For the last few days, I’ve been working on making negatives and today I had the chance to run some test Salt prints from those negatives.
I can say that I have the chemistry worked out - I’m confident about making negatives with both detail and density. It’s a fine line and there are a lot of details. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some of those details as I start my project.
My Levoit humidifier: Steaming a Whole Plate for albumen.
There are two reasons you want to albumenize your plates. The first is the most important; to prevent the collodion from lifting or peeling. If you are making negatives and you redevelop with pyrogallic acid, it can shrink the collodion and it can cause the edges to lift.
Secondly, you’ll gain some density. Albumen on the plate will add about 1/4 stop - that’s just a guess, but it does add some density. If you’re making negatives, that’s really nice to have that little boost.
Here’s my method: I use one large egg white, 1 liter of distilled water, 2 drops of pure ammonia, and 4 ml of Kodak Photo-Flo.
I beat the egg white, ammonia, and 250 ml of distilled water until I get a “soft” meringue. I let it sit for a while, then I filter it and add the rest of the distilled water. I add 4 ml of Kodak Photo-Flo to it to prevent bubbles.
I deburr the edges of the plate, I clean the plate with my plate cleaner (calcium carbonate, alcohol, and DH2O). I steam the plate over a humidifier and pour on the albumen. I rack the plate and let it dry. After it’s dry, it’s ready for collodion.
This is simple, easy, and highly recommended.
Wet Collodion Negative - Quinn Jacobson’s property - December 2, 2021. Searching for the “perfect” negative.
I spent a few hours today preparing and making a couple of negatives. I’m going to use this space as my “photographic journal”. I’m also keeping the exact details in written form. This will go away someday and the paper and ink will be around a bit longer.
My first goal was to use a “highly iodized” collodion. It’s made with CdI and NH4I. This reference comes from Thomas Sutton’s book. I ended up modifying this idea a little bit today. This is what I did:
I added 50% of the “highly iodized collodion” with some “soft negative collodion” (it contains a bromide). I developed with ferrous sulfate and DID NOT redevelop. These are foundation negatives. I laid them on my light board and photographed them; that’s it.
Here are some specifics for reference:
Plates are Whole Plate (6.5” x 8.5”) 16.5 x 20.3 cm
They were made with a Dallmeyer 3B lens and f/5.6 stop (290mm)
They were made on December 1, 2021, at 1130 hrs MST and 1210 hrs MST
Exposures were 3 seconds (Aspen Tree) and 1.5 seconds (Dead Tree) - the UV up here is extreme! I can only imagine in the summertime. I’ve ordered a set of Waterhouse Stops from Markus H in Austria. I will definitely need them up here.
The temperature was 65F (18C) and RH was 20%
They were sensitized for 4 minutes in the silver bath and developed for 40 seconds with a 4% Ferrous Sulfate developer.
The silver bath was too cold: 40F (4C) that caused problems with sensitizing the plates.
Both plates were FULLY albumenized.
This plate turned out okay. Again, these are foundation negatives, no redevelopment of intensification.
Detail of the Dead Tree plate.
It was 65F (18C) today and 20% RH. This plate dried so quickly after pouring I lost the left side of it. I think the extra ether played a role too.
The detail of the Aspen Tree. I will keep photographing this scene in different light until I have a perfect negative.
Inverted negative.
Inverted negative.
Inverted negative.
Inverted negative.
I’m Very Grateful and My Goals
I’m so grateful for this space and to have the time to work here. I just want to make that public. I’m very fortunate and I know it! I’m looking forward to working full time on my projects, experiments, and really doing a deep dive on Wet Collodion Negatives. My goal is to explore several different POP processes with my “evolving” negative-making process.
What Did I Do Today?
I prepared 12 pieces of glass; Whole Plate (8.5” x 6.5”) size. I also made 500 ml of Collodion for making Wet Collodion Negatives. This is a HIGHLY iodized collodion. Sutton talks about it in his book that I did a series of videos on. If you are interested, you can find them here. I sunned and cleaned my silver baths (#1 and #4). I have four different baths at any given time. They are always in rotation for maintenance. I usually carry at least two into the field. I have one adjusted for positives and one for making negatives.
Highly iodized collodion for making negatives.
One bath for making positives and one bath for making negatives.
Clean glass ready to albumenize.
Also, I have some special glass for plate making. Not special in one sense, it’s soda-lime glass. And it’s the most common form of glass produced. It’s composed of about 70 percent silica (silicon dioxide), 15 percent soda (sodium oxide), and 9 percent lime (calcium oxide), with much smaller amounts of various other compounds. It’s special because it’s 1.25mm thick and is notched (I place it in the “top right” position). Those are kind of special attributes, especially for me making wet collodion negatives. It’s incredibly strong too. The notch always lets me know which side is the collodionized side.
Wednesday and Thursday: Plate Making Days
This Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll make some test plates in my new space. Not a big deal for most, but for me, it’s been almost two years since I’ve been able to do this. I was busy building the house and getting all of the infrastructures in so we can live here. I also had to build the studio/darkroom building and then build out the darkroom. A lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of money! All worth every minute and every dime.
I’ve had a long wait for this to start, but I’m on my way.
Where do you start again? I say start with fresh Collodion and Subbing Albumen. I was in my studio mixing chemistry and listening (loud and the acoustics are great in there!) to the soundtrack from, “If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd” - the story of what happened to Lynyrd Skynyrd/Ronnie Van Zant and crew. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do so. It’s on Netflix.
I made some fresh Positive Collodion, both flavors, KI and NH4I, and I’ll mix some Negative Collodion up tomorrow or the next day. I have a potential project/job coming up in New Mexico so I want to be ready if it happens. If it does and I can show you, I will.
It’s important for me to evaluate the “mobile” concept again. 99% of my work will be done in the field and most of it will be negatives - wet and dry and in between. I’ve set up my space to do post-production work on those methods. I have (north light) studio space to do portraits or still life work, but most of my work will be “on the road”. I’m primarily a portrait photographer/artist, but I think I find remote work (out of the studio) more interesting now. And believe me, I’ll still be making portraits, and even still life plates, but it is limiting to a degree.
We are experiencing very warm weather up here. No snow, which is bad for water, but nice sunny, mild days. I hope it holds for a little while. I’ll be processing some test plates very soon. Another goal is to get all of my lenses squared away. I have a “new” Derogy No.2 lens and I uncovered an 8x10, 1903 B&L Tessar, f/4.5 lens unpacking my gear. They are both unmounted. I have two lens boards from Chamonix, so I’ll get them mounted up and do some “high elevation” test plates with them.
My “new” (very old) Derogy No.2 Lens.
I’ll be back soon with some examples of what the process looks like at this elevation in positives and negatives. I’m super excited! Stay tuned!!
I have one of these that says "COLLODION" it's on my dark box and this one that I've always put up in my studio/darkroom area. I think I had them made at a community event in Heidelberg, Deutschland.
I have the sinks plumbed and just put the old school, spinning, darkroom door on. It fits perfectly! I’ll commit to securing it after I KNOW I have everything inside the darkroom that I want.
Fits like a glove!
I’m taking a break today and doing my Studio Q Show LIVE! Join me if you can, it’s at 1000 hrs MST / 1800 CET time. I’m covering James Reilly’s book - the chapter on Albumen printing!
I have to do the final plumbing - the sink drains. I have plenty of space and am excited beyond belief!
THE BUILD
Looking back, we’ve done so many things over the last two years, really five years, here on the property and I’m proud of us, especially Jeanne. She has worked as hard, or harder than me. I’m really grateful for her and her attitude in helping me build this darkroom. It humbles me to see a person selflessly give her time and energy (and money) to build me something. I’m not saying she won’t get anything out of it, but she’s not even thinking about that, she just wants to see me get this facility up and help me do my work. Again, I’m eternally grateful and humbled by her.
THE PURPOSE: MAKE ART, ENJOY LIFE
This is the first time in my life that I can spend all of my time working on my personal photographic projects. Over the years, I’ve worked hard and achieved what I’ve always wanted, a debt-free life where I can spend my time doing the work I feel is important and that has no ties to money or power. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor, and I will!
So, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be a full-time artist working in historic photographic processes. I won’t stop the technical teaching, but it will be centered more on my work and how it (the technical stuff) applies to it. This will not be a commercial venture either. I will not be asking anyone for money. No monetized YouTube channel, no Patreon, nothing. Just my work, my technical experiments, and the results. The only caveat will be the sale of prints, plates, or books that may come from the work. And that will be minimal (material costs, shipping, etcetera). Again, this is not a commercial thing for me, I’m over that. I want to be free of that burden and don’t want people to be saddled with it if they are interested in my work. This is the first time I’ve been able to do that, too! It’s very exciting and liberating!
10’ (3M) of darkroom sink space, shelves for my Graylab timers, developers, etc.!
KEEP ME IN THE LOOP - STAY UPDATED
I’m not really sure what’s going to happen with my social media accounts in the future, I’m may delete them at some point, I’m not sure. So, if you’re interested in following me over the next few years, I’ve set up a simple little “signup” that will send you an email once in a while to inform you of a video, experiment, or work I’m making. Go to my contact page and scroll to the bottom, you’ll find it there.
Looking from the outside - I still have the darkroom door to install, but that will be the very last thing. It’s time to organize and get everything in it's place.
Stocking some of my dry chemistry… there’s a lot of it. Happy to see it unboxed again.
My Graylab timers and red lights up and going!
My Graylab timers and red lights up and going!
We have some beautiful rock outcroppings on our property. You climb up to the top and this is the view (or one of them) looking west over the valley. It’s so gorgeous up there! This photo was taken in July. It was wet and green this year. Everything grew wonderfully and all of the animals got fat. It was a good year. And NO fires!
We start painting the darkroom today! I’m a week, or less, away from being able to use it. It’s been a great project and one I’ve been looking forward to finishing. We had a house and all of the “living things” to do before this, but this is what I was really looking forward to!
That’s all there is left to do now! It might be one more week, if the weather holds.
Fitting trim - the only things left are taping, mudding, sanding and painting. We see the finish line!
Jeanne and I work on this every day for a few hours. We have other things to do, so we take small steps every day and it’s working out great. The weather here is wonderful. Today, it was sunny, calm and 65F (18C) and tomorrow will be sunny calm, and 68F (20C). The secret of Colorado is this wonderful weather! At this altitude, you’d think we’d be freezing cold day and night in November. Not at all.
A few more sheets of sheetrock that need to be put up and I’ll do the drains/plumbing for the sinks, then it’s mudding and taping and finally painting. We see the finish line!! So excited!!
Looking at the outside of the room, ready for drywall.
In progress drywall work.
In progress drywall work.