Channeling Emmet Gowin

If you don’t know who Emmet Gowin is, I recommend that you look him up. When I was in undergraduate school, I studied a lot of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s photographers and artists. Gowin was a huge influence on me. I shot thousands of frames of 35mm black and white film with a 28mm wide-angle lens and always admired his large-format portraits of his family shot on black and white film with a 90mm wide-angle lens. He also did a lot of landscapes with that same lens. Beautiful and arresting work.

In my pursuit of making interesting work for this project, I started looking at wide-angle lenses for my large format camera. It hit me when we hiked back into the Paradise Cove area. I wanted a wide-angle the minute I got there. It was screaming “Wide Angle"!!!” and I didn’t have one.

My friend and fellow wet and dry plate collodionist, Euphus Ruth contacted me and we started having a conversation about wide-angle lenses. Euphus has been collecting optics and cameras for a long time. He’s into panoramic type cameras - they call them “banquet cameras” - a short and long format - like 7” x 17” or 12” x 20”. They’re wonderful for large group photos, architecture, and landscape images.

Euphus was kind enough to offer up some of his wide-angle lenses for me to try. I selected two of them. An old Darlot ~150mm f/13 and a Schneider Super Angulon 90mm F8. The Schneider Super Angulon is made for a 4x5 camera. I’m making Whole Plate format - 6.5” x 8.5” - way too big for that lens. But, it’s exactly what I wanted. After making some adjustments to get it to fit my Chamonix, I took it out today for a test run.

I made this wet collodion negative at f/8 for 12 seconds. I was fighting the wind up here today - gusts of 20 mph, not suitable for dry plate and several minute exposures. Wet collodion is like Polaroid to me now. Quick, simple, and easy. Having to fight the wind, I didn’t really have the time or patience to adjust the camera movements, or I could have filled the plate at f/8. Normally, I would stop down to at least f/16 or f/22. That’s what I’ll do when the wind calms down. This is an incredible lens. I’m really grateful he offered these to me.

Why wide-angle? In the past, I’ve made a lot of portraiture work and landscape work using vignetting. Using a lens that’s too small for the plate. It creates a “keyhole” effect. Look at Gowin’s work, or some of my older stuff. I’ve always said it’s like looking through a keyhole at something we shouldn’t be looking at.

With this Schneider Super Angulon, I’ll get the “other-worldly” effect I want. The rock, the trees, the landscape stretched out like you’re moving through it. I want the viewer to “feel” that tension and see the beauty in a non-traditional way. So much work is derivative, I want to avoid that as much as possible. This optic will help a lot in creating unique images of the land and objects here.

A big thank you to Euphus. You can check out his work here. I look forward to putting this optic through my tests and see what I can do with it. Stay tuned!!

Argyrotype On Drafting Vellum Paper

I’m very grateful to have time to play with these photographic materials. I enjoy it so much. I find meaning in making images with different materials and exploring and trying new things, gives me a lot of ideas for this work. Most of the time, my experiments fail, but it teaches me so much. Through the failures, I find what doesn’t work and what the limitations are for any given material. The thing I love about historic photographic processes is that there’s enough to work with for five or six lifetimes, or more. I’ve played in a lot of them and have barely scratched the surface.

Today, I redesigned my approach to my glass plate oil prints. I enlarged my working surface (glass support) to 10” x 12” to allow the magnets to “grip” better onto the steel plate pouring surface. I also allowed a lot more time for the gelatin to set up before removing the magnets. This will allow me to swell and clear the gelatin without it peeling off of the glass.

I also tried a few Kallitype prints and Argyrotype prints today. The one I found most interesting was the Argyrotype printed on 16-pound drafting vellum. I couldn’t believe how good it looked. It gave me a very “grainy” painterly look. I love it. The paper is virtually see-through which opens up possibilities for unique display options. I was so excited about it, that I poured gelatin on some to see if I can make oil prints with it.

Every day there’s something new to discover. I’m working on this project full time, so I work a few hours in the studio/darkroom each morning and then study, write, and research in the afternoon. It’s the life I’ve dreamed of for 40 years. I’m so grateful, have I mentioned that?

Argyrotype Printing Process

What is the Argyrotype printing process? A lot of you have probably never heard of it. Some of you have, of course, and maybe have even made prints. It’s one of the more obscure iron-silver print processes, also known as siderotypes. To me, it’s a viable and wonderful POP process for my wet and dry collodion negatives.

Mike Ware is the inventor of this process. his PDF on workshop notes says, “The Argyrotype process is a latter-day improvement on the late nineteenth century processes of Kallitype, Van Dyke, Sepiaprint, and Brownprint, which were all, in turn, offspring of Sir John Herschel's Argentotype of 1842, the first iron-based silver printing process. The difficulty with these processes lies in clearing the print of iron salts, without dissolving the image silver in the presence of the oxidizing nitrate ion, for which alkaline developers were necessarily recommended, but are not very effective in removing the excess iron(III) salts, which is better done in acid. The Argyrotype version was devised in 1991, employing an unusual silver salt - silver sulphamate (called Sulfamic Acid in the U.S,)- to avoid the problems of image loss caused by silver nitrate, and to enable mildly acidic (pH 3.5) working conditions. It provides a 'single-bottle' sensitizer solution, having a long shelf-life, a contrast controllable by added acid, and an image colour that can be ‘fine-tuned’ by the humidity, and the incorporation of a humectant – glycerol. The resulting purplish-brown print of nanoparticle silver has a finer gradation than the traditional iron-silver processes, and good prospects of endurance for a plain paper silver image (which can be notoriously vulnerable) because it is believed to acquire partial sulphide-toning in the processing, which stabilizes the silver.”

When you make the chemistry for this process, you quickly realize what he’s talking about here. Sulfamic Acid, Silver Oxide (Ag2O), and Ammonium Iron (III) Citrate are ingenious ways of handling this problem. But they are, as he says, more vulnerable to chemical attack. “Brown silver images consist of metal particles much smaller than those constituting the black silver images of modern gelatine-silver halide papers; the former have colloidal dimensions (ca. 20nm) - far smaller than the wavelengths of visible light (ca. 500nm) - and their colour is due to a specific absorption of light which is dependent on their shape, size, state of aggregation and chemical environment. Such small particles are inevitably more vulnerable to chemical attack: they present a relatively large surface area and are rapidly dissolved by reagents that 'etch' or 'bleach' (i.e. oxidise) silver. The inherent problem of the iron-based silver processes lies in the danger of leaving residual ferric iron in the print - to its ultimate undoing, because iron(III) will oxidise silver with consequent degradation of the image. It is this problem that the Argyrotype process has been designed to avert.”

I’m very interested in the Siderotype printing processes. Other than Oil Prints (which does not use silver nitrate), these are strong candidates for printing my new work. I’ve found the Argyrotype process very simple and extremely beautiful. I highly recommend a Platinum or Palladium toner. It’s simple to make, makes the print “sing” and will ensure the longevity (life) of the print.

Platinum or Palladium Toner:
1L DH2O
10g Citric Acid
10 drops of Platinum or Palladium or both (5 drops each or any combination) at 20%.
Use once and discard. For example, I used 150ml for this print for 3 minutes and discarded the toner.

Pouring Glass Plates for Oil Prints

I’m ready to move to my goal of making this work on glass (prints from negatives). These are Rawlins Oil prints, but they’re on 8” x 10” (20,3 x 25,4 cm) glass plates. The negatives are Whole Plate and look wonderful matched to that format for printing. They will end up in 11” x 14” (28 x 35 cm) mats.

I’ve found a way to pour gelatin onto the glass with thick magnets and my level pouring board. It works really well. I was happy to find the right magnets! That took a while. The glass is 2mm thick, so the average magnetic strip stuff does not work. I have a great system down now that allows me to pour about 5 plates in an hour. That’s pretty good.

Tomorrow, I’ll sensitize the gelatin and ink up these three plates. My end goal is to have the work I make for this project all printed on glass. It’s super beautiful and kind of transcends photography - almost multimedia in a way. I like that. I have an idea for framing this work that should be interesting too.

These will be printed from wet and dry collodion negatives, and I’ll eventually find a way to ink them in a subdued color that works.

Not an easy thing to do, getting the gelatin to the right temperature and then having it stay in your cordoned off areas with magnets.

You can see how thick the gelatin is on these glass plates.

Chemistry anyone? If this isn’t enough, there’s more in the darkroom!

Nobody Cares About Your Photography!

I’m sure that’s not the first time you’ve heard this statement. It’s an old trope, but in a lot of ways, it’s true. In the strictest definition, no one really does care about your photography/art. And you should be okay with that. Here’s why.

A few days ago, I posted a video on my Chemical Pictures board about why no one needs to see your photography and why believing that they do is making you unhappy. The video addresses Vivian Maier and her complete anonymity (in her lifetime) and never showing her work. It also addressed social media, and the influence it has on photographers and artmakers. If you have time, you should watch it. He makes some good points about the environment we live in today.

This is a tough pill to swallow for some. I try to be cognizant that no one really cares if I ever make another photograph or not. I’ve said that publically many times. And yes, some would say that they like my work and that I should continue to do it, but that’s more of a passing comment, there’s no real “meat” behind it. In other words, they really don’t care.

I’m okay with that. In fact, I’ve often thought of stopping what I do as far as sharing my work online. The educator in me always wants to help, so I’m somewhat compelled on that level to share. If I did stop, no one will be distraught or upset and it won’t change anyone’s life if I never made another post. The question is why would I stop? I’ve been thinking a lot about that question.

When you examine your life as an artist, that is, someone who creates meaning and communicates ideas visually, you must consider why you are doing it. I’ve always had a desire, or need, to pursue certain narratives. Mostly centered around marginalized communities. And specifically marginalized groups in history. My interest lies in telling stories, through images, that address questions about genocide and injustice.

There’s also expression. I want to express these ideas in my own way. From the materials I choose to work with as well as the way I present and write about the work. Those are very important elements for me. It’s the way I find closure to a story - meaning through materials, ideas, and questions. My work is never about answering questions, only proposing questions and ideas.

Having said that, I’m not sure I need an audience for my work, at least when I’m alive. I say that with some trepidation. On the surface, we all feel like art is created to be seen, specifically to be seen by other people. I’ve been reconsidering that position for a while about my work. Primarily, my work is made for me. It satisfies something deep inside of me (keep reading for the answer). It helps me process ideas, questions, and concerns that I’m addressing. It’s like talking about the proverbial “elephant in the room” for me. It is, in fact, cathartic for me in a lot of ways. I’m always hoping my work will help me change as a human being. I’m hoping it will help me address my shortcomings and help me be a better human to other humans and all living creatures (that sounds intense!).

After reading Dr. Ernest Becker’s book, “The Denial of Death”, I now realize my need to make art is to quell my death anxiety. The knowledge that I’m going to die drives my need to make art. Dr. Sheldon Solomon was on one of my YouTube shows talking about Terror Management Theory (TMT). He’s a great guy and happens to be one of the authors of, “The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life”. We talk about TMT and death anxiety for artists on that episode. These theories are very important for artists to understand. They put things in perspective. They disavow the superficial reasons for making art and really explain the reasons we make art. Hint: it’s not to sell pictures to wealthy people or to get “likes” on social media. I encourage you to dive into these theories and learn about the driving force behind what you do. You might come to the conclusion that nobody cares about your photography but that it plays a big role in your life and death.

POP Platinum Palladium or The Ammonium Print Out Method?

First and foremost, this process is available today thanks to Pradip Malde and Mike Ware. Full acknowledgments to them.

What is the POP Platinum Palladium or The Ammonium Print Out Method? To begin with, it’s not a develop-out process (DOP). The traditional Platinum Palladium printing process uses a developer, like Potassium Oxalate, to develop the picture. Like Albumen, Salt, Collodio-Chloride, etcetera, the Print-Out Platinum Palladium, or The Ammonium Print Out method uses the sun (or UV light) to develop the picture.

This is from Pradip’s website, “In recent years platinum-palladium printing has regained its place at the summit of alternative photographic practice, renowned for the subtly nuanced tonal qualities of its images, formed by totally permanent ‘noble’ metals in the matte surface of artists’ paper. Willis’s traditional platinotype and palladiotype were development processes, and capable of beautiful results in skilled hands, but they suffered from some chemical inconsistencies. The method described here employs a better-behaved iron sensitizer, derived from the ‘print-out’ platinum process due to Giuseppe Pizzighelli in 1887. Read Mike Ware’s technical comparison of the modernized version with the earlier processes.

This modernized version has some advantages in economy, accessible chemistry, and exposure control. Using the procedures described in these notes, platinum or palladium may be used individually or mixed in any proportion, providing a choice of the image hue between neutral grey-black and rich sepia. A controlled degree of humidity is allowed in the sensitized paper to promote the formation of a printed-out image in platinum/palladium during the exposure, requiring little or no development. A carefully-devised clearing sequence ensures that all the iron is removed from the paper.”

Mike Ware wrote a technical comparison. Here’s an excerpt from the writing, “Thus a ‘print-out’ process results, in which the final image is formed substantially during the light exposure, and no ‘development’ bath is required, simply ‘clearing’ baths to remove the excess soluble chemicals. This enables a modus operandi quite different from the traditional method, and more economical in time, effort, and materials. Images may be printed satisfactorily ‘by inspection’, without prior calibration. The print-out process is ‘self-masking’, in that the blackening of the shadow tones inhibits their further darkening by light, so a long density range in the negative may be accommodated, and the control of contrast is more relaxed. By regulating the relative humidity of the paper before exposure, better image colors result with palladium, because the metal nanoparticles are allowed to grow larger, and can furnish even a neutral black. Provided that a suitable paper substrate is chosen, the method can also yield an excellent print in pure platinum.

In conclusion, it might be observed that, for many artists, the intrusion of technical minutiae into the creative workflow can tend to inhibit their endeavors. If the science can be predesigned to work as transparently and unobtrusively as possible, so much the better for art. Artists deserve the best science.”

Another book I would recommend if you don’t have it is “Coming Into Focus” by John Barnier. Both are excellent for information on semi-obscure historic processes.

Thinking About Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a discipline concerned with the perception, appreciation, and production of art. Aesthetic experiences, such as looking at paintings, listening to music, or reading poems, are linked to the perception of external objects, but not to any apparent functional use the objects might have.

Atmospheric: Creating a distinctive mood, typically of romance, mystery, or nostalgia. A great way to talk about what I want to do with this work. I consider each plate that I make a study. To look at closely in order to observe or read. Observation is key. Understanding light, the conditions, and making an image “talk” to evoke emotions and tell a story.

My hope is with this body of work to be less literal. In other words to add some mystery and poetry to the work. It’s very difficult to tell a story this way, but a narrative can be told without being so straightforward. Art to me is a series of problems that need to be resolved. Words can only go so far. I want to leave the words to a minimum and allow the story to be told through the work itself.

I’ve been studying landscape painting a lot lately. I’ve also looked at a lot of 19th and early 20th-century landscape photographs. I’m approaching this work with an open mind and trying my best to work until I “see” the images that I really want. It should be a good body of work when I’m finished. We’ll see.

Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. POP Palladium Platinum (Malde-Ware Process) from a Collodion Dry Plate Negative. I really like this image. It starts to convey the ideas I talk about above.

Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. Collodion Dry Plate Negative.

Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. Collodion Dry Plate Negative.

Paradise Cove - The Hike In For Collodion Dry Plate Work

It was beautiful weather today. Jeanne and got prepared and took off this morning for a hike back into the 4 Mile Creek area to Paradise Cove. This place is only 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) from our property, a quick drive to the trail head and off we went.

We started at about 0930. There’s a steep beginning to the trail and then another big drop into the cove. All rock, you have to be like a mountain goat, sure footed. This is about 9,000- 10,000 feet (2.750 - 3.000 m) above sea level. Not for everyone if you’re over 40 years old, or from sea level. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery. Makes me want to paint when I see beauty and awe like this - and we get to live here! So grateful for that.

I packed my 10x10 Chamonix camera, ground glass, lenses, loupes, timers, and tripod in and Jeanne packed a couple of dry plates. I can fit one plate in my f/64 backpack with my camera, but that’s it. We packed in a total of three plates.

Setting up and looking at the ground glass immediately made me want a wide angle lens. It would have been nice to capture the enveloping feeling of the rock surrounding you. I did what I could and I’m sure I’ll be happy with the negatives.

I’m too tired today to process the plates. I’ll do that tomorrow and over the next few days, begin to print these. If they are what I think they will be, these will be some of the first plates of my project. We’ll see.

A big thank you to Jeanne for the photos she shot and for packing in some plates.

The start of the hike.

The flat part of the journey.

There’s a reason they call it the Rocky Mountains.

I’m not sure if there’s anything better than a walk in the mountains. Quiet, peaceful, and the solitude is priceless!

We’re getting closer to the cove.

Welcome to Paradise Cove.

Hmmm, what f/stop??? Photo by Jeanne Jacobson

Photo by Jeanne Jacobson

Paradise Cove - Colorado, U.S.A. Photo by Jeanne Jacobson

I’m carrying everything I need to make Collodion Dry Plate Negatives (Whole Plate). You could never get a darkroom in where we went today - maybe you could, but it would be sheer hell trying to set up and make Wet Collodion Negatives. This was a great hike and hopefully a fruitful venture for the project. Photo by Jeanne Jacobson

Collodion Dry Plate Negative & Print

The Bausch & Lomb Tessar and Collodion Dry Plate Negative

I took the Bausch & Lomb Tessar out today and made a collodion dry plate negative. It’s absolutely beautiful. It was made February 24, 1903. It’s an 8” x 10” lens (12” x 10” when using smaller f/stops). It covers my Whole Plate (6.5” x 8.5”) wonderfully.

Two things l love about it; 1) it’s speed. It’s an f/4.5 lens. 2) The coverage. I wanted something that I can use for landscapes and easily cover the plate. This does that with room to spare. I love the speed, too. I made this negative at f/4.5 for a 6 minute exposure at 1000 hrs (morning). The sun was hidden behind some soft, wispy clouds - beautiful light. If you look close, you can see the rim light on the top of the trunk. The light is coming from the east and my camera was facing south.

Next on the agenda is to make a Platinum Palladium print and an Oil Print from this negative. Really exciting stuff for me. I absolutely love it!

Digital snap of the scene as the exposure was being made.

Digital snap inverted, unfortunately this gets compressed by some algorithm - The detail is spectacular! I’ll post the prints when I get them.