Last Weeks Wet Plate Work

Here are last weeks efforts, 4x5 tintypes. I varnished them last. Am improving the varnishing thing but still have a ways to go. The varnish is too thick in one corner in 2 of these plates. I plan on trying my first 8x10 tintypes and MAYBE even my first 8x10 Ambrotype this week. Depends on the weather, rain is forecast here until at least the weekend.

The cart is QQC Collodion, the other 2 Poe Boy Collodion (longer exposure times 45 seconds plus). These are my first attempts at shooting in daylight, earlier pics were with a Speedotron Flash.

Poe Boy Exposure was 45 seconds, using a F2.5 178mm lens.

QQC, exposure was 15 seconds, using a F2.5 178mm lens.

Poe Boy, exposure was 2 minutes 30 seconds, Poe Boy Exposure was 45 seconds, using a F2.5 178mm lens. Movement is from wind.

Quote: Montgomery Clift (Actor)

"The only line that's wrong in William Shakespeare is 'holding a mirror up to nature'. You hold a magnifying glass up to nature. As an actor, you just enlarge it enough so that your audience can identify with the situation. If it were a mirror, we would have no art."

Quote: Chief Dan George

My Kijiji Workshops, Fun Classes

Here as some links to my "Darkroom Workshop" and my "Wet Plate Fun Day". Money earned from these classes will go towards the RV I will need to do the KANATA 10-15 year cross Canada wet plate project. Looking to eventually raise around $30 000 - 40 000 CAD for a RV, currently sitting at $381 CAD, so got a ways to go!! :)

Note* Advertising in both Calgary and Edmonton. Through the last 5 years or so I have taught about 30 workshops.

Note* Will probably add a view camera workshop soon. Offered it a few years back and it was very popular.

Darkroom Workshop
Collodion Wet Plate Fun Day

Japanese Interment Camps Canada

Another subject I hope to photograph in KANATA.

Japanese Internment Camps In Canada

Canadian Encyclopedia Japanese Interment Camps 

Residential School Locations In Canada

One of the subjects I hope to photograph in KANATA. Canada's program of residential schools in the country. A program that killed many children and destroyed many lives.

Residential School Locations In Canada

Costs For Wet Plate Mounting

Did another buy of chemicals from Antique Pictureology in Nova Scotia today. The costs are mounting. I added another $612.35 CAD bill. Last week did a bit Ethyl Ether and Hypo buy for wet plate.

Bought me

- 200 grams of Silver Nitrate
- 4x500ml bottles of Collodion USP
- Pyrogallic Acid

Beefore I am completed KANATA, tens of thousands of dollars will be spent, possibly 100s of thousands. I hope I can recover some of that money back in wet plate/darkroom/large format camera workshops and in print sales (the big unknown!).

Video: Inside Trailer Under Safelight

A video made up yesterday.

Safe Light Lit Interior Shots Of The New Darkroom Trailer

Some photos from inside the trailer during the first use yesterday. The safe light is only coming from the red filtered (not rubylith) door window. It was a joy to work in the trailer. Great height in the space, power (listened to tunes on my $12 stereo), secured table working area.

I need to to add more battery operated safe lights , add selves, fix up the sink some, add a roof standing area for tripod mounting/photo making, fix the man door lock, add a exhaust fan. I might also look into adding a small a/c unit and a screen door of some kind (to help prevent mass insect invasions when I am shooting up in Northern Canada. Also need to finish the black curtain system to block all light. No more black plastic bags taped to the roof and walls.

So far I love working in my new darkroom trailer. Yesterday's wet plate work was wonderful even thou I was making silly photographs. It is exciting to imagine what the future might hold. Imagine being in the field somewhere in Canada (KANATA) making important work, photography that matters, now that would be extra exciting and so life affirming! That type thing gives life meaning.

Trailer outside view.

Table working area.

Collion, water, silver bath and 2 fixers

Sink and work areas.

Add captionHalf assed plastic bags taped to the roof. Blocking light from the roof vent.

Darkroom Workshop And Wet Plate In Trailer!!

A good day. First I taught a darkroom workshop. Then I went outside to the darkroom trailer and did the specific gravity on my 2 silver baths. After getting the baths done I did up 10 or 4x5 tintypes. I used both Poe Boy and Quinn quick clear collodion. This is the first time I did wet plate in the trailer and the first time I did wet plate in outdoor available light!!!!!!

WHAT A JOY IT WAS, I LOVED EVERY SECOND!!

Note* I need to do a better job teaching my darkroom workshops, today I feel I failed. I need to slow things down and explain things better, be more patient.

Note** The Poe Boy collodion is much slower than Quinn Quick Clear. I was doing exposures of around 2 minutes 30 seconds with PB and using the same gear exposures of 2-6 seconds with QQC. Very different speeds, not sure why. The Poe Boy created nice images thou, I kind of like it. With that super slow speed I am not sure it can work in the field. I wonder if I invent my own type of Collodion. Thinking of Poe Boys alcohol mix along with Quinn Quick Clear salts (Cadmium Bromide, and Ammonium Iodide instead of Potassium Bromide and Potassium Iodide). Someone probably invented-tried that already, still might be worth a go.
Note** Also checked the specific gravity (using my new hydrometer) of my 2 silver baths and added Silver Nitrate AgNO3 and distilled water as needed. It all worked well.

Today's learning-work

Some Steps Forward Today

Well figured out a couple of things today, took some small steps forward.

The hydrometer I bought off E-Bay was the wrong type. I think it is designed for denser liquids.  I went down today to a local wine beer making shop and spoke to the knowledgeable fellow there, he recommended another type of hydrometer. I bought his choice, tested it, and it works fine (see photos). It works as I thought a hydrometer should work and as my wet plate Facebook friends told me it should. So now I can check the specific gravity of my 2 silver baths and add distilled water or silver (AgNO3)as needed. Will do that tonight.

The second step forward is my artificial light sunning device that I picked up for $25 at Goodwill yesterday, works!  Yesterday I had sunned my silver (cloudy day) for around 4 hours and filtered it, thinking it was pretty clean. Last night I re-sunned the same 2 silver baths under my artificial light source ("Daylight 10000 Classic") for around 10 hours. I had a lot more black organic material form. It seems the artificial light source actually did a better sunning job compared to leaving it outside under the cloudy sky. It is hard to judge how much better it was as the time under the different light sources was quite different, 4 hours versus 10 hours. It sure was a lot easier to do the artificial source sunning. No worries about people, animals or changes in weather affecting my expensive silver. I just locked everything up in my darkroom trailer and turn on the power switch, easy speezy!

Now I am re-filtering 2 silver baths, see photos. I have it rigged up on a stand allowing me to multitask (Thanks Quinn J for that idea).

Anyway a good couple of steps forward. The major wet plate project KANATA seems more doable all the time. It is slowly leaving the category of dream world and entering the, "YES THIS CAN BE DONE THING!!"

I will approach KANATA as a social documentary type project (the type of photography I love). I plan on photographing important subjects, like  the destructive genocidal First Nations Residential Schools as well as old battle sights -grave yards etc. I also hope to photograph First Nations reserve areas (if I can make friends and get permission). I  wish to photograph the areas where the Japanese were interned during the second world war and parts of the cross country railway lines where Chinese labour was used. This project needs to paint a accurate, true picture of Canada, the good and the bad. I will of course do the beauty spots along the coasts, the national parks, Niagra Falls, places like that as well. Will be making portraits of people from all the different cultures, races, religions across Canada.

I know that's a pretty tall order, but hell, impossible actually but I got to give it a try! Got to take my shot before they burn me up and place me in an urn! I would much rather live with failure then live with regret. So lets reach for the stars!

Covered The Trailer Window

Not sure this is going to work but I put a double layer of red filter material (got off amazon) on the door and a 1 1/2  layer filter on the window (ran out). I still need to cover the white plastic roof vent somehow. I was going to paint it red but do not have a ladder to get that high at my house. Will figure something out.

I might replace this filter material with darker rubylith if I can find it or I might just cover all the windows with dark cloth. The dark cloth idea is probably best.

Will test this amazon red filter stuff as soon as I can. I am having a few issues with checking my silver baths specific gravity. I think I have the wrong type hydrometer. Things are coming together SLOWLY!

Red filter material on door and window

Sunning Indoors And

Am attempting to SUN my silver in the trailer now, using the daylight device I bought yesterday. Al setup my neck brace stand. It is sort of half assed and not heavy enough. This will do for now, will get a better device head movement support device later.

Attempt at sunning silver under artifical light

Neck brace stand

Possible Artificial Light For Sunning Silver

Got a "Daylight 10000 Classic" light source for $25 from Goodwill.

I have been looking for a light source to SUN my wet plate silver nitrate bath. Sunning exposes the silver bath to UV light which is part of a cleaning process, part of maintaining a healthy bath. After sunning little black particles (organic material in the bath) are formed and drop to the bottom of the glass container, which you then can filter out of your bath.

You can of course SUN  silver in the actual sun or under cloudy skies (there is still UV light on cloudy days). But I also wanted the option of sunning the silver on rainy days and at. night. Being a night guard I am sort of a night owl on my days off, so having the ability to sun the silver inside the darkroom trailer at night as I do other things in the trailer and house, is a real bonus. An artificial light source will allow more flexibility. It will also be good to have later on when I am on the road doing KANATA (cross Canada long term photo project). If I have a power source, I can sun all night in the trailer while sleeping in my RV, then wake up early in the morning and filter my silver for same day use.

Will this $25 CAD unit a try to see if it works, if not, will use the unit as a light table.

Daylight 10000 Classic

A Few Dump Dog Photos

A Facebook friend was talking about REZ dogs (First Nations reserve dogs). His story made me think of some dump dogs from Mae Sot. Grabbed a few dog photos I found on the blog made since 2013. The dogs are difficult to photograph as for the most part they are afraid of people.

Various dump dogs

Tonights Work

Made my first Glop for Carbon Transfer Printing. Afterwards with much effort I made up 3 carbon transfer tissues, each measuring about 9x11. Will have to hold off on trying my first prints as I still waiting on the Potassium Dichromate I need to sensitize the tissues.

I also sunned my 2 silvers and then filtered them to death afterwards. I do not think I was filtering my Silver enough. I filtered these 2 baths until there was no more black particles left in the filters. That worked out to 4 filters for 1 bath and 5 filters for the other. Now they both seem very clean. I will try them out in the next few days!

Note* On my first go through with carbon transfer printing, I plan on using fixed out fibre photographic paper (have to find some old stock to use). The fibre paper is an easier substrate to do the first transfer to. Easy is something I need right now!

Red Filter Adxed To Trailer Darkroom Door

Put a double layer of a red filter (Amazon), over the door window in the trailer. This might be a temp thing, not sure. I can no longer open the windows with the filter on. Am also going to make black out cloths to allow film darkroom work. Ordered some more of this red filter material for the large side window. I will paint the roof hatch red as well later this week (thanks Christopher for that suggestion). If this all works out I will try using the trailer for the next series of wet plate tintypes. Am tired of using the house darkroom, up and down, up and down, up and down the stairs.

Red filter on door of trailer

Making My First Carbon Transfer GLOP!! And My First Carbon Tissue

Making my first GLOP for Carbon Transfer Printing today. If I like the final look of the prints (they can be transferred to a variety of surfaces including glass) I might end up doing some of the KANATA images with the process. Will need to make some prints and move on from there. 

"Ain't Photography Grand!!"

The gelatin is hardening now. The next step is adding ink and sugar to the mix.

Reheating the hardened gelatin until it is liquid again

60 grams of sugar as a platisizer.

12 grams of India ink.

Glop finished, with added ink, sugar and a bit of alcohol. Did a video of this but having trouble uploading it.

A little damned off area for pour. First pour was a mess, as the Glop was too cold and had already hardened too much. Attempt 2 after reheating Glop worked better.

Got my first carbon tissue poured (think that is what they are called). It took me 3 tries to get a reasonable pour. #1 the gelatin was too thick and it made a globby mess. #2 after reheating and liquefying the Glob again I poured too much making a bigger mess, every where. #3 I doubled the height of the magnetic damn and this tissue pour seems okay-ish. Will let it dry then make a second. and third. I am still waiting on my order of Potassium Dichromate (sensitizer) so cannot make any prints yet.

Kanata Email To An Akikdo Friend

Email to a Akido friend talking about KANATA....
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Yes Richard it is a really cool process. If you want to try it sometime let me know. Basically you put collodion on a plate, then light sensitize it before exposing it. You make your own film! The wet plate part is  that you need to do, the coating of the plate, to the development, before the plate (glass or metal) dries out. You have like 10-15 minutes or so to complete everything depending on humidity and other factors. Of course a thousand things can go wrong and do, and also there is a fair amount of danger with the chemistry. The chemicals can include explosive, flammable things like ether, alcohol and cancerous chemicals like Cadmium Bromide. So learning all the safety stuff and handling everything safely is part of the learning curve.

You also have the option of using KCN as a fixer (Potassium Cynanide) but am unsure if I will go down that road. Lots of photographers in the old days would die young. They would do stupid shit like drink the alcohol used in the process in their mobile darkrooms (you need to take you darkroom with you to where you make your pictures). The stories go that sometimes in the dark when they were drunk they would drink the fix (Potassium Cyanide mixed with distilled water) instead of the grain alcohol! Which equals one dead photographer. I will probably stick to traditional fixer Sodium Thiosulfate (Hypo), which is very safe.

The plan is to do a 10-15 year wet plate project, pictures on glass called Ambrotypes, on the subject of CANADA (KANATA). So will be doing portraits, and landscapes with some cityscapees and still lifes thrown in. Hopefully can do a few portraits of club members along the way. Want to pose? :) They might look something like this, see attachment (photo is a ambrotype made by a friend in Thailand, he is doing a series on Thai Buddhist monks).

Wood working sounds challenging, never been good at that sort of thing myself.

Thanks Gerry

Great Photograph, an Ambrotype made by Chardchakaj Waikawe

Another Rejection By Alberta Foundation For The Arts

Got the latest in a long line of rejections form the grant and art and acquisition people. This one is a province based rejection. Did not even make it to the second round again.

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Thank you for your application to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Art Acquisition by Application Program.
An expert panel, comprised of members from the Alberta arts community, has assessed your submission. We regret to inform you that the work you submitted for this deadline was not selected for acquisition. 

There were 598 artworks submitted to this deadline and 72 works were selected for in-person viewing.
We appreciate your interest in the programs offered by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and encourage you to apply at the next available deadline, which is April 1, 2021.

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I feel very disappointed, these lives, these stories will yet again be forgotten. I let my subjects down as I have done many times in the past. I guess the EXPERTS feel the lives, the stories, of Woo-Wee-Kai and Nui-Ooh are not worth remembering.

The money from the sales of the prints, would have gone back to the subjects. That will not happen now. Let them down again. I wish I was a better photographer, and could tell their stories with more heart, feeling, power. I do the best I can, guess it is not enough.

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/2020/03/art-by-acquisition-submission-to.html

Here is a link to other rejections by the Alberta art experts.

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/search?q=Acquisition

Child waiting for mother to finish work, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot garbage dump, Mae Sot, Thailand 2015

Family in their dump home, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot garbage dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2016

Dump shack homes and dogs, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot garbage dump, Mae Sot, Thailand 2016

Nui-ooh walking the garbage, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2016

Woo-wee-kai with her father in their home, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot garbage dump, Mae Sot, Thailand 2019