Possible Subjects Around Edmonton For AMBROTOS KANATA

Next week off I will start my long planned wet plate photography project AMBROTOS KANATA. I am way ahead of schedule, will be going 2 years early, while I am still learning the process.

My plan to  begin slow. I will, to do 4x5 and 8x10 Ambrotypes (pictures on glass). I will shoot around my home city of Edmonton and use the ice fishing tent as a darkroom. Next spring when I have a towing vehicle set up I will take the darkroom trailer out for the first time. Working in the tent will be more difficult, but it is what it is.

Some possible Edmonton shooting locations include:

- Lois Hole Provincial Park. Which is close to my home and semi isolated, allowing me to screw up privately.
- Elk Island National Park, located just East of Edmonton, lots of Buffalo and nature here.
- Various Edmonton Cemeteries, including Evergreen, where my father is buried and where I will eventually be as well.
- Old School Houses, in the Edmonton area. A series of huge imposing structures 100 years old or older.

Will think of more ideas in the coming week. Sent emails out to friends for help with "subjects". Any suggestion made by anyone, is a good suggestion.

Todays Wet Plate Stuff

from Facebook...

Got out a little late tonight but managed to do a few wet plate things today. I reattached the rubylith to the large window using the magnet system only. I hope the commercial adhesive keeps the magnet tape stuck to the wall this time. If it does, than this should be a good working system. The door rubylith magnet set up seems to be much stronger even thou I used very thin, probably 1/4" magnet tape for that window.

Did more work in the tent today even thou I could have used the trailer. I am prepping for going into the field next week off to start the KANATA project around Edmonton. It should be interesting and an error full adventure but it is part of the learning curve. I think I will mix up some more Poe Boy collodion for those ambrotypes, I only have about 15% left from my first mix.

Today did a couple of 4x5 tintypes and tried 1 ambrotype 8x10 but it did not work, possibly underexposure, ran out out of time to start another. I will revert back to my modern lens for the start of the project when doing 8x10 ambrotypes. Will either use the 250mm Fuji F6.7 or the 300mm Nikon F5.6.

I will need to order some pre-cut 4x5 and 8x10 cut glass as I have no way to transport the large sheets of glass I hope to cut myself. Thinking of not doing 2mm glass as it is rather fragile, will try 3mm and 4 mm to start with. Will get like 10 4x5 and 8x10 in clear glass.

The progress into wet plate seems to be going OK thanks to the help of many of you. I am having trouble with the UV light thing (thanks D for your help), but other than that, things are going fairly smoothly so far. The wet plate working system seems to be flowing a bit better now but I still do dumb things at time and make beginner mistakes. Little by little we are going to get this done. I will have to move to indoor shooting in November as the weather will start getting very cold here in Edmonton then. Next spring thou it will be full speed ahead into AMBROTOS KANATA.....I hope :)

 

 

Sending Work To "Analog Forever Magazine" For Publication

I just sent out 10 images, HUGE files 300 dpi with a minimum 16 inches on the short side. The photos are part of the submission for the layout in the upcoming issue of ANALOG FOREVER magazine. The editor asked me to get him the photos early so his design team can put the work together for the mag. This is a REAL HARD COPY PAPER MAGAZINE, not just an online site thing, which is old hat for me. It will be nice to have the work in a real magazine that sells at a store.

Will send them more images in the coming days if the first 10 meet their specs and requirements. There is also an interview that will go along with the photographs. I answered the first set of questions a while back, and will be answering questions directly related to THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP in the next part of the interview.

I think these film (no digital allowed) work photographs from THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP will be shown in their 3rd issue. I am happy that THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP story will reach a larger audience.

https://www.analogforevermagazine.com/shop/issue-2-summer-2020

Ice Tent Anyone?

 from Facebook.....

A different type of wet plate photo day. First my magnet set up on large rubylith window, came crashing down! The sticky magnet tape was not sticky enough. It peeled off the wall over night. I reattached the magnet tape this time using a industrial trim adhesive spray. I am letting the glue set over night. My rubylith got damaged as well so I had to cut a new sheet. Also lost a beaker in the event.

With the trailer down I decided to use my ice fishing tent for the first time and it seemed to work! Am trying to organize a working system with the tent. The tent and the trailer are quite different working environments. Today in the tent was very awkward at times. At one point I almost knocked over my silver bath! Barely avoided that disaster, only a bi of spillage. We will figure this out slowly but surely. Like most things, effort and practice leads to positive results.

I will continue to work with the tent tomorrow. My plan is to start AMBROTOS KANATA in September. Because I do not currently have a hitched vehicle to tow the trailer I will be using the tent and the car to start the project.

 

Poe Boy Collodion seemed work best.

Today's workspace, an ice fishing tent.

Hard Day Them Some Ambrotypes

Had a hard day of difficult chores and was quite tired but then at the end of the day I still managed to test out the new rubylith window in the trailer darkroom. It always amazes me how no matter how tired I am, how making photos rejuvenates me. Whenever I make pictures I seem to get a physical and emotional boost that pushes me through my tiredness. I have hope that this "joy for making photographs" will help me. when I dive into AMBROTOS KANATA full time, giving me the strength to create what I hope to create. The amount of work in a project like this is staggering. Image by image, day by day is the ticket.

The new darkroom trailer set up worked well. I did not have any fogging problems like last time out. Spent quite of time working on my silver last week, maybe that helped. With the trailer darkroom LED safe light on, with my head safe light lamp on, and with the two new large rubylith protected windows (a big side window and door window) and my painted red roof vent, THERE WAS NO APPARENT FOGGING ON THE PLATES. So all looks good so far with the rubylith windows. I might have problem on a very bright and sunny day but will have the option to double the density of the rubylith if that is an issue. Todays ambrotypes (2 om the same glass) were underexposed but still beautiful. See the attached images. Also tried my new head stand for the first time.

I love the way the subject seems alive inside the glass. I cannot wait to get out into the grand Canadian landscape and be making ULF Ambrotypes (photos on glass). What a joy life is, what a gift to have photography to do, and ideas and dreams to chase!!

Ambrotype from today.

Inside the new rubylith window trailer darkroom

Rubylight Now On Big Trailer Window, And Trailer Extras

from Facebook....

I removed the tapped on red filter material From the large trailer window and put up a single sheet of rubyllith. To hold the rubylith over the window I am using two levels of magnet strip tape. One magnet strip taped to the wall, then the rubylith , then a second magnet strip all the way round to prevent light leaks.

I will add a removable dark cloth to the door and window later. Not sure the best way to this, maybe a combination of velcro and magnet tape or just velcro. Having both safe light and complete darkness will allow me to use the space as both a wet plate darkroom and as a regular darkroom. With the magnet set up I should also be able to remove everything and open both windows up to allow air flow.

Thank you to all those out there in Facebook land who helped me with this.

I also got a 5 gallon water cooler for $25 CAD and a cooler for free (found in the garbage). Both of these should be useful while making plates in the field.

 

Rubylith on big window

5 gallon water cooler $25

Free cooler found in garbage

 

Relatives!

More Chemicals Bought Today

A Canadian  chemical company (Xenex Labs) had an old price listed for 10 kilos of Sodium Thiosulfate (HYPO). The old price was $95, the new price quite a bit more, so I decided to order some day. To get the free shipping you need to buy $200  worth of chemicals, so I also bought 2 500gram bottles of Potassium Iodide powder, used in Poe Boy collodion. So the cost was $65 times 2 plus $95 for a total cost including shipping of $225 CAD.

I should have enough HYPO for quite a while. I have some of the free bottles left that I got years ago, an order of  7.5 Kilos from another Canadian chemical company (cost $55 for 2.5 kilos), plus the 10 kilos ordered today.

When you mix your fix in a 40% mixture as I do for wet plate, it goes  quite fast.

Used 5 Gallon Water Jug And Garbage Cooler

Added a couple of items to my darkroom trailer today. A 5 gallon Rubbermaid water jug and a large  Coleman cooler found in the garbage. The water jug cost $25 CAD and the cooler was free. I can use the cooler to store chemistry and the jug as a water source in and out of the trailer on location.

5 Gallon Water Container

Quote: James Baldwin (Writer, Activist)

Quote: Chief Dan George (Actor, Poet, Muscian, Tribal Leader)

[at a celebration of Canada's 100th anniversary, July 1, 1967] 

"In the long hundred years since the white man came, I have seen my freedom disappear like the salmon going mysteriously out to sea. The white man's strange customs which I could not understand pressed down on me until I could no longer breathe. When I fought to protect my land and my home, I was called a savage. When I neither understood nor welcomed his way of life, I was called lazy. When I tried to rule my people, I was stripped of my authority. My nation was ignored in your history textbooks - they were little more important in the history of Canada than the buffalo that ranged the plains. I was ridiculed in your plays and motion pictures, and when I drank your firewater, I got drunk, very drunk. Oh, Canada, how can I celebrate with you this centenary, this hundred years?"

Mom In Her Room August 2020

Hasselblad X1d digital photo of mom made last week. I need to figure out this camera, so far am unhappy with the pictures I have made with it.

Mom in her room with a painting of a tree she made, Edmonton, Canada, 2020

40-3.78 Litre Bottles of Bio Ethanol

I now have 40 bottles (one opened) of the Eco-Feu Bio Ethanol for my ABROTOS KANATA wet plate photograph project. That along with the 15 kilos of chemicals (Cadmium  Bromide, Potassium Bromide and Ammonium Iodide), should carry me a long way as well as cutting into the costs of the project substantially. I could be saving upwards of $5000 CAD by going this way. Assuming of course everything happens as I plan it to happen!! :) Never a sure thingy.

Bought Me 3 Bottles of Glycerine

Ordered 3-1000 ml bottles of vegetable glycerine last night. Cost was $60 CAD including shipping. Will use the glycerine when I need to keep the glass Ambrotype plates wet in the field before fixing or washing. With the glycerine on the glass you can safely preserve and transport the plate to a location where fixing and or washing can occur. It allows you time to transport and do a redevelopment of glass negatives.

Note* You cannot dry then re-wet wet collodion ambrotypes and negs as the collodion will peel off the plate and be damaged. They must stay wet till completion and dried only one time.

100 Photographs? Book Idea

Playing with books again, for the 1005th time. Here is a cover for a possible book. I might try to make this up in Blurb magazine form first (that is where the book idea always dies). The idea is simple, a short introduction, 100 photos I like, with titles. I ma thinking of not including my fake name Gerry Yaum, making it only about the pictures not me.

Large Sodium Thiosulfate Order? Agitation In The Field?

Looking to do a 30-50 Kilo order of Sodium Thiosulfate (Hypo) order in the next few days. Hypo is a fixing agent I can use in my normal darkroom or more importantly in my wet plate photo trailer for the large glass plates of the AMBROTOS KANATA photo project.

Also looking to possibly set up an agitation system for the extended washes necessary. My friend Kurt M in Italy who does ULF plates using Hypo Fixer, washes plates in the field for upwards of 2 hours.

Something like this device or many of these devices might work to help ease the agitation monotony and work.

Aquarium Wavemaker

Quote: Vice President Joe Biden

"For love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. Light is more powerful than dark."

Laughing Child In The Garbage

Smaller digi file but an interesting photo.

Laughing Child, Mae Sot garbage dump, Thailand

Some New/Found Photo Edits

from Facebook...

Playing with some forgotten files found on SD cards and in my Thai PC. These are all new images to me. Will add to this post throughout my night shift.

Eldest Win family daughter at the dump at night., THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2018. This young girls mother told me that her daughter would sometimes pass out in the garbage while working. I have photographed her and her family since 2013. She often just stares at me and does not speak much. What kind of future can she possibly have?

Father and son in their dump shack under candle light, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2018

Dumpscape, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Man on street under blanket, SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT, Bangkok, Thailand 2018

Made wandering the streets of Hanoi Vietnam at night, 2018. Flags were pretty well everywhere, this one was hanging in a congested area of apartments.

From the series SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT, made in Bangkok in 2018 (I think). Lek had been sleeping on the sidewalk and just woke up. I photographed him several times, he and his friends would sleep on the road in the same area every night, a bit down the street from the 5 star hotels and the go go bars.

From the ongoing series SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT, Bangkok, Thailand 2018. Sukhumvit road is a very busy roadway in Bangkok that never sleeps. This is Lek, he slept on the street in the same area every night. He was a friendly man who became a friend. I bought him a blanket but he never used it to sleep.

From the series SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT, Bangkok Thailand, 2018 (I think). Khune Lek dancing on the street.

From the KODOKU (Solitude) photo series made in Japan in 2017.

Sex worker in short time sex room. SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT, Bangkok 2018. I had not photographed workers in short time rooms since about 2003, this was a bit of a throwback image. Sad difficult and desperate life, hard to be enter that world again. Imagine living in that world on a nightly basis for years on end.

Big Chemial Buy

Am doing a large chemical order from a company in India. I will buy:

- Potassium Iodide 5 Kilos (Poe Boy Collodion)
- Cadmium Bromide 5 Kilos (Quinn Quick Clear Collodion and Gerry Colldion)
- Ammonium Iodide 5 Kilos (Quinn Quick Clear Collodion and Gerry Colldion)

Total cost including shipping to my home, $1305 USD.

These chemicals are salts involved with the making of collodion in the wet plate photographic process. I will be using the chemicals during my 15 year ambrotype Canada project, AMBROTOS KANATA.

This is a risk venture, first time dealing with company, quality of chemicals, long term storage of chemicals, duty charges on chemicals, how long will they stay viable after 5 years? etc. Lots of possible problems with ordering this much chemistry.

I think the buy is worth it because the potential savings are in the thousands of dollars range. If this works the cost of making ultra large ambrotypes measuring 35x35 inches will go way down.

I will follow the storage instructions that my PHD friend at the laboratory at work recommended. I will repackage the 5 kilos into smaller 500 gram and 1000 gram bottles, I will store in 1-4C temps (if I can), I will keep the chemicals in low humidity. I hope the chemistry will still be use-sable in 5 years, even if not, if I use only 1/2 the chemicals the savings will be worth it. The savings you get by buying 5 kilos from India, seem huge, much better than the costs of buying them from the USA or CANADA in periodic small doses. Each chemical is different thou, some things in India are more expensive, like Hypo Ammonium Thiosulfate.

Note* It took me 2 tries at 2 banks but got the money out today! Hopefully in about 1 month I will have a 5 plus year supply of chemistry for my wet plate project .If this works will order other chemicals, maybe Silver Nitrate as well! Silver Nitrate is the MOST EXPENSIVE part of wet plate photography.

Long Day In The Trailer

Long day in the trailer. I need to get in better shape if I hope to be able to do my big wet plate project, even making small plates is exhausting after 8 or so hours. In the field I will no doubt have 12-16 hour days, when you get into your late 60s early 70s, that might be a bit tough :). This project will be extremely demanding on a physical level, hope I am up to it.

During the wet plate work today I had some technical issues. My mind spinning in circles at times. The first 3 plates on QQC collodion were fine then I started getting a fog like (not veiling) on the plates. I tried many things, exposure, developer, silver, fix, but problem persisted, which was rather frustrating.. When I went to slower collodion (Poe Boy) the problem seemed better. I then decided it might be a fogging issue from the safe lights in the trailer. I added more battery safe lights and changed out my existing red door filter to for Rubylith this week. So this was the first time I was working under these new lighting conditions

When I turned off the safe lights, the problem seemed to go away. Patience is always required in the process, something Quinn J mentions numerous times in his books.

I find exposure the most difficult part of wet plate so far. Overexposure is throwing me for a bit of a loop at times. Eventually getting into making negatives will be fun!!

Today's photo, my fathers funeral crucifix and rosary again.

Possible Inverter For The Trailer

I think the unit I have mounted to my trailer wall is just a charging device, not an inverter. I will do some more research but if it is not what I need I am thinking of buying an inverter for the new battery. It would allow me radio, brighter safelights, timer, water agitators etc in the field.

Energizer 2000 watt from 12V Inverter

Possible Inverter For The Trailer

Cut Glass!!

For the first time I was able to cut glass. I cut a broken piece of 8x10 glass down to 7x7 inches. I have a 7x7 inch adapter for my 8x10 wet plate back. The ability to cut glass is an important part of AMBROTOS KANATA (my wet plate project). I will need to cut large sheets of 2mm, 3mm and 4mm glass down to the proper sizes, for my ambrotypes. So far so good, the 2mm glass I practised on today was cut with no mistakes.

First 2 time cutting glass

Trailer Water Tank

Added my 26 gallon fresh water tank to the trailer. Will need to figure some way to secure it to the floor and then hook it up via a 12 volt pump to the sink. This will give me running water in the field, in remote areas, off the new battery.

New 26 gallon water tank