

Green Peppers starting to show.

Green Pepper plant.

Broccoli

El Fuego, starting to flower ;-)

10 days into flowering and you can already see the trichome production!

Every morning between 6 AM and 8 AM, we have several mule-tail deer visit our property. There are both does and bucks.

Studio and Darkroom Building Completed!

The building is up and it looks really good!

In some ways, the work really begins now. We have to finish the concrete floor (epoxy) and build out the darkroom and studio area. The direction and light couldn’t be better! Super excited to expose some plates!

We tried to match the house colors. It looks good with the house that’s up the hill.

I’m having a roll up (10’x 10’) door put on for the studio “window”. Great north light for Wet Collodion photography!

The view from the forge/shop area - looking southeast.

Looking out of the studio area toward the forge/shop and house.

It’s big - very tall and plenty of room to do what I need to do in it.

Just cleaned up and waiting for the floor to dry.

The view from the back - looking northeast.

Studio and Darkroom Update

It’s been over two months since we started this project. More like six months if you count the excavation work. We planned it well and now we’re almost crossing the finish line.

Even when the building is up, we still have a lot of work to do inside. We’re sealing the concrete floor first and then we have to build out the darkroom. We need to insulate the building as well. We would like to build some storage areas above the darkroom too. The building is so tall it would be a lot of wasted space if we don’t. Still a lot of work, but we’re really excited to complete it.

I’ll be making prints and images in here sooner than later. A real dream come true for me. This is the final (the last) studio and darkroom I’ll ever build. I’ve built-out a lot of places over the past 20 years (darkrooms and studio spaces), but this is the last one - it will take me to the end.

We had some rain last night. The building should be close to complete today (Friday, July 23, 2021).

It feels much bigger than I expected. I’m super happy about that.

To the left, you can see my 10’ x 10’ (3 x 3 meter) north-facing opening. The UV up here is so strong, I can’t wait to see how Collodion responds to it!

Can you see the Mule Deer? She was just walking by when I was snapping the photos. She saw me and paused for a second and then just went about her business. I love this land!!

There she is!

POST SCRIPT: Our ClimaPod Greenhouse is amazing! Our fruits and veg are growing like crazy. I’m really surprised at this elevation how these are performing. We’ll be eating tomatoes, zucchini, and squash soon. We’re looking forward to it. We have a local butcher that we’ll buy meat from and stock up on the essentials. I think by next year we’ll be feeding ourselves quite well.

Introduction to My New Project: Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs)

Greetings! I know some of you follow and read my blog entries for the wet collodion process stuff. This entry should be of interest to you.

I want to do an introduction to my new body of work I hope to complete in the next couple of years - or however long it takes.

The work doesn’t have a name right now, I’ve been calling it “Sacred Red Earth”. That will more than likely change, but for now, that’s what I call it. So what is it?

We moved last year from the Denver metro area to the mountains of Teller County, Colorado. We have 12 acres here on top of a mountain mesa. It’s a gorgeous place. It’s full of wildlife and all kinds of flora. The diversity here is incredible.

This was home to the Ute Indians for a very long time. They have all kinds of sacred places and objects still on the landscape today. That’s what my project will be about; sacred landscapes and objects.

Specifically the sacred rock formations (think Garden of the Gods) and something most have never heard of sacred trees. These are called “Culturally Modified Trees” (CMTs). There are prayer trees, medicine trees, navigational trees, etc. All of them were modified by the Ute people. They served different purposes, but they were all sacred or special to the indigenous people. These culturally scarred trees are of several different types: (1) the Peeled Bark, or Medicine Trees, (2) the Bent or Prayer Trees, (3) arborglyphs or Message Trees, and (4) burial markers or Burial Trees. In deference to the Ute Nation, I will use the terminology that my Ute consultants use. Their lexicon generally refers to the different trees by functionality. (Marilyn A. Martorano)

I’ve recently talked to John Anderson. I would consider him to be the leading expert (other than the Ute Elders) on these CMTs here in Colorado. Or at least one of them. I told him my interest in including these trees in my work. I still have a lot of research to do but I feel good about the direction. He invited me to go on a hike in September to look at some of these trees in the area. I’m mostly interested in the trees in my local region (Teller County) where I live.

A big thanks to John Anderson for answering my questions and turning me onto great resources for my project. You should check out his books on Amazon and watch his Ted talk here:

Images from Colorado Open Space Alliance Conference

Mount Pisgah Reservoir

This is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from our place. Next year, we’ll be out paddling around in a boat and fishing here.

Mount Pisgah Reservoir Teller County, Colorado (aka Wrights Res) - I shot this photo this morning - July 15, 2021.

The Studio, Darkroom and Land Layout

I’ve never shown this view of the layout. This is looking north-northeast. The studio and darkroom foundation in the foreground, the greenhouse (shaded from the sun - south-facing) and our home (garage facing south-southwest).

The crew is here Thursday to start the building and will be finished Saturday! I hope I can show it off on the Studio Q Show LIVE! on Saturday.

Studio foundation - almost completely cured!