New Work: Plate #109 and #110

If you read my blog entry about making Half Plate work for a book, you’ll know I’m in the process of working out a making (handmade - bound, covered, etc.) a special set of books for this work.

I’ve scraped the idea of making Half Plate work and an 8x10 book and opted for an 11x14 book and Whole Plate prints. Such a beautiful format and it looks right and feels right.

The idea is to make a total of 5 books. These books will contain text and original prints (Kallitypes). Right now, I’m experimenting with printing on 11x14 Revere Platinum paper. Bound as a “lay flat” book with a custom leather wrap that represents the work. It will be art wrapped in art.

PIGWEED - Plate #110
Pigweed is said to have many medicinal benefits; it can be used as an astringent, antiseptic, emetic, emollient, and a febrifuge (or fever reducer). Early Native American healers valued this plant for medicinal uses and took advantage of its topical and internal applications.

New Work: Plate #107 and Plate #108

PLATE #107
Today I attempted something unique in color, lighting, and trying to use depth of field in a creative or interesting way.

I mentioned before that sometimes I look at a scene or an object I want to photograph for a long before I attempt to make a negative/print. I’d been looking at this Aspen sapling for a month, waiting for it to get bigger.

I knew lighting and color were going to be an issue. The green sapling leaves are recorded almost as the same “salmon” color of the granite behind it. They are both in the 500 - 600nm visible light spectrum. Collodion has a difficult time recording them. So I knew I had to add some light. I used one of my 48” white discs to bounce some reflected east light onto the leaves. If you look close, you can see my focus was on the dew drops (water) on the leaves. I made the negative at about 9:00 am this morning.

The image is focused on the sapling, but it has much more than that to offer. If you look closely and observe the image you can see what I saw. I used a very shallow depth of field to exaggerate this feature but I wanted it to be obvious. I hope you can see it. Another thing I wanted was the top of the frame to be dark. So I turned the front standard to show the foreground (“spinning earth”) and darken the top of the plate. I wanted it to feel heavy and dark with this new life springing from the granite and the “grandfather”.

PLATE #108
I’m exploring constructing images in this work. I have a lot of ideas for images. They are mostly based on the symbolism and beliefs of the Ute/Tabeguache that lived here. This image acts as a metaphor for two different ideas or beliefs. The creation story of the Ute/Tabeguache and the four directions of the circle of life. For now, I’m leaving the description at that. You can see what I’ve done (I hope) and what it might symbolize.

Plate #108 - “Four Sticks” - Whole Plate (toned) Kallitype (K2) from a wet collodion negative - printed on Revere Platinum paper. This will lose a little bit of the red color when it’s fully dried down (tomorrow). “In the Shadow of Sun Mountain”

How Photographs Change Over Time

I don’t know about you, but I need time to “live” with the photographs I make. I need to see where they fit into the story, or not.

My photographs change over time. Some images that I feel ambivalent about turn into incredible pieces that support the story in new and exciting ways. And some, images that I thought I had hit the lottery with, end up missing the mark completely. It’s a strange sequence or unfolding of how images reveal themselves over time. It’s almost impossible to write how this process actually works. It’s a “lived” experience I guess, but it does work. You just need to be patient and present. Over time, it all comes together.

The way I put a story together involves the “big picture” (no pun) and each individual experience or image I make. The macro and micro if you will. I try to keep the general concept always in my mind and work each image out as the ideas come to me. Sometimes, I spend days or even weeks, looking at something or some composition of a scene. I look at it at different times of the day, week, or month. The flora work that I made is a good example of this concept. I watched as each plant changed over the months of summer. Growing, flowering, and going to seed. I could do an entire body of work on the flora here that the Ute/Tabeguache used medicinally and ceremonially. I know these images will be a big part of the final presentation.

There’s the now and there’s the future for the photographs, too. I often think that I’m not making this work for people today but for people in the distant future (death anxiety). I find myself looking at old photographs and reading about photographers and artists that lived a hundred or a thousand years ago. I would like to think I’m contributing something to that “future” viewer’s worldview, the way I appreciate and learn from artists and images from long ago. It does influence me quite a bit.

On that note, I’m back to making more negatives. I’ve decided that I will stay with the Whole Plate format. I’m fully committed (I always have been but was too influenced by the layout ideas for Half Plate). I have to go through these detours to ensure that what I’m doing is the right thing. This detour confirmed that I’m on the right track, 100%.

New Negatives & Prints: Plate #1HP, Plate #2HP, and Plate #3HP

A (possible) fresh start. I got super motivated today. After Jeanne and I went for our walk around the mesa, I got busy preparing some Half Plate glass to make some negatives.

The Half Plate size seemed small to me after working in the Whole Plate format for so long. They’re a lot easier to handle and a lot faster to process overall. I would spend a full day of making three Whole Plate negatives and prints. I spent a half day doing these - half plate equals half day! ;-) Sounds about right!

I like these a lot. They feel right to me. The prints are drying now, I’ll post the dried color and contrast later. I accidentally printed the “Medicine Wheel” (aka Plate #1HP) upside down. I measured out the 8x10 Revere Platinum paper so I would be able to bind the prints into book form on the left side. The idea is that you can see the landscape orientation will not be a problem.

Excited to pursue this some more. I’ll have to make a decision at some point, but need time to really think it over. I keep going back to the idea of showing a book of this work, allowing one or two people at a time to see the prints and read the text. That really appeals to me. I think I’m over the mat and frame prints and hang them in a gallery. I want this to be the way this is shown and, moreover, experienced.

Stay tuned.

Plate #1HP - “Medicine Wheel” - Half Plate Kallitype (Palladium toned K2) - Revere Platinum paper.

Plate #2HP - “Buffalo Head & Antlers” - Half Plate Kallitype (Palladium toned K2) - Revere Platinum paper.

Plate #3HP - “Aster & Dead Pine” - Half Plate Kallitype (Palladium toned K2) - Revere Platinum paper.

The three Half Plate prints straight from the wash sitting on my cutting board. This size fits the 8x10 paper so well!

Antithetical Direction?

As I get older, I find myself in direct opposition to “popular views”. In other words, when the crowds go to the right, I go to the left. That kind of thing. I tend to be the opposite most of the time. And I think for good reasons. I consider myself a rational and reasonable person. I try to think things through with reason and logic. And, as Socrates said, I try to “examine” myself on a regular basis. I try to critically think about my choices in life. For you spontaneous people, those are scary words. I know, but that’s how I’m built.

This theory, or approach to life, really applies directly to my art-making process. Photography specifically. I’ve talked a lot about having reasons for making certain choices when making art. So when it’s applied to photography I ask what processes, what formats, etc. I believe there should be good reasons, as personal as they may be, for every choice. Nothing should be random. I also believe you should be able to defend those decisions when questioned or challenged.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the format choice I’ve made for this current project (“In the Shadow of Sun Mountain”). After deciding to explore making a book, or books, of this work, I may end up making a format change too.

I’m currently working in the Whole Plate format (6.5” x 8.5” - 16.51 x 20.32cm). It’s a period-correct format, popular in the middle of the 19th century. And it’s a beautiful format to look at and to work with. However, I’m thinking about working in the Half Plate format (4.25” x 5.5” - 10.79 x 13.97cm). There are two reasons for this. The first is aesthetics. My 19th-century optics are mostly designed for this format. Plates made with these lenses look stunning. Period. And secondly, it would allow me to make books (handmade) that are 8” x 10” (20.32 x 25.4cm) and the images would sit nicely in portrait or landscape orientation. No limitations on what I want to say photographically.

It seems counterintuitive to go smaller, doesn’t it? When everyone wants bigger, bigger, bigger and I’m saying smaller, smaller, smaller. Why is this? I think it hinges on my desire for this work to be intimate, to be personal to the viewer. That’s the reason I want to make a book, or books, of the work too. It assures two things; the work will always be together and seen as a narrative, not one-off pieces. As well as preserving the integrity of the permanency of the work. And, it would be a lot more archival presented and stored this way.

I’m going to make a few negatives and prints in this format and live with them for a while. If it works, I’ll make it happen - all Half Plate work. If it doesn’t, I’ll keep going with Whole Plate.

Making New Negatives of the Same Places in Beautiful Light

The light here today was super lovely. It’s been raining and it’s cool today. I really try to take advantage of this incredible light when it’s here. I’m so grateful for it! I was supposed to be cleaning and organizing my studio and darkroom, and making new chemistry today. I let all that go and made a couple of new negatives for my project. The light was just too nice to pass up. I regret it when I don’t take advantage of it.

The first one, plate #106 is a vertical image of the same little Ponderosa Pine sitting in the middle of a huge (granite) rock bed. I have a beautiful landscape (oriented) of the same scene. That one is a dry collodion negative. I printed it as a Palladiotype and modern Kallitype. This new one is a wet collodion negative. It will be printed as an “old school” Kallitype.

The second plate, plate #107 is the same scene I made an image of a week or two ago. The light today really enhances the quality of the wood and little flowers. It was actually raining when I made these exposures. I love the ground and all of the wood wet. It gives it a rich and deep look.

So why did I make new negatives of the same scenes? Well, I’m seriously considering making a book of this work. Not a “printing press” book, or Amazon book, but a handmade, hand-bound book. Another true work of art. Can you imagine? Art wrapped in art. I’m remaking some of the work so that the images are all vertical. I’m not sure if that will matter or not, but that was the thought. And again, the light!

The book would consist of the prints, and writing bound together on rag paper (the actual prints). The text will accompany the prints on the opposite pages and will be printed as well. More on that later. I’m still working out the details, but feel really good about this direction.

I’m thinking rather than having “hanging” exhibitions, it would be interesting to have the handmade book available to view - one or two people at a time. That idea of intimacy really resonates with me. That’s how I would like this work to be seen. Not framed and behind glass, hanging on a wall. Up close and personal. And then there’s the metaphor of the book. Stephen King said, "books are a uniquely portable magic." I couldn’t agree more. I know people nowadays don’t read much. And some say that books (the physical ones) are going away. It’s a scary thought, but it has some merit. Technology is a double-edged sword for sure.

I’ll write about this more in the future. As I always say, things change. This is just a general direction for now, stay tuned to see what happens!

This print is on Arches paper and is not toned. I’ll make a book print on HPR or Revere Platinum tomorrow.

Three Aspens Printed In The Old Kallitype Method

Eventually, you come to a point in a project where you want to start considering the final print. I’m getting close. I still have a lot of work to do, but the 100+ negatives I’ve made tell me that I’m dialed in and ready to consider the final prints. I will add a caveat before I write what I’m about to write. Things change. This is where I feel like I am today, almost a year after I started (September 2021). I’m 95% confident that next year you’ll see a body of work made in this printing process for the final body of work.

I’m working with some old printing techniques, still figuring them out, and I feel that I’m close to having them where I want for the color, the texture, and the permanency. I’m real close.

I printed and (slightly) palladium-toned this image today. I call it “Three Aspens & Three Flowers”. A really nice wet collodion negative. It embodies a lot of what I’m trying to do with these images. It fits the narrative well. It’s loaded with metaphor and it’s beautiful. The old-school Kallitype process that I’m using really adds a lot to the image. I find the prints from the process unique in their quality, color, and richness.

The Buffalo Head & Antlers aka Plate #104

In this work, I’m dedicated to a certain “look and feel” of the prints. It’s very important that I make that happen. I won’t be satisfied until I do. What am I after? Think of Edward Curtis’s beautiful prints from his “Vanishing Race” series. They were made with a different printing process, but they are still “warm” and “poetic” for the most part. My work is completely different, I’m only talking about the final prints, and how they “look and feel”.

You can get a good idea of what I’m after here with the old-school Kallitype printing. This is really a beautiful and engaging process. It’s a perfect match for my project. I’m just getting it sorted out, but what I see so far. it’s spot on for what I’m looking for.

This is an old school Kallitype. It’s not toned. It’s a wonderful rendition of what Kallitypes looked like back in the day (1890s).

"In the Shadow of Sun Mountain" Plate #104

I’m deep diving into the Kallitype printing process. I’ve fallen for it in a big way. I have a workflow for this project that is almost perfect. The technical is worked out (at least for this version of the process) and I’m very confident of the archivable quality of the prints.

I have the wet, and dry, collodion negative process dialed in to make very nice prints with no redevelopment or additional steps. My negative density is between 1.8 - 2.0 and my development time runs from 45 seconds to 1 minute with the wet negatives and 10 - 15 minutes for the dry negatives. All of my chemistry is dialed in, too.

Along with all of that, I’ve decided that I’m only using my Petzval lenses for this work. I’ve discussed before why I’ve made that choice, but it’s based on the painterly quality and the natural look and feel, or signatures these lenses give to the subject matter. On top of that, they are from the time period I’m referencing in the project (1850s - 1880s).