Picked Up A 2 Hygrometers

Got 2 of these hygrometers today. Want to use them to test the humidity of the cellar I MIGHT use to store the India chemicals. Will also test other possible storage areas, want to make sure the humidity is not to high. I was told that my cellar might be 90% humidity, I doubt that, but will check. Will put the second of these babies in the darkroom trailer. Knowing the temp and humidity of your location is very important in wet plate photography.The cost was $38 CAD for both including shipping.

Day 3 AMBROTOS KANATA

Had a fun Friday doing wet plate photos Was having a few issues then simplified and things went better. 7x7 inch Ambrotypes made with the Eddie Deardorff and the old brass petzval lens. A few 4x5s shot with the Toyo and 90mm also.

 

Trailer 1 Year Old

 from Facebook...

One year ago I got my sweet wet plate darkroom trailer. I should have it on the road and working next spring. It will save a ton of carrying and set up time. The tent works fine but it is difficult to use. I should be setting up the water pump for the sink in the trailer next week. Also thinking of putting a root platform to allow shooting from a higher vantage point, a exhaust fan and solar panels on it to help keep the battery charged. Might also try an inverter system of some kind. I have a small one in the unit now but it can only handle a AC timer, or small light. Some have also suggested air conditioning, not sure on that one thou. Will also need to figure out the best way to secure stuff for travelling. Most of the storage in the unit is second hand Goodwill plastic containers.'

 

Also trying to figure the best way to use the unit if I do some colder weather shooting. Hard to do a wet plate project like CANADA when you never shoot in the snow.

 

Experimenting Applying Asphaltum To Ambrotypes

Am experimenting with applying asphaltum to the back of clear glass ambrotypes. I used a roller to apply a 50/50 asphaltum/mineral spirits mix. Needed to do about 5 coats to get it this dark, but it seems to be working. Did two trial types with these so so practise plates. Type one I applied the asphaltum directly to the collodion, type 2 I varnished the plate then applied the asphaltum.

Seperating The Wet Plate Chemicals Into Smaller Bottles For Storage

 

Starting to transfer the 15 kilos of Indian chemicals to smaller lab style bottles. I did all the Potassium Bromide (white 1000 gram bottles) and part of the Ammonium Iodide (black 500 gram bottles). Ammonium Iodide is sensitive to oxygen.. I ran out of bottles and ordered some more via EBay from China. I have about 1/2 the Ammonium Iodide and all of the most dangerous chemical Cadmium Bromide to transfer yet.

The plan is to date and label these bottles then to keep each chemical separately in its own camping cooler, in a dark, dry, cool place. Possibly the root cellar in this house, which was originally designed for canning. The chemicals should be safe. I have them inside a zip lock bag with the air removed, then in a lab quality plastic bottle with both a plastic pop in lid and a plastic bottle cap. I then take those labelled bottles and place them in camping coolers (Cadmium Bromide cooler, Potassium Bromide cooler, Ammonium Iodide cooler), then I take the sealed coolers and place them in the root cellar.

I think this should work, hope it does!! I will need these chemicals for many years. I know I can do 5 years at least on the Ammonium Iodide, but after that its a bit of a crap shoot. Will save money regardless, but the more I use, the more I save.

 

A Day Of AMBROTOS KANATA Photography

Found some time to work on  AMBROTOS KANATA. I will be shooting 4x5, 7x7 and 8x10 glass plates. I am making Ambrotypes, down by North Saskatchewan river here in Edmonton tomorrow Friday the 25th. Send me a note if you plan a visit!

Nameless Children In Cold Graves, A Canada I did Not Know About, INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

I have been reading and trying to understand the horrors of the Indian Residential School system in Canada. The babies and children who died were put in unmarked graves, we do not even know how many died. I keep thinking about that, it keeps coming back to mind over and over agin. How monstrous, what evil behaviour. How can you bury a child whose life you were responsible for and not even record their name. That is beyond understanding, to not even care enough to record the name of the lost.

Crimes against children at residential school: The truth about St. Anne's - The Fifth Estate 

Chemicals From India In The House!

 The Potassium Bromide, Cadmium Bromide and Ammonium Iodide are safely I my darkroom. They arrived via FedEx from India today. Total cost with the $117 CAD customs fee was a little under $1800 CAD, for 15 kilos of chemicals!

I will separate chemicals into smaller bottles, label them and store them in a dark, cool place within the  next week. I hope to be able to use these chemicals for 10 years maybe a bit longer. The savings on this buy should be substantial, My previous cost for Cadmium Bromide was $65 CAD plus dangerous goods shipping fee for 25 grams, Ammonium Iodide was $40 for 25 grams.

Nuarc Off The Truck!

 Well managed somehow to get the huge, heavy and bulky Nuarc UV unit off the truck and safely sores on its pallet in the garage. Did it all by myself which was a difficult and interesting job. Got it down. with damaging it!

A Slow Week Off Ahead!

Busy week ahead. You get these weeks off work but they turn out busier than your work week. Need to:

- Continue to work making ambrotypes for the AMBROTOS KANATA project. I have been reading and trying to understand the horrors of the Residential School system in Canada. The babies and children who died were put in unmarked graves, we do not even know how many died. I keep thinking about that, monstrous, evil behaviour. How can you bury a child and not even record their name, that is beyond understanding, to not even care enough to record the name of the lost.

Got to try to photograph for KANATA. Hope to photograph remains of the school buildings for the project. Might be able to photograph the first former school, this week, not sure if I will be allowed to.

- Find a negative, scan and send it for the “Analog Forever Photography Magazine”. They need a high resolution image, only have low. The photo is connected to a story I told of children sledding down the garbage. This magazine I think is based in New York.

- Start work on a 8000-9000 letter story about THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP for the “Silver Grain Classics” Photography Magazine. Then get photos ready for that as well, deadline mid October. Found out this magazine is based in Germany.

- Continue communicating with a the historical Canadian camera organization which has a mag/newsletter, based in Toronto. They are interested in a profile, camera stuff and details on the ambrotype KANATA project.

My hope is that the project will eventually lead to raised awareness among Canadians through news organizations covering it (maybe eventually newspaper and TV news). That will help raise awareness about the subjects within KANATA like the Residential Schools, the survivors. It is so important to tell those stories and to document them, so we can learn and remember.

- Unpack and unload my Nuarc UV light unit.it was loaded on my dads old half ton truck with a small forklift last year, now I need to get it off, bring into the hose and set it up by hand, by myself. Hope the old muscles and back hold up.

Will use this wonderful machine to do carbon and platinum printing in the darkroom starting this winter. Hope to eventually use it as part of the AMBROTOS KANATA project and also to print THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP negs, plus all the other negs.

- Need to get mom a desk for her room at the centre. Mom likes to do puzzles and collecting and needs the space. Also need to book an appointment and visit her this week. There is a long procedure to get into her facility safely. I want to get her hair cut and dyed but still too worried a out Covid, mom is in a high risk group, she is 84.

- Will do a ton of cleaning at the old house, in a race against the snow. So days of work, cleaning and packing there. Also got yard work at the house. Am dreading the coming winter. Wish I was in sunny Thailand eating Som Tum instead! Laying about eating Thai food and making photos, seems more fun than carrying boxes and moping floors!

- Need to pick up my R18 RocknRoller cart from Vistek. This cart will help transport my heavy camera gear from the trailer to locations for KANATA. Will also need to build it.

- My large supply of chemicals from India arrives today. Need to receive them, then safely separate them into smaller bottles and store them in proper conditions for long time storage. Thinking of using mom and dads old root cellar for that, but will need to clean that out first. Hope to use the chemicals for many years on KANATA.

- Haul garbage to the dump, 2 loads at least. Move an upright freezer from a garage to the house, move out the stove. More back risks there.

- think there is more, but to busy to remember right now

Great to be on my week off, NOTHING AT ALL TO DO!

 

Bought Me A 5x7 Chamonix Wet Plate Holder

The Chamonix wet plate holders are very expensive but are top of the line when it comes build. The holders are made of would and carbon fiber. The cost was $220 USD including shipping. I love the 5x7 format and have multiple cameras that can shoot it, so why not give it a try. AMBROTOS KANATA is just starting but I should have the following plate size options, 4x5, 5x7, 7x7, 8x10, 11x14, 16x20, 20x24, 27x35 and 35x35

Wet Plate In The Wintertime? How Can It Be Done?

Canada is a cold winter place much of the year. How can I do a project to photograph Canada and not do winter shooting? That seems wrong, so got to figure out how to do wet plate in winter time.

I have a darkroom trailer with a furnace in it but there are safety concerns. Wet plate photographs use ether and alcohols in its productions, those fumes are potentially ignitable (explosion!). I have heard from different people that the ether gas ignition point would require an extremely high level of fumes, others have said the amount of fumes do not need to be that high to ignite. To be safe it is best to believe the later people.

So my problem when winter shooting is keeping myself and the chemicals warm, and NOT BLOWING MYSELF UP in the process. The chemicals need to be kept at a certain temp to be viable shooting in winter conditions. You also need to make various changes to the chemicals, which I am still learning.

As I go over how to shoot wet plate images during the wintertime in my head I think the dangers would be somewhat eliminated if I remove the storage of the collodion from inside the trailer and move the pouring of the plate to outside the trailer. The only time I would then be adding ether fumes to the darkroom trailer is when I carry the plate in and put it inside the silver bath, then when I develop. There will still be some fumes but doing the pours and keeping the bottles of collodion outside should cut down on fume-danger/totals quite a bit. 

If the collodion is stored outside, then it is going to get cold, so I need to figure away to keep it at proper temperature. Maybe a warm water bath of some kind, or an electric/battery (no sparks, no flame) heating device in the collodion cooler.

I need to figure out the safe way to do this, still in the thinking part but the project requires winter images, so got to figure a way to get this done.

Note* Right now I store my collodion in the trailer, inside camping coolers. I rarely smell any ether fumes until I open up the cooler, and when I put the lid back on, the odor from the fumes dissipates very quickly.

Another Magazine Feature For The Photography Work

More good magazine news this morning. The work has been accepted for "Silver Grain Classics Magazine".  Will be doing another story/interview, they said they could assign a writer or I could do it myself, plan the myself way. I do better when I can write and think things out, being interviewed live is a bit nerve wracking and a crap shoot.

More "Silver Grain Classics Magazine" details to follow.

So in the last while the following magazines have accepted and shown the work with interviews:

Shades of Grey Magazine - Online Magazine, first story with photos.

Shades of Grey Magzine - Online Magazine, second story with photos.

Analog Forever Magazine

and now

Silver Grain Classics Magazine.

I guess the PDF files I made up of the projects present the work in a positive way, at least for these magazine folk. Wish I could get more gallery shows for the work thou, tell the stories to more people. Right now the only exhibit I have scheduled is the big double show for THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP and THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, at the UNB Art Center at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New. Brunswick in 2022.

https://silvergrainclassics.com/en/magazine/

KANATA Subject: How To Shoot Road Kill?

 Been asking online friends a question, got lots of good answers. Here is the question.

Hey folks maybe you can help me out. I am looking for the best way to build a support system for a large 11x14 or 16x20 view camera that would allow me to shoot straight down, so an overhead support system of some kind. I am doing a long term wet plate photography project, one of the minor subjects I want to shoot are road kill of animals. So the idea is to set up the ULF view camera directly over top the dead animal pointing straight down. Any ideas on how to set that up best to make sure it is secure, safe (working along side highways etc) and a fairly fast in the field set up. Any suggestions would be appreciated, or pictures of set ups you have used. Thanks Gerry

Got a lot of people suggesting ladders and mirror set ups, also scaffolding. I think the best set up me would be adjustable saw horses combined with cross beams of boards from 2x4 to 2x8. I could attach the camera too the board via a clamp and then shoot directly down on the road kill. I am not sure I can shoot 16x20 this way but should be able to do 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14. Another factor to consider is I need to be careful not to block the light for the shot.

This type system would work good with road kill animals of all types and also shots that are focusing on the details of the Canadian landscape, possibly rocks, small land formations and vegetation.

Chemicals From India Cleared Customs

 My 15 kilos of Indian wet plate chemicals will arrive on Tuesday. I paid a $117 CAD customs fee today, the overall total cost is a bit less than $1800 CAD for the 3 chemicals, Potassium Bromide, Cadmium Bromide and Ammonium Iodide. I should save thousands of dollars on this deal, thou I am not sure how long I can store the chemicals for use. I was told by a PHD friend at work I could store Ammonium Iodide for at least 5 years, and he explained to me the best way to do that (smaller bottles, dry, cool, dark place at lower temperatures).

I will see how it goes, but am very happy with the deal right now. As a side benefit, I now have the proper CSN (?)number (still not sure what that is) to allow more shipments thought Canadian customs in the future. I am thinking of possibly ordering more of the same chemicals, or a variety of other types, like Sodium Thiosulfate, Cadmium Iodide, Potassium Iodide and Silver Nitrate. I am going to need a ton of Silver Nitrate for AMBROTOS KANATA any savings there would help a lot. There is also a company in China willing to sell me Silver Nitrate. I need to compare and get the cheapest price.

So now with this chemical deal from India and with the use of Canadian Bio Ethanol as the main alcohol I have cut costs per plate substantially. I also have a slightly cheaper Canadian source for Ether if I use a collodion with added ether, like Quinn's Quick Clear. I am currently leaning to using a mostly alcohol collodion. The cost of making my huge ULF 35x35 inch plates continues to fall.

My only remaining worry is the quality of the chemicals. The company in India is a large one with a 52 year history, so hopefully they make good chemicals :)

Note* I know I can store Ammonium Iodide for 5 years, am hoping to store and use the chemicals over a 10 year period, but not sure that is possible. I will follow the storage instructions given to me by a  person in charge of the laboratory at the company where I work security. Even if the chemicals do not last 10 years, even if they only last 5, I should still save a ton of money by going this way.

Update*  I am not sure how much collodion I will need for the project. How much collidion is needed to cover a 35x35 inch plate? How many hundreds, maybe thousands of plates (10 plus year project) will I be making that big? Plus all the smaller plate work.

When I get my chemicals delivered this coming Tuesday, I should have enough supplies to make (and these are rather ridiculous numbers). This seems like a lot:

Cadmium Bromide 833.33 x 1000 ml bottles of collodion, so over 833000 ml.

Ammonium Iodide 625 x 1000 ml bottles of collodion, so over 625000 ml.

Potassium Bromide 416.66 x 960 ml bottles of collodion, so over 416000 ml.

3 Reworked THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP Pictures

 from facebook...

3 reworked photos from the families series. THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP pictures, these are all from 2018. Tri-x and Leica R6 camera. I photographed the wedding of Chemeeko's parents in 2013, my 3rd day in the dump. Now have probably done over 100 visits to the garbage and the families over 7 years.

Day 2 Of AMBROTOS KANATA

 from Facebook...

Did another 8 hours or so at Elk Island National Park today working in the KANATA project. It was a wonderful day, a combination of a good sleep and fun photography will do that. The ambrotypes seemed a tad improved, the cooler 14-16C temp made things easier, no sweating int he tent and the plates looked cleaner today. 

 

 

Arrived at the park at around 710am and it was animals, animals animals on the 60km per hour drive in to where I was shooting at the beaver pond. First I had a female moose running next to the car about 20 feet to my left, then it was a heard of buffalo on both sides of the road, probably 30 or so animals, then a coyote and maybe 15 or so individual buffalo grazing along thee road. One of the highlights was a young strong looking buffalo running on the right side of the vehicle before heading into the bush, not a fast animal but definitely stocky and strong. Finally just before I got to the pond I saw a beautiful antlered elk on the side of a hill looking down at the road.. I took a few iPhone shots for you folks. Elk island is a small National Park about 45km from my home of Edmonton.

 

 

I set up my tent (45 minute to set up and 1 hour plus to take pack) and started shooting immediately on arrival. Was way off on the first exposure, I tried 13 seconds but the proper exposure was around 2 minutes 30 seconds (f11 on a modern 75mm lens). Yesterday the first 3 plates were way overexposed, today the first 2 underexposed, GO FIGURE! During the day the light did not seem to change much but the exposures did. I moved to a 90mm at F11 and had exposures from a high of 3 minutes to a low of 30 seconds (later in the day around 130pm). UV light is difficult to figure, I need a lot more experience. I am trying to think in terms of quality of light instead of quantity but I have so little wet plate experience that I have nothing to compare my days to. Later on I hope my judgment will be better. 

 

 

I used Gerry Collodion (no added ether) and my Toyo 4x5 camera with binocular hood device which I like (but you cannot take verticals). Did 5 different set ups, and made 12 plates (varied exposures), which I brought home loaded with glycerine, they are washing now. I am also filtering all my silver from the last two days in the trailer.

 

 

A very good day I think, relaxing, fun and productive. I know I can do KANATA now. I will try to pour my first 16x20 plate soon, maybe next week when I am off work. I know it is a bit early but want to get a feel for that before winter sets in.

 

 

All the way home from the park I was thinking of a Ambrotype picture I want to make, maybe next year. It is a panoramic shot with a 16x20 camera. I want to shoot from the roof of my trailer across a long field of grass with trees in the background. A herd of 20-40 buffalo will be grazing on the grass in front of the trees. Buffalo are an important part of Canadian history and a hugely important animal in First Nations culture, so doing a buffalo shot for KANATA seems right.

 

The First Day Of Ambrotos Kanata

 from Facebook...

The day 1 at Elk Island National Park for the KANATA project went pretty well.. I only got 2 hours sleep but pushed myself to get out there and glad I did. The initial 3 or 4 plates were overexposed (I think) so I kept lowering the exposure until I hit what felt like under exposure (I think), then I went back up a bit. Hope the plates are OK , I am still not used to making ambrotypes as I did mostly tintypes in the backyard while practising. We will see what these look like once the asphaltum is added later. 

 

I shot about 5 set ups over a 6 or so hour shooting time. Had the parks people on me 4 times including the park warden show up asking questions. They were freaking out a bit at the red fishing tent. Eventually person 4 radioed the rest of the staff to leave me alone. They were all polite and friendly but it was still rather annoying.

 

 

I found another location I want to try tomorrow, so will return and try and make more plates. Lots of firsts today, first time doing 4x5 glass, first time with the tent in a field, first time out of the backyard, first time using glycerine. Took Poe Boy and Quinn Quick Clear collodion but made all my plates with the Toyo and a modern 75mm lens and Gerry Collodion. Had multiple lens and the Graflex and Speed Graphic but did not use them. I wanted to simplify as much as I could today. The other gear, chemicals and a second silver bath were there if things went wrong, nothing did, seemed pretty straightforward, thou I was tired all day.

The highlight of the day was seeing that first set up ambrotype with proper exposure, BEAUTIFUL and EXCITING. Had a photo high there!! Might have got that moment on video. Another first today was using the GoPro head mounted camera. 

 

 

I brought 10 4x5 plates home, some are different exposures of the same setup.

 

 

Now to bed, am exhausted!

 

 

Update* Forgot to mention a highlight. On my first day, minutes after I set up the tent to start my 15 year KANATA project. I high stepped into KANATA with a stinky squish! I managed to step on a Elk Pie. So the rest of the day I had a beautiful odour competing with the collodion. See the last photo, Hope this is not an omen!