Some New Images, FRAMES MAGAZINE?

After the joys of shovelling snow tonight in Edmonton, I decided to journey back to Thailand. Edited a few new photos from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY in Khlong Toei slum, Bangkok, Thailand. I wish I was there now, making photographs, helping folks, instead of here doing the snow thing.

Maybe can find something new to submit to the FRAMES magazine opportunity.

Khun Dao high on meth

Khun Apple smoking meth under a cloth

Khun Applee wearing found sunglasses

Khun Prem after being beaten by her boyfriend

Khun Dao smoking meth

Khun Jen in his room #2

Under the freeway at night

Khun Jen in his room

Knun Pia in his room

Population Canada

Link: Answering a Facebook Question

 NR

I was thinking about you yesterday… And your art… I was wondering why you don’t photograph American citizens is it because they might see it? Or is it just that you prefer the aesthetic of these people that you’re with? Cause I see a lot of this here lots and lots of it and I go in and talk to people and bring them food and money when I have a little extra.

I’m about to give out blankets and clothes

GY

It is great that you are helping people in need N…. Keep at it!

I am Canadian and I do sometimes photograph Canadians and Americans but not nearly as much as people in South East Asia especially Thailand. 

Here is a fun photo. When I was 21 I went down to West Oakland California and photographed in  African American Ghetto. On the left is Bob and the right Sonny, both friends, especially Sonny. I returned there 5 years later at 26.

In 2014-15, I spent 13 months in Canada photographing my fathers life with pancreatic cancer.

I think for me I need to like-love the people I photograph, I need to have greater empathy and compassion for my subjects. Those people have been mostly in South East Asia for me. I need to feel those emotions to make my pictures. So it is easier to find a project and people that resonate with my heart and just return again and agin to their lives and continue making pictures and telling those stories.

When you care, all the photos things becomes easier and more important to you. You are able to overcome physical and emotional hardships. As you age those difficulties increase but you still need to make the pictures, you cannot help yourself. Caring for the people drives you forward. That feeling has also lead to all the humanitarian donations, of food, toys, etc. Everything is inter connected!,

Have a good day.

Blast from the Past

Bob, me and Sonny, 1985 I think

Finding Forgotten Images Again

I am going through some of my forgotten THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY series photographs today. I need to find 7 images with stories to be published in FRAMES photography magazine. I will send them 15, and the editors can choose which 7 they prefer.

Apple confused

Apple after doing YaBa

Prem and Dao having sex

Apple with hat

Apple after doing YaBa

Apple high on YaBa

Apple thinking

Apple laying back watching me

Apple with mask

Apple thinking

Prem and Dao between the trucks

Dao and Prem doing meth

Dao smoking meth

Grandma thanking me for food

Nong with dog

Prem fighting off Dao

Prem

Sunning and Filtering Silver Nitrate

I am sunning and filtering my silver nitrate solutions. I have somewhere between 13 and 14 litres of the stuff. 

Picked up a second daylight light source a week back. Got it delivered to the house for $30 CAD(2nd hand). I like my first daylight source for this type of sunning. Hopefully the second light will work as well.

Sunning this way has benefits There is no need to filter while sunning for bugs, no need to worry about about the valuable  silver being outside. I can simply place the glass lab bottles next to the lights in one of my darkrooms (house-trailer) and forget about it. I usually sun for 3 or 4 days. The glass bottles let me see my silver clearly, allowing me to judge its quality. The 3-4 days of sunning  allows for clearing of excess alcohol without needing to transfer the silver to a wider mouth glass container. 

I changed my filtering material from cotton to coffee filters. And moved from 3 funnels to 2. The idea is to speed up my filtering. This is especially important when I am in the field and have time limits on how long I can stay at a location. 

Sunning the silver with my 2 (1 new) daylight light lamps

Filtering silver through to funnels with coffee filters

Top coffee filter and filtration. The black is the residue sunned out of the silver nitrate solution.

Video: Working On My Powerpoint Presentation

I was starting to work on the FRAMES magazine submission (due December 15). They require 7 photos with stories, I plan on sending 15 or so, they can choose. While doing that I was distracted and moved on to my artist talk PowerPoint presentation (due March 25).

Here is what I have done so far, many additions and changes coming. 

Cat Box Design

With my new wood working shop comes fun projects to try. I am thinking of building a cat box to help shelter and feed the strays in the neighbourhood, especially in the winter time. I placed this request on Facebook, looking to find a plan of some kind. I did find one on YouTube that might work, thou it might be beyond my wood working abilities.

Not sure the dryer hose idea is good, maybe unsafe. Will think on it. Probably cannot build till next year as my workshop is closed for the winter. 

Link: FRAMES Magazine Update

 

I need to get them the photos and write ups by December 15. I will start working on that tonight.

Below is part of the confirmation/submission email, I received today. A first class communication from a first class man and magazine.

Thanks so much, the money will help the people in the pictures!! 

---------------------- 

Dear Gerry,

I hope everything is going great on your end.

Once more, thank you so much for accepting my invitation for a feature in the 22nd edition of FRAMES Magazine.

We would like to present seven of your images.

Each of the photographs will be accompanied by a little piece of written content, which can be as short as a few words and as long as 1300 characters. It is entirely up to you. Please do share whatever thoughts you would like to share with the readers, along with each particular photograph. You can also think about these seven photographs as a continuum, where each consecutive page of text creates an ongoing story. We are completely open to your personal take on these seven photographs and on the flow.

Would you please confirm that a compensation of 200 USD is fine with you for your feature?

I prepared a special submission form to make things easier for you:

------------
Already today, I would like to thank you so much for being a part of the 22nd edition of FRAMES. It is my great honor and pleasure to be able to feature your work.

Let me know if all of the above sounds good to you.

Warm regards,
T..... ..........

joinframes.com

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Note* This will be the 4th photography magazine the photos have been exhibited in (not counting single photos).  A good opportunity to get my. subjects stories told!

Quote: Steven Hawking

 

Thai Tank, Back to Life!!

Fun, making merit thing of the day. I took an old, small fish tank and added some FEEDER fish to it. I placed everything in my man cave on Babas and Gidos old kitchen table.

The tank is from a shop in Thailand. I had it in my apartment when I lived in Pattaya for a year back in 2003. Hope the feeder fish will have a long life. They will not be eaten!

It’s funny how doing something simple and small like this, can make you feel good.

 

Note* The tank was a gift from a lovely person.

Note** I had to do some repairs to the wood roof of the tank, but all looks good now.

 

Got 5 feeder fish for $1.05

Honey Testing Conclusions

Honey testing conclusions.  After several days of making 11x14 ambrotypes  then test storing them before the final wash using various dilutions of honey. I think I have found my answers.

When I mixed my honey 2 and 3 parts water to 1 part honey the plates dried out. The honey content was too low. When I tried to do a final wash on the plates the collodion emulsion separated from the glass and was destroyed.

I upped the honey content in my dilution. First I did 1-1 honey and water then I did 2 parts honey to 1 part water. That last dilution seemed to work well. After 3 days drying, the plate was wet at first then sort of a glossy dry took over. After soaking in water for over 24 hours the emulsion did not lift off. I followed with a 2 hour wash and dry and the plates seemed normal (see photo). It was as if i never covered it with honey.

I will use a  2 parts honey to 1 part water dilution. If I mix 300 ml honey with 150mls of water that should make enough COATER to cover 3-4 11x14 inch plates. 

I believe  honey will be cheaper for me than glycogen to buy and use. Also kinda like the old school part of it. A bit messy to use but this should work. 

Note* An online Facebook friend told me honey cost $20 USD a litre in the UK. $7.33 CAD in Canada and $20 USD in thee UK. Wow,  that is a substantial difference. His price makes no honey buying sense. For him glycerine and honey are about the same cost, so you got to go with thee easier to use glycerine. For me thou the cheaper Alberta price for honey, makes it the more economic choice. Honey will be especially beneficial when I am working with very large plates (24x24 inches and larger) in far of locations where I must do the final wash a day or 2 later at another location. Honey could be a project saver for me.

The dried platee after honey coating and final wash

Glycerine

The cheapest price I can find honey hear, $733 CAD per litre

Added an Aperture To My Smaller Project Lens For the 14x14 Inch Camera

Video: Back in the Trailer, Making Ambrotypes

Back in the wetplate trailer!! 2c outside, 10c in the trailer. Also testing the honey mix to keep the plates wet. 1/1, 1/2 and 1/3 honey to water.

Back to Making Ambrotypes!

Dragging my 14x14 inch Chamonix out of mothballs (have not used it for about 13 months). I will make 11x14 inch ambrotypes tomorrow. More of a testing shoot but it will still be fun.

Testing 

- old collodion 

- shooting in colder weather around 0-2c

- will try putting honey on a plate for the first time (to delay wash time). I will let it sit 2 days before final wash.

- will test new working procedures in the simplified trailer darkroom setup. Am trying to further simplify this often overworked and over thought out process. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY!!’’

- will try tray development of plate and tray stop water step. Trays might work better and require no water pump in colder weather. My hope is to work down to -25c this winter.

Quote: Charles Durning (Actor and WW2 Veteran)

“FORGIVENESS IS A GIFT WE GIVE OURSELVES”

Ambrotype Photo Stand Setup

Got this little top bar (Tripod was mine) for $30 CAD tonight, online via Amazon these things run $83 new and $39 used with a $27 shipping cost to Edmonton. I played around a bit with it tonight and it should work well with a iPhone or a small digi camera. I will use this set up to photography my 11x14 inch to 24x24 inch Ambrotype plates. I just need to place the glass under the camera, light it and photograph away. I will use this set up to prepare photo submissions,  creating photos for the webpages etc. 

3 Small Portfolio Books

Am doing up 3 small (8.5x11 prints) portfolio books. Will fill them with digi prints and show them at my 2 artist talks in April. People can see more prints up close. My friend Larry does this with his wonderful photography books. These portfolios are not as nice as books but they should serve their purpose.

Outside the books with titles added

What the inside of the books look like. I found that 300 thickness paper is a bit too thick if you want to place 48 or so images in the book, 2 times 24 pages. I will try thinner paper.

Tam, in a New Used Frame

Made up this quick print today, on some two side already used paper (1 side mistake). The frame was bought yesterday for $4 CAD at a thrift shop.  Reused the frame and the mat, just added my pic,

Tam Vietnamese Brothel Worker, BODY SELLERS, Poipet, Thailand 2003

Tam lived a terrible and frightening life. She used drugs to survive the brothel, you can see it in her eyes in this photo. Poor lady. This place was very difficult to make photos, such sad, desperate and lost lives. Because this photograph, I think of her and the others often. The world she lives in has to end.

Its small but beautifully presented. A white frame better?

Newly printed

Original print

Original mat

Added to frame

Back of frame

On the wall