Today In The Wet Plate Trailer Darkroom

Today I did a bit of work in the wetplate trailer darkroom. I was working putting up new red LCD safe lights, but could not get them working, ordered some new battery power switches (4 AA batteries instead of 2). I also worked to unplug my sink. I did manage to do that, cleared out all the icky gunk and the backed up darkroom juices sloshed out. I will go in search of parts to work on the sink drain tomorrow. The trailer is coming together quite nicely!

Note* I might also try to hook the sink up to a camping RV pump to allow flowing water through the faucet in the field. If I can figure out how to do that!

FUN WET PLATE DAY, Only $199 CAD

Am offering a FUN WET PLATE PHOTO DAY along with my regular darkroom workshop on kijiji. Will add my view camera workshop soon (it was quite popular in the past.) All days/workshops etc cost $199 CAD.

If you want to try wetplate for a day, send me a message!!

FUN WETPLATE DAY WITH GERRY YAUM $199 

Quote: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"We must learn that to passively accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil."

YouTube Video: Today's Fix Of A Tintype

The learning continues. Here is some work, a 8x10 tintype fix. Getting bored with tintypes, need to move onto glass all the time (ambrotypes). Also getting bored with shooting things in my backyard, I need to get on the road with the wet plate trailer!!

The eventual goal with all of this is KANATA. A 10-15 year project wetplate project of Canada! Ambrotypes (positive), wetplate and film negatives. I might eventually be making Carbon prints from the glass negs.

Tech stuff
- Gerry Collodion
- 8x10 Deardorff (Eddie) with old brass Queen Victoria lens
- Vinegar developer with an added 40% alcohol, the temp in the trailer on starting today was 32C.
- Hypo fix is a 40% mix

Slowly but surely I am becoming a wetplater, ambrotypist!

Safety Note* After accidentally splashing some silver bath on my face last week I have moved up from the foam fitting safety glasses when handing the bath to higher end safety style goggles. I will now always wear goggles, Silver bath (made with Silver Nitrate and distilled water can blind you). Safety especially when doing something like wetplate is VERY IMPORTANT. Please if you do this process, learn and follow all the safety steps and wear proper PPE (Personal Protection Equipment).

YouTube Video Of Dim-sum and 8x10 Tintype Fix

Today's Video

YouTube Video: Fixing Tintype #2

Another step in the KANATA wetplate learning process.

Fix Tintype #2

4x5 Tintype Fix #2, Leaves July, 2020 Canada  (my backyard)

YouTube Video: Fixing An Ambrotype And KANATA, Thai Thoughts

The fixing of an ambrotype last week. Will get back it tomorrow! Eager to do more 8x10 ambrotypes.

I might try to get the trailer on the road in September. Since I cannot go to Thailand this year, I might as well start the KANATA wet plate Canada project early. Feel lousy about missing out on Thai and not returning to THE PEOPLE UNDER THE FREEWAY and THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, but such is life.

Covid-19 cannot stop the making of pictures. I can begin KANATA, shooting around Edmonton and parts of Alberta to start. We will see how this all develops.

YouTube video of the fixing an Ambrotype from last week, #1

The Fixing Of An Ambrotype #1

Tonights Wetplate Darkroom Trailer Buys

Three more wet plate trailer buys. I have learned when you have the proper tools, EVERYTHING BECOMES EASIER. Here are some new tools for the darkroom trailer KANATA project, cost $60 CAD including shipping and taxes.

A sanding device for larger plates with a 4mm thickness.

Hygro-Thermoeter for inside the trailer to measure both temp and humidity. It is very important to know both those numbers when doing wet plate. Your chemistry and process is adjusted depending on the temp and humidity your working in.

IR digital thermometer for measuring temps without touching

Neck Brace Shipped From The Ukraine

My new wetplate neck-head brace stand was shipped from the Ukraine today. The builder is an online Facebook friend, Andrey Badeev. It is a modern build of an old authentic 1800s design. The stand weighs in at 15 kilos (33 pounds), which is very important as it will not accidentally move during exposures. I also like that it can be used with a standing figure up to 190cm tall. The cost was $600 USD including shipping. It will probably take quite a while to arrive in this Covid-19 world. I hope to use it in the fall and then into the KANATA Ambrotype photo project for the next 10-15 years.

Standing up to 190cm and sitting set ups

My beautiful new head brace stand!

GPS? For KANATA!

Thinking of getting a used GPS device to use in the KANATA project. The idea would be for each Ambortype Plate in the project to have a GPS location of where the photo was made in Canada. The GPS location should be a nice add on to photo titles and to Canadian exhibitions, the GPS will Canadianize things all the more.

Big Order Of Bio Ethanol From Quebec

Since the Eco-Feu Bio Ethanol works for wet plate photography. I ordered 16 - 3.78L bottles for a cheaper price. Everything including free shipping cost $398.16 CAD plus GST tax. So it works out to $24.89 CAD per 3.78 L (1 US Gallon) jug. That price is one hell of a lot cheaper than buying Everclear 190 proof alcohol for $34.99 a 750ml bottle.

I hope this Eco-Feu product works out for me, I will use it for the entire lifte time of the KANATA project if it does.

Note* According to my rather shitty math skilks going with the BioEthanol works out to about 1/7 the cost. I can get 7 bottles of 750ml Eco-Feu Bio Ethanol for the cost of 1 750ml bottle of Everclear.

$24.89 CAD for 3780ml

34.99 CAD for 750ml

Last Days Work In Wet Plate

Another wonderful 5 hour evening of making tintypes. I love the slowness and the beauty of the process. You have lots of time to think, plan and dream. I have always loved having quiet time to dream maybe that is why being a nighttime security guard for 25 years has been a good fit. Wet plate Collodion photography is such a personal, quiet, meditative art form. I am growing to really love it.

Thought a lot of my 10-15 year wet plate project KANATA tonight. It is very daunting. It is impossible to photograph a country, especially one as huge as Canada.! How can that be done? How can you do it in wet plate? Even harder still how can you do it in ultra large format? Daunting is probably too weak a word!

The only way I know of getting things done with my limited talent and skill is to work harder, work my tail off, work till I drop. I will do that with KANATA and see what happens. I would rather reach big and fail than do nothing and live with what might have been. Failure is much easier to deal with compared to emotions like regret. I was planning to start in 2 or 3 years, I think instead I need to push up that start date to September 2020!! I will be making shitty technical photos to start with but got to get this ball rolling, am running out of lifespan here, 56 and counting down!

Here are tonight’s efforts. Photos made on Gerry Collodion (alcohol no ether), The Speed Graphic with 178mm Ektar lens at f2.5.. Vinegar development, exposures from 5 second to 30 seconds as the light died. Last picture was 30 seconds, made at 2135hrs.

Last effort as the sun set, 30 seconds

Detail, a bit brighter than real life

Washing plates in darkroom 2

Red beaming light from my darkroom headlamp, CYCLOPS like!

Today's wet plate

5th Ambrotype, Gerry Collodioin And Eco-Feu BioEthanol

Think this is the 5th 8x10 ambrotype I have made, from today. Gerry Collodion, Vinegar development (plus 40% alcohol), Eddy camera (8x10 Deardorff) with old brass Victoria lens. I used the same glass plate as yesterday, washed it down and re flowed and sensitized the plate.

Note* I used the new cheaper source for good quality ethanol in the Gerry Collodion. Here is a link for those who are interested. Wet platers, please give Eco-Feu BioEthanol a try, it works in Collodion!

Eco-Feu BioEthanol 

 

5th ever Ambrotype, 8x10 using Gerry Collodion and the Eco-Feu Bio Ethanol for the first time

Gerry Collodion Worked!

from Facebook...

Playing in the darkroom trailer again today doing wet plate. Loads of fun making plates even of shitty backyard subject matter. Cannot wait till I am on the road making small, larger and ULF plates. "Ain't Photography Grand"

Did up an order of black glass last night, it will not arrive for 3 months thou!! So for now will continue to use up my supplies of metal (tintypes) and the glass I have (broke one today).

Cool thing of the day? The experimental Gerry Collodion that I mixed last night actually worked! It is a mixture of the Poe Boy (Slow) and Quinn Quick Clear (uses Ether) formulas. Am sure others have played with a similar formula but I do not know that info or this Collodions name, so just calling it Gerry for now. It is an all alcohol mix (except for the Ether already in the Collodion). My thinking is I want to develop an all alcohol Collodion mix because later (I hope) I will be working with 35x35 inch plates and I am worried about the drying time on the plates. The way I look at it, the more time I have to work with a wet plate the better. An all alcohol Collodion mix will hopefully allow me extra minutes to get things done, when I am carrying the big heavy glass plates and working with the slow HF35 camera. Plus it is fun to experiment and photography should always be fun. Which is one of the reasons I have been at it for 42 years now (14 to 56).

Note* With this Gerry Collodion mix I also experimented with a cheaper Canadian type of alcohol. It seems to be working! So far I have put this alcohol in the glass cleaner, the developer and now the Gerry type Collodion mix. If it really works then buying this stuff in bulk for the ULF plates will be much cheaper. I will have 10+ years of buys ahead of me with the KANATA project.

Note** Exposure was 3 seconds at F 5.6.

4x5 tintype G Collodion. Scraped up the emulsion trying to remove it from the fixer tray, OOPS!

Black Glass Order

Just did an order of black glass for ambrotypes from an American seller. It will be expensive, with shipping the cost is $737.50 USD (over $1000 CAD). I got 100 4x5 sheets, and 50 8x10 sheets of black glass. The good thing about glass is that you can keep cleaning and re coating them until you get the perfect ambrotype (or until you break the glass!).

The bad part of this is the glass will not be shipped for 3 months. So I will probably not get anything until sometime in mid October, which will be at the far end of the shooting season here in Canada, just before another long cold winter.

Am hoping these glass plates will be used in my first gallery ambrotype show. Wonder how to frame them?

Queen Victoria 1899, By Carl Vandyk

This is a photo made of Queen Victoria in 1899. It is listed as a glass transparency (ambrotype?). The picture was taken by Carl Vandyk, the photographer who supposedly owned the lens I used today for first time. Could this lens have been used to photograph Queen Victoria (on a smaller format camera), highly doubtful but possible I guess. She looks tired but tough. Victoria passed in January 1901., age 81.

Note* The seller of the lens in the linked post mentions selling a 10x12 camera for 6000 pounds.

My lens mounted on Eddy today

Queen Victoria Lens?

Fighting the rain today but managed to do some wet plate work. Also mixed up a large vat of Quinn Quick Clear collodion, some iodizer and experimented a bit.

I made up, kinda invented my own Gerry collodion, a bit of Poe Boy and a bit of QQC. Just a small bottle, wanted to try it. Part of the fun of photography is experimenting. Am sure my mix has been done before by someone somewhere, but that previous formula was unknown to me when I mixed mine up. I will give it a try tomorrow! Mine is a no added ether type, with a Canadian source for alcohol (not sure it will work with collodion). I mixed up a small 270ml bottle, as this whole thing is rather experimental, might not work.

Also got some baskets at the $1.25 CAD store to protect the plates in the larger trays. The collodion pours on glass today went a tiny bit better I think. I made up 4 - 4x5 tintypes, 1-8x10 tintype and 2-8x10 ambrotypes.

My main problem today was getting the exposure right. Changing cameras and lens ain't helping the exposure judgment too much! One lens I was happy to use today might have a cool history. It might (big MIGHT) be a lens used to photograph Queen Victoria and or The King of Siam (Thailand). It was probably owned by a photographer who had those people as clients. I was happy of the look of the Petzval lens wide open. The first time I have shot one of these.

Note* Here is a post I wrote up in 2016 when originally bought the MAYBE Queen Victoria lens. I was told it belonged to photographer Carl Vandyk. I am sure there will be lot of naysayers out there but I am an optimist and believed the story of the seller. Plus its fun to think (hope) your using the same lens to photograph the famous of history to create your own KANATA photos.

History of the lens.

Ambrotype, 18 seconds, Queen Victoria Petzval lens wide open, 8x10 glass, QQC collodion, vinegar developer. NOTE * The lens does not have full 8x10 coverage.

Eddy 8x10 with the maybe, wannabe Queen Victoria lens.

Quote: Bob Marley

"The greatness of a man is not how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively."

Quote: Mathew Rossi (Canadian)

On reopening Canada-USA border.

“Why would Canada even THINK of reopening the border with the US when the US is completely incapable of keeping the virus in check? This is like inviting zombies into your house.”

2000 Damon Ultrasport 3670 Motorhome $37,500.00

Been looking for a possible future type of motorhome that might work for the KANATA 10-15 year photo project. I need a reliable unit at a reasonable price that can safely pull my 7x14 foot fully loaded down darkroom trailer.

Some advantages and disadvantages for these type pusher diesel units.

Disadvantage:

- Diesel engines costs more to repair
- Work on the unit would probably need to be done in larger semi truck repair shops.
- Most of the units are 37 or 38 feet or longer. I would want something around 31 feet long. Their is one model named the Alegro which makes 31.5 foot motor homes but I would need to find one used.

Advantage:

- Diesel engine get about 14 miles per gallon versus about 10 miles per gallon in a gas unit.
- Diesel engines last 2 times as long as gas engines, 500 000 miles are normal.
- Diesel engines pull trailers much better than gas trailers, they have much more torque.
- More options, nicer RVs than the gas models.
- The air breaks on a diesel vehicle are supposedly far superior and easier maintain than their gas cousins.
- The suspension is better on a diesel.

These "Diesel Pusher" type motorhomes might be the RV that works for me. They
 are quite beautiful and with that strong motor, might be the ticket. I will also need a good shower system to clean up in after all the thousands of hours of chemical work required for the project to make the ambrotypes. I will need to wash the chemicals off my body nightly to survive this long photo project thing!

As you can see this unit is quite luxurious, 20 years old and at a price level I might be able to handle in two to three years. I am now saving for the vehicle I will need.

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2000 Damon Ultrasport 3670 Motorhome $37,500.00

Description

2000 Damon UltraSport 3670 This diesel pusher is on a Feightliner Chassis with a 5.9 Cummins 275 hp ISB engine and a 6 speed Allison Transmission. 126,951 miles. It has an Onan 6300 Propane Generator with 1015 hrs on it. Equipped with a trailer hitch and brake controller. She rides on 22.5 Michelin Tires. It has 2 chassis and 4 coach batteries, 2 AC units, and 1 Fantastic Fan. She had a new water pump and front airbags in 2019. 1 large slide out with slide awning in the living room. It comes with window awning and a large main awning. The roof has been resealed every year. It also comes with exterior window sun cover.
Inside you will find comfortable powered driver and passenger seats and the windshield in good condition to see out of. There is a big comfy recliner and side table behind the passenger seat. Across from that you will find a large hide-a-bed couch. It has a bench dining table with full storage under each bench. For the kitchen it has a 2 door fridge, convection microwave, gas stove top and oven, updated kitchen faucet, & pantry with slide out. She has a roomy bathroom with large shower, large closet and plant more drawers and cupboards. There is a queen sized bed with small closets and drawers on each side. Also LED lighting throughout entire bus.

2000 Damon Ultrasport 3670 Motorhome $37,500.0

Quote: Bruce Lee

"A man who is empty on the inside, must decorate himself on the outside."

Quote: Franklin Deleno Roosevelt

"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs, however, has never learned to walk forward."

THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Layout "Shades Of Grey"

Here is the layout for  THE PEOPLE UNDER THE FREEWAY in the online photo magazine "Shades of Grey: Fine Art Photography Magazine". Thank you for the wonderful 14 pages, telling the stories of the forgotten lives under the freeway. All the photos they chose were made in a short period of time (over like 4 or 5shooting days in 2019)

Note* This is the second series they covered, last issue they did THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP. Thank you to Jean Michel and all the other wonderful folks at "Shades of Grey"