Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate - First Run With Whole Plate

We had a beautiful day here on the mountain. Sunny and 63F (17C) - the same for tomorrow. Winter isn’t too bad up here, but I love the sunshine and warm weather!

Well, I gave it a go and I’m super excited!! I exposed one of the four plates I prepped for the CADP dry plate process. In my haste, I forgot to ALBUMENIZE THE PLATES BEFORE I poured the collodion. So, inevitably, I had MAJOR peeling, wrinkling. and lifting. I knew this would happen but I did it anyway. I picked the worse one for the test. Having said that, the test was a MAJOR success. These negatives are so different than wet collodion negatives. I can see already the extreme detail and the possibilities this holds. I love it because it still looks like a “wet” process but has a lot more detail.

I set up at 12:30 - I made one exposure at f/11 for 4 minutes. I developed for 5 minutes using the methodology Mudd describes in his book with a couple of changes. Super excited to get this process in my pocket. Really get it down, the preparation, the exposures, the development, and ultimately, nail the prints. That’s my goal. This now gives me access to places the world has never seen before as glass plate negatives and Platinum Palladium prints (w/Gum Over Palladium).

Tomorrow, I’ll expose two more plates and develop them. I hope to stop the lifting and peeling (so bad). The next batch of plates will be perfect. I can have this process down in a few weeks’ time.

Scanned and inverted. Looks like something they found in the archive at LOC ;-)

Plates for Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate Process Prepared

There are a few things that need to be resolved with the plate preparation for the Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate process (CADP).

First, the collodion I used this time is ALL IODIDE collodion, it contains NO BROMIDES. That’s not a problem, I just wonder if I’m going to get the mid-tones as well without bromides. It makes me nervous, but we’ll find out.

Secondly, it’s very difficult to see the Iodized Albumen as you pour it on the plate. The Half Plate was no problem, it’s small and you can cover it like water and catch all of the runoff. The Whole Plate is a bit of a challenge. It would be great if I could figure out a dye to add to the Iodized Albumen that shows well in red light. Also, I made 500 ml of Iodized Albumen and used 100 ml to cover four (4) Whole Plates - about 25 ml per plate. Not too bad. 40 Whole Plates per liter. You would actually get a lot more reusing it. But this is in a “one use” scenario. I can live with that. I know I probably overkilled it, but I wanted to be sure I covered the plate (twice). I do have a little system with a “B” Bottle to catch the runoff. It can be reused until it’s gone. I’m happy about that or I’d be cracking eggs once a week!

Here you can see Saddleback Mountain (peak in the distance - objects appear farther away in the picture than in real life). And my studio and darkroom building is to the left. You can see the pure ACTINIC light I get up here - 8,500 feet above sea level. This is looking west.

And lastly, I’m going to have to set up a system in my darkroom where I can prepare about 20 - 30 plates at a time. There will be about a 10% loss, but 30 plates ready to use will get me going. It will take some thought of how best to do this - I would like to set up two silver baths, which would cut my time in half. So 30 plates might take 3 hours - 10 plates per hour. I’ll get better as I go!

Tomorrow, March 2, 2022, I’m going to expose at least one of the four plates I prepped today. I want a well-lighted scene. I wandered around the property and found this - a granite rock and tree scene. DIverse in color and texture. I’ll set up between 1200 and 1300 hours - the sun is highest at that point right now. I’ll start with a 3-minute exposure with my Dallmeyer 290mm lens stopped down to f/11. That’s probably too much, but we’ll find out. If I’m successful, that means my exposure times in June and July will be around 1 minute. I can live with that.

If I make a horizontal plate, it will look something like this. Well lighted, texture, color, perfect for a test.

If I make a vertical plate, it will look something like this. Well lighted, texture, color, perfect for a test. I might like this composition better. What do you think?

These turned out really nice. My iPhone couldn’t handle the red light.

Four plates drying and ready for tomorrow! Exciting stuff for me!

Preparing Whole Plate Chemistry for the Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate Process

I’m not 100% sure, but the Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate process is probably going to be my negative-making method for this project. Here’s why.

The first and foremost reason is quality. I can see from my Half Plate tests that these negatives have a range and quality that surpass wet plate negatives. The extreme detail, or information in them is mind-boggling. The second reason is that the preparation is easier, or more stable, than other dry plate processes. I can prepare all the plates I want over the winter, photograph and process plates all spring, summer, and fall. I plan to print a lot in the winter, too. And finally, durability, and archivability. Honestly, I’m more interested in how “tough” the albumen is - you don’t even have to varnish these negatives if you don’t want to! I will in fact, varnish my negatives.

I’m very excited to have a few nice days of weather coming up. I plan to test this process in the Whole Plate format (my final format) making some negatives around the property. I’m hoping that my exposure times are in the range of 2 to 5 minutes. That is with the 290mm (Dallmeyer 3B) lens stopped down to f/11. I’m pretty sure that if I can get that speed on the first of March, my exposure times up here in June and July will be 1 to 2 minutes. That’s what really excites me. I get the QUALITY of the negative (unmatched) and the speeds of (almost) wet-plate - not really - but so much better than 10 or 20 minutes. I wouldn’t have that kind of time for an exposure at this elevation. Weather can change very fast up here. I want to stay under 3 minutes. And I think I can make that happen.

In other posts, I’ve mentioned that this work will be printed with the Mare-Walde POP Platinum process, mostly palladium actually. And then I’ll do a single gum over with this transparent red oxide pigment. I think the prints will be so unique in quality that they will raise the bar on POP! (in a good way)

Transparent Oxide Red - this will used for my Gum Over Palladium.

It was a gorgeous day today so I started the process of making all of the chemistry for the negatives I want to make in the next few days. The Iodized Albumen takes the longest, but there’s also maintenance that has to be done. The Aceto-Nitrate Silver Bath needed some love. I had already made some of the chemistry to test on Half Plate. I’m waiting to mix ANY pyrogallic acid or gallic acid until the day of developing. Oxidation is not your friend.

Beat the egg whites to “peaks”.

“Peaks”!

Sutton's Dry Plates, Ute Pottery, and My Print Stamp

SUTTON’S DRY PLATE TEST
I manage to expose two of the four dry plates I prepared. The results weren’t great, but a stepping stone toward making the plates work. I think I know what the problem is; Sutton talks about the importance of bromide in the process. He compares it to the Daguerreotype. I need to revisit the proportion of bromides in the collodion. There should be an equal amount of iodides and bromides. I learned some really valuable things. I feel like the failures are important in these processes, that’s how you really get to know them.

Plate #1 - f/11 for 15 seconds. Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process.

Plate #1 - Very thin, barely a positive. But it did work! Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process.

In short, I basically made dry plate positives. Weak positives at that. It’s a sensitivity issue for sure. I exposed the first plate (Plate #1) at f/11 for 15 seconds, trying to match what a wet collodion plate would require. After developing the first plate, I was curious if it was the exposure time or the chemistry, I opened up the aperture to f/5.6 and gave 20 seconds to the second plate (Plate #2).

I’ll go back and make some new collodion with the bromides and iodides perfectly balanced. Everything else seemed to work fine. I see a lot of potential in this process. It does, in fact, LOOK like wet collodion, which I want. I’m not that excited by some of the processes that look like film. I would just shoot sheet film if I wanted that. I want that “look” that wet collodion gives and I think I can get it with this process or the Collodio-Albumen process. I really believe this will be a lot faster, in terms of exposure times, than any of the other dry plate processes (several minute exposures, this will be seconds, not minutes). I can see that already. As fast as wet collodion? Maybe not quite, but close.

Plate #2 - f/5.6 for 20 seconds. Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process.

Plate #2 - basically an underexposed positive plate. Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process.

MY PRINT STAMP
I’ll be offering (selling) prints from the work I do over the next year or so. I wanted to make these prints special not only with the process but with a signature and stamp. I don’t like to use anything on prints other than pencil and didn’t want an ink stamp. I ended up getting this stamp made from a guy on Etsy. I think it looks very good and will make my prints forever mine!

My new print stamp. Looks great!

My new print stamp. Looks great!

UTE POTTERY BY L. POSEY
I purchased this pot made by a Ute artist named L. Posey. This is a special piece for me because I will use it for the project this year. It will hold the special plants of the area that I will photograph. Things like Bear Root, Yucca, and many other plants and vegetation. The colors and design will look amazing in a print.

Ute pottery by L. Posey

Ute pottery by L. Posey - bottom of the bowl - signed and authenticated,

Sutton's Collodion Rapid Dry Plate Process 1862

I’m getting ready to run my first dry plate negatives based on Thomas Sutton’s Rapid Dry Plate process. I have four plate holders for my Chamonix 10x10 camera. Three of them have Whole Plate inserts - I need to modify the other insert to fit Whole Plate and then I can take four plates out with me at a time.

I’m also going to try a changing bag and black foil bags to take an additional four plates - a total of 8 plates at a time. If I can use the changing bag and the food foil bags are in fact light-tight, it will give me plenty to work with while out in the field on a day trip.

I sensitized and prepared four plates today. I’ll expose them and develop them tomorrow. According to Sutton, I’ll have the speed of a Wet Collodion plate, with the convenience of a dry plate. I’ll make a variety of exposures mostly all stopped down to f/11 or f/16. We’ll see how it goes!

Three holders ready to receive the dry plates.

The Rapid Dry Collodion Process by Thomas Sutton, 1862

Here’s something that you don’t hear about, “Rapid Dry Plate Processes”. It seems oxymoronic to put the words “rapid” and “dry plate” together in one sentence. Our friend, Thomas Sutton not only does that in his book, “The Collodion Processes, Wet & Dry” 1862, but he also raves about the quality and that they have the same exposure times as the Wet Collodion process. I did a show on it last August, you can see it here if you’re interested.

So what’s the takeaway? It’s very simple, he substituted the tannin in the process with gum arabic. And he has equal parts of iodide and bromide in the collodion. What does that do? It increases the sensitivity of the plate, or the ISO/ASA to equal that of the Wet Collodion process. So, guess what? You get the convenience of the dry plate process (not packing a darkroom and chemistry around) with the exposure speed of the wet plate process. It’s funny to talk about how “fast” wet collodion is! In comparison to the dry plate process, it really is.

STEP 1: CLEAN AND ALBUMENIZE THE PLATE
I recommend cleaning and albumenizing the plate first. Sutton recommends an India rubber and keroselen mixture that has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Use albumen - one large egg white to 1 L DH2O and a drop or two of ammonia. Clean the glass, steam the plate (humidifier) and flow the albumen on. Let them dry in a clean environment.

STEP 2: FLOW THE BROMO-IODIZED COLLODION
Sutton is adamant that you use a collodion that has both an IODIDE and a BROMIDE in it. There are reasons for this and you can read about them in his book. He says that 5 grains per ounce of a mixture of iodide and cadmium bromide to the ounce (equal parts). That means 500 ml would have about 5 grams of salts; 2.5 grams of each.

STEP 3: SENSITIZE THE PLATE IN A 30-GRAIN BATH
The bath should be a 30 grain bath (65 grams of AgNO3 to 1 liter of DH2O) and slightly acidic (pH 4 - 5) or neural. Sensitize as you normally would - 2 to 5 minutes. If you have to acidify, use glacial acetic acid, not nitric acid.

GO RED LIGHT AT THIS POINT

STEP 4: WASH THE PLATE IN DH2O
It’s important that you wash ALL of the free silver from the plate. Use two trays with DH2O in them. Wash the plate for a minute in the first tray (with agitation) and then a minute or two in the second tray with agitation.

STEP 5: FLOW THE GUM ARABIC…. BUT WAIT….
Here’s where we run into a bit of fun. Sutton calls for 25 grains per ounce of gum arabic. That means you would add 54 grams (5.4%) of powdered gum arabic to 1 liter of DH2O. If you buy liquid gum arabic (and most do) you need to do the math on 14 Baume liquid Gum Arabic. That means you would calculate the 14 Baume to 9.5% - cut that in half and you have Sutton’s weight. So, dilute your liquid Gum Arabic by 50% - 100 ml DH2O to 50 ml Gum Arabic. You can calculate by specific gravity, too - that number would be SG 1.106 - Does that make sense?

STEP 6: LET THE PLATE(S) DRY
Store away the plate(s) in a dry, dust free area and allow them to dry.

STEP 7: EXPOSURE
This is where things change in the dry plate world. Sutton claims that the exposure times for the Rapid Dry Plate is that of the Wet Plate process. It’s that simple.

STEP 8: DEVELOPMENT
I’m going to go into a little more detail here. There is a “pre soak” for Tannin plates with Gallic Acid you can use to make “softer” negatives (not so harsh and dense). This is not needed, but you can read about in the Tannin section of the book.
Start by wetting the plate with DH2O. Mix (fresh) 1 gram of pyrogallic acid into 250 ml DH2O. Add 22 ml of acetic acid. Have some AgNO3 ready to add to each cup of developer. Use a 20 grain solution - 4.4% - have a 100 ml of this mixed and ready to use in the pyro. That’s 4.4 grams into 100 ml DH2O.
After wetting the plate, pour the pyro over the plate with a few drops of the AgNO3 added to it. The image will appear quite rapidly. Develop until you have the correct density.

STEP 9: WASH AND FIX
After development, wash the plate well (you can use tap water). Then fix in a bath of sodium thiosulfate. Mix your fix at 15% - 150 grams of sodium thiosulfate to 1 L of DH2O. And then wash for 20 minutes in running water.

STEP 10: VARNISH
Sutton recommends using a “French Varnish” - which is shellac. You can use either shellac or gum sandarac. The surface of these are pretty tough but he still recommends varnishing.
Shellac Varnish (12%):
60 grams of Dewaxed Super Blonde Shellac Flakes
490 ml Grain Alcohol
10 ml Lavender Oil.

Print Tables and Embossing Stamp

We have some very nice days up here in the winter. What I mean by nice is sunny and 45 - 50F (8 - 10C) even warmer in the sun (15C). We try to take advantage of those days and work on projects, or chop firewood.

Yesterday, we tackled something I’ve been meaning to get completed for a while; a PRINT TABLE. What do I mean by a “print table”? Well, a nice big, clean area where I can work with paper and materials for printing. 99% of my printing will be Platinum Palladium and Rawlins Oil printing. The table is 4’ x 6’ (122 x 183cm). I’ll use half for Platinum Palladium work and half of it for Rawlins Oil printing. Perfect! I’ll also have a second surface/shelf under the table to store large sheets of paper. It will keep them flat and free of debris. I can also store printing supplies there.

I’ve also created (and ordered) an embossing stamp. I will offer prints of the project and wanted to be able to permanently mark the prints. Beyond signing them, and I will, I wanted something embedded and subtle. The embossing stamp will fit that purpose fine.

A nice touch to the print. Make it official! Signed and stamped!

I've Given This A Lot Of Thought...

Years ago, I knew that Jeanne and I would be living in a secluded place, far from the noise and problems of the cities and suburbs.

I didn’t know we would be living in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but we couldn’t have picked a better place. It all made sense to us as we evaluated and examined our goal almost daily. Keep in mind, this had been going on for almost two decades. In reality, we could’ve picked almost anywhere to live, within reason. We considered climate, privacy, freedom (laws), and a lot of other practical considerations. Colorado won hands down. We’ve lived in other places, even lived abroad for five years. We are very confident that for us, there is no place in the United States that we’d be happier than here.

Along with the questions of where and how we wanted to live, we also considered what I would do with my work (photography). Things have changed so much over the past few years for everyone, including us. COVID alone has had a major impact on how people live and what they do, or don’t do. We moved from the city to the mountains when COVID was in full swing. Everyone was locked-down or limiting their social activities to shopping and getting basic supplies. I taught my last photographic workshop in February 2020. That was the first consideration I had to make. Was I going to teach workshops anymore? We had half of 2020 to decide what we were moving to the mountain and what we were going to sell, donate or throw away. I made a decision to get rid of all my ancillary photography gear. The Ultra Large Format cameras, lenses, lights, all kinds of gear. I did that because I felt like my teaching days (at least formally) were over. It was at that time I decided that I would devote the rest of my time to my personal work. And that I would work full-time in service of making my work, not teaching, not working a J.O.B., but fully and solely dedicated to my work.

We never know how much time we have or how much longer we will live. I think about what gives my life meaning. I think about it every day. I “examine” my life and myself on a regular basis. Socrates would be proud. It’s a great exercise to do. You don’t have to obsess about it, you can take days or weeks off, but it is important to always return to the question: What gives my life meaning?

The most important person in my life is my wife, Jeanne. For over 30 years, she’s supported my work and my endeavors. She’s worked hard and has sacrificed a lot. To me, the definition of love is sacrifice. It’s very difficult to do; that’s why most people don’t do it or have a hard time doing it. You should always remember and be grateful for the people that sacrifice for you or in service of your pursuits, goals, or ambitions. Don’t lose sight of that - make sure they know you love them and are very grateful for them. And do whatever you can to reciprocate that support and love. No one makes it alone. No one.

This is going to be my first year free of working (J.O.B.), building, moving, or having a long list of projects and contractors to deal with. I’m excited about that alone! To be honest, I’m burned out on the building and moving and projects that way. I’m very grateful for all that we’ve done and accomplished, but I need a break and to move on. That’s what 2022 is offering me. I do have small things to finish, and the regular “life” stuff, cutting wood, taking care of the land, making small adjustments here and there, but the “heavy lifting” is completed.

Right now, I don’t see myself teaching any more workshops. Between COVID and all that entails staying up here, it’s too much. So, for at least this year and next, I will not be teaching in-person photography workshops. I will share, casually, (YouTube and this blog) the work I’m making, the processes I’m using, etc. But no formal courses.

I’ve decided on a very narrow path for my work this year and next. I will be working in the Whole Plate format (6.5” x 8.5”) and making wet and dry collodion/albumen-based negatives. These will be in service to two printing processes. The first is Platinum Palladium. More than likely I will end up making most of the work in the Malde-Ware POP Platinum process. I will still do some traditional DOP Platinum Palladium but most of it will be POP. That may also include a “gum over palladium” with one color. We’ll see. Secondly, I’ll be making Rawlins Oil prints. Both on glass and paper. This too will include a color. All of the prints will be made from glass negatives, with no digital processes or digital negatives. The bottom line is that I will be making Wet/Dry Collodion/Albumen Negatives making POP Palladium prints with a gum over palladium and adding a subtle red color. With those same negatives, I’ll be making Rawlins Oil prints on glass and paper and will use a subtle red color for one of the “ink-ups”. These will be my main technical goals and I’ll work on them until they are second nature to me.

Why so detailed? The reason is focus! I need to concentrate on limited, manageable processes while still serving the project and what it needs. These two processes, actually three processes with making the negatives, give me the tools to make a powerful, beautiful body of work that is both unique and interesting. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll make work that is both my “signature” and still supports the narrative of the project.

What is the project? I will keep this brief, or try to at least. We live on land that belongs to the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The entire state of Colorado, most of Utah, and the northern part of New Mexico was their land. Their origin story starts at Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs) and the evidence of their life is still visible here. My goal is twofold; to make beautiful landscape and still life images of places and things that the Ute considered sacred or special. And secondly, to tell their story, or history in small ways. In other words to remember that they were here. While talking about the 500-mile journey they go on in Wyoming every year, Black Crow Sr., a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, said, “Every place we stop is a rock,” Black Crow says. “Those rocks represent grandfathers..." This is a very common belief here. Rocks, trees (culturally modified trees), plants, etc. all played a role in their life here. I want to show some of those places and things in this body of work. They also called this land, “red mother earth”. Because of the granite (red), a lot of the rock and land have a “red” color to them. Even the Spanish called it “colorado” or “ruddy red”.

In closing, I want to say how much I appreciate the support so many of you that are reading this have given me. I’m very grateful for that - thank you. My journey in the historic photographic processes has been amazing (20+ years). I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There is a big part of me that believes everything I’ve done up to this point has been in service of what I’m about to do. I hope this isn’t my last body of work (you never know) but I want to work it like it is. I’m not even 60 years old yet. I hope my best work is still to come. I feel very strongly about this one. I hope you’ll join me on my journey. I’ll document everything I do here on this blog. Just check in once in a while to see what’s happening. Thank you for reading this, now let’s get 2022 going!!!

Distilled Water - DH2O - Critical for Historic Photographic Processes

If you work in any historic photographic process, you know how important distilled water (DH2O) is - you can’t really do much without it.

So what’s going on lately with the supply and the cost? I suppose it’s “COVID fallout”. The lack of workers (sick or refusing to work) and transport (truck drivers, etc.) to get this product to market. I used to buy distilled water in the supermarket. I paid between .89 cents (USD) and .98 cents - less than a dollar for 3.78 liters, or one gallon.

Recently, I’m finding that the supermarket it out (bare shelves) and online stores (including Amazon) are charging a lot of money for it. I saw it as high as $10 USD per gallon (3.78 liters). And that’s not including shipping. Absolutely insane! I took a hard pass on all of it and bought a water distiller.

I think I’ve distilled 10 gallons now. Easy, relatively inexpensive, no driving to a store, no extra bottles hanging around, no shipping boxes to deal with, etc. All around a huge win.

If you work in a process that requires a significant amount of DH2O, I highly recommend looking into distilling your own.

The First Collodio-Albumen Negative: Success!

This has been an incredible journey. I first read about Albumen on Glass (dry plate negative) 15 years ago and even gave it a try. The exposures were ridiculously long, so I stayed with the Wet Collodion process. I didn’t care too much for the Dry Collodion negatives. They looked too much like silver gelatin film to me. Nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t the aesthetic I wanted. So years later, I’m still at it. Trying to find a dry process that will give the negatives I want for Platinum Palladium printing. And I think I may have found that process.

I don’t know anyone who’s made Collodio-Albumen Negatives. I’m not even sure when the last one was made. It’s probably been 160 years or so. This process fell out of fashion when other dry plate methods became easier and more dependable. I’m not sure though, maybe someone out there has made perfect Collodio-Albumen Negatives for years. I doubt it, but who knows.

This is one of four Half Plates I exposed today. I only processed this one because I’m out of DH2O and didn’t have my fresh pyrogallic acid with me in the darkroom. I used tap water to develop this negative and very old pyrogallic acid. I can’t believe how well it worked. I do have a chemical burn on the plate. A small grain of undissolved silver or pyro hit the plate and made that little gremlin. The water was very cold too. It’s not important, the important bit is that it works and works well. I’ll gear up and go for some Whole Plate negatives now. I will process the other negatives too.

A Half Plate Collodio-Albumen Negative sitting on my light tablet. This was a six minute exposure at f/16.

A Half Plate Collodio-Albumen Negative sitting on my light tablet. This was a six minute exposure at f/16. Image is inverted.

The original scene. I guess I could’ve picked better light, but I was excited to test the process!

My Chamonix 10x10 camera and a Dallmeyer 3B lens stopped down to f/16.

You can see my bellows extension here. Not too bad - this plate was six (6) minutes at f/16. I’ll get my water and fresh chemistry squared away and let’s see what the other negatives look like - 5 minutes, 4 minutes, and 3 minute exposures.