I made the mistake of buying 2 lens at about the 1800mm size. One is the 1780mm Nikkor and the other the Carl Zeiss Jena Apochromat Tessar 15/180cm (1800mm) Lens. One advantage the Zeiss has is the fact it is probably 40-50% smaller.
My week off work starts tomorrow. I need to dive head long into the darkroom trailer, get the water pump working and prepare the trailer up for road travel. I will need to figure out a working system to store everything safely while allowing for relatively fast set ups on location.
Today I ducted tape an old lens damaged cap that came with my 1920, Carl Zeiss Jena Apochromat Tessar 15/180cm (1800mm) Lens. I will use it as a back cap on this little beauty, am having a front cap made by Andrey Badeev.
Still figuring out how to get a flange made for this lens. Am trying to avoid shipping it to S.K. Grimes. Expensive lens, very difficult to find! Am worried about shipping damage.
Carl Zeiss Jena Apochromat Tessar 15/180cm (1800mm) Lens, with duct taped rear cap
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Thinking of getting a back up camera(s) for the RV, darkroom trailer set up. The RV is 28 feet, the trailer is 14, with the hitch gap were talking 45-48 feet of length. Having 2 back up cameras, one on the RV (for use when there is no trailer) and one on the trailer. Seems like a good plan. Been watching YouTube installation vids on this unit, it seems doable. With the extra camera, the total cost would be about $450 CAD (self installation).
This Ceylon photography by Julia Margaret Cameron has been haunting me the last few days. A 150 year old photograph that haunts in 2021, now that is some great photography!
I hope some of the work, especially the coming wet plate ambrotypes have the chance to be exhibited at Cameron's old home Dimbola, on the Isle of Wight, England. What a true honour it would be to show photographs where JMC made so many great works.
Bought a motor home to use on the wet plate Canada photography project AMBROTOS KANATA. This unit is 21 years old, but I think (hope) it can get the job done. The project can officially begin, June 2021. I AM SO F-CKING EXCITED!!! I can now travel/camp and make ambrotypes. Let the journey, the adventures and the fun begin!! This is going to be good :).
Here are the details RVs details, from the seller...
2000 E450 Travelaire 28' DIESEL C Class motor home. Legendary 7.3 Powerstroke! This is the real deal of both economy, power, and incredible reliability.
- Professionally installed Siemens solar on roof
- Cummins Onan 4500 watt onboard Genny with separate fuel tank
- Large inverter for off grid 120V
- Newer fridge/freezer
- Range, oven, microwave
- Interior is beautifully finished
- Ducted furnace and A/C
- Diamond eye downpipe and new 4" exhaust
- New front tires
- New awning
- Outdoor shower
- Front and rear hitch receivers
- Lots of storage
This rig is ready for off grid camping and to tow anything you fancy
The new/used Travelaire Type C 28 foot RV with Diesel 7.3 enghine
Also attached the 600mm F9 Apo-Nikkor to a lens board. Picked this little lens up from a seller in Thai a few years back. I need to get a lens cap made for this one.
Got my flange and lens board combo from S.K. Grimes today. I just attached it to my 42 inch F14 Artar Red Dot lens. I bought the lens way back in June of 2016, and finally got a flange for it! Not sure what this beautiful thing will cover but it will work with various formats I plan to use. 16x16, 12x20, 16x20, 20x24, 29x35 and 35x35 inches. The lens should work for some of those. Will start using it soon!
The 42 inch Artar Red Dot in the Chamonix Sinar adaptor board. I plan on using this lens for the 16x16, 12x20 and 16x20 format sizes with the Chamonix 16x20 camera.
Here are some links to the wonderful work of Julia Margaret Cameron. I wish she would have kept photographing in Ceylon, I really love those images, they are mysterious and magical. I wonder how many of those later photographs were lost?
Some recent possible/maybe interest for THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP and THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY by the Dimbola Museum and Galleries on the Isle of Wight in Great Britain/England. It is early days, this might not happen.
Dimbola is a truly unique and amazing place. It is the former home of
the great Victorian era photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Just
visiting their would be a wonderful experience, showing there would be
surreal.
The wet plate imagery, has a bigger chance of being shown I think. The Dimbola might also be a location for future exhibitions for the Canadian wet plate AMBROTOS KANATA ambrotype/negative project. Imagine showing. wet plate images in the same location as one of the greatest photographers in history. To have work shown in a place where Julia Margaret Cameron felt and created her wonderful imagery. A lovely venue and a possible future exhibition opportunity. Things like this enjoyable to think about while making ambrotypes. Opportunities like this are inspiring, they drive you to work harder. Got to love that! It can only make AMBROTOS KANATA better.
More to come. I HOPE! :)
Please check out their website, and support their wonderful work if you can.
Found out today that the Covid-19 virus is spreading badly in the area of Klong Toey Slum where I made THE PEOPLE LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY photos. Bangkok is now a hotspot, Klong Toey is worse. In the area under the freeway the government medical people and police have found many positive cases as well as many illegal workers. They also closed down the nearby KlongToey Market two days ago.
Just had my talk with the English writer Richard W about Dupree Bolton and my time as a 21 year old in West Oakland California. He is writing a book about Dupree, who was a world class Jazz trump player. It was a fun and fascinating 45 minute talk. Some/parts of those stories and memories might make the book.
Richard also asked about the photos I made at the time, which I will look for now and try to forward to him. It is important that Dupree's story is told, he should not be forgotten. I was told he had been addicted to heroin since the 1940s, so he was already using for 40 years when I first met him in 1985-86.
I wished Richard luck in writing the book and he told me he would get back to me later. The photo is of Dupree about the time I knew him. I did not make this picture but I did photograph him on Tri-x wearing this same jean jacket. I photographed him on the street in San Francisco wearing it while holding his trumpet, and one time in a abandoned jazz club after he had shot heroin. He died about 6-7 years after I first met him.
Dupree was kind and friendly to me. I hope they show that ability to be kind in the book.
Update: Wrote this comment on Facebook when answering a comment made by a friend about the abuse.
GY- yes...the abuse was part of his life but I hope the book includes so much more. The writer wanted me to talk about his personality his thoughts, his friends etc. I hope the book is rounded and true to who Dupree was as a person. I guess originally the writer had done an article on him, and he is now expanding it to book form. He has been interviewing people for 20 years, many who have passed. I feel he is going to do something beyond the drug stuff, which is beautiful and the right way to go.
Strange moment of the day, first a bit of background. So the year is 1985-86. I was 21 and had travelled West to Vancouver and then South down the West coast of America. My idea was to make photos of what I found, it was about 7-8 month trip, 6 of those months in the USA.
When I made it to San Francisco I happened upon a African American man playing a trumpet for quarters and dimes in Chinatown, his name was Dupree Bolton. Over time Dupree and I became friends of a sort and he introduced me to some of his other friends in a ghetto area of West Oakland across the bay from Frisco. I stayed with my new friends for many months, 3 or so, sleeping in an abandoned Jazz club where I had a small darkroom set up in the tiny washroom
That period in my life changed my future. Being a white Canadian boy with very limited experience, living in a black ghetto was a rather eye opening experience. Most of the men I met there were older. They were ex boxers, ex football players, jazz people, ex convicts (San Quentin Prison). They taught me so much. I left Oakland a better person than when I arrived.
Now the rest of the story. It turns out Dupree was in his way "a trumpet genius". Another mysterious person in Jazz history who lost his soul to the demons of heroin.
Today I was contacted by a writer Richard W from London, England. He is a former writer for the Times and Guardian news papers. Richard is writing a book and wants to do an interview about Dupree. He is also asking about some bad photos I took at that time. The writer will telephone tomorrow.
Strange how life comes full circle. My 57 year old self will try to remember back to when I was 21 and hanging with Dupree.
Here is Dupree playing on TV years before I knew him.
Dupree, what he looked like when I knew him, photo by unknown photographer
These
were donated from work a few years back. The doll with red hair I gave
to a young girl in the dump, a sweet moment. Toys given from one child
to another.
Am learning more about towing, the dangers, the government regulations etc. One thing I learned today is that with a Type C motorhome you have a trailer tongue weight limit of around 500lbs for most Type C Motorhomes. That is because with many Type Cs there is a huge overhang from the rear wheels of the RV to the bumper. If you put too much weight on that rear bumper (over 500lbs) it can become unsafe to tow the trailer.
To counter that danger they have a device called a TOAD TRAILER. The toad trailer is a set of wheels that supports the weight of the tongue of the trailer being towed. It makes perfect safety sense to buy a unit like this, even thou it will be expensive ($3700CAD plus). I also read the toad wheels assist with overall trailer stability and helps reduce trailer wobble and shake.
I wonder if it will help stabilize the darkroom trailer when it is still attached to the motorhome and I am walking around and working in it. It probably will, so that will be a second bonus. It will help me to make the towing safer and help the working stability inside the trailer. Well worth the money I think!
I might be using one of these 'Trailer Toads" in the future. Here is what they look like.
Update: Posted this on my Facebook page, got lots of feedback and help from friends about towing. Thanks so much everyone. I now know the importance of packing my trailer properly see video below.
Update: Wrote to the Trailer Toad folks, they told me that a Toad was not necessary for my set up (their opinion)
Am looking into getting an older Type C motorhome on the cheap, possibly something from 1988 to 1995. The idea would be to fix it up as best I can (new toilet-shower, solar power etc). I would use the unit to tow the darkroom trailer around Alberta to start with at the beginning of the AMBROTOS KANATA wet plate project. I might be able to use such a set up for the first 4 or 5 years of the project, before moving onto a better rig (if I can afford it).
Buying older vehicles/motorhomes is always dicey, but on a limited salary, I need to take some chances. I think it will be worth it. Chasing down dreams is never easy. If the ambrotypes are strong and have even a tiny chance at a lasting historical-artistic importance, it will be worth almost any risks.
Would need something with a bigger engine to tow a potentially 5000lb trailer loaded down with photographic gear, chemistry, glass plates and the like.
Note* Been watching YouTube vids at work, on how to fix up old RVs. That is one of the advantages of guard job. I try to use my down time in a productive way. Reading, learning, exercise, studying languages, culture, photography/history, art. etc. Now it is fixing up RVs!
Photos below of various motorhomes that might work.
A reliable engine? Who knows with these older RVs.
A functional kitchen is vital. Good food, nicely prepared, will help the process.
Having a chair to read on the road would be nice. When the project is going wrong, when the process is going wrong, having a place to chill and think things out, will be important.
A small but fully functional washroom is essential, especially a toilet and a shower. After 8-12 hour days making ambrotypes, I will be covered in stinky chemicals. Having access to a decent shower, will be the best, the most healthy way to end a long day.