Video Link: Of Soft Blackening Acrylic On Ambrotypes

Here is a softer paint acrylic. It creates possibly a more flexible backing of the plate.

 https://vimeo.com/661456997

Screen capture of the 2 minute vid

Note To Luther

I exchanged a Luther G a 20 year veteran of wet plate and a man who has helped me many times in this journey to make 35x35 ambrotypes. Here is a note that I wrote to him on facebook today. We were discussing black glass versus clear glass as a substrate for Ambrotypes.

Clear glass left, black right

LT to GY

The two images should look identical and would look identical if the variables were not inconsistent. Exposure or and develop it. You can see more detail within the bark on one of them that had more development. It is hard to do proof of concept images with such extreme variables.

GY to LG

  will try to do exact copies on the two glasses giving the same exposure and development (at least as close as I can manage) in the spring. The problem I have with black glass is the flat feel to it (collodion on top instead of bottom) and the look of the varnish on the plate (probably poor technique on my part). I have seen some beauty black glass plates before first hand (Kurt M work). Will keep playing with it. I have quite a bit of black glass to use up in 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 sizes. At present I prefer clear glass reversed by quite a big margin. I find them magical, special, like nothing I have done before in photography. I was worried that I had put the cart too far in front of the horse. The buying all this stuff and having all these wild over the top dreams without actually making plates was a fool errands, a huge mistake on my part. What If I did not like what I was striving to make?. Now that I have seen the small finished clear glass ambrotypes, I feel much better, I feel I have not made a mistake and am on the right track. Seeing the magic ambrotypes, holding them in my hand, has calmed me down. Like with all the photography when you see a finished work it excites you and pushes you forward to make more. I have so much more to learn and do but I I can see the finished larger images in my mind now, AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!. I just need to chase thes photographs down, continue the pursuit, work harder. Everything will be OK in the end. Thanks as always for your help. Could not do this without you and others keeping me grounded and focused.

Quote: George Carlin

This quote made me laugh. Reminded me of what happened to me at a photo club I once belonged. They wanted photo review honesty, I gave them honesty, they got pissed! :) It's nice to have something in common with Carlin!

Quote: Richard Avedon

 Thanks to James W for finding this quote.

“It is not the camera that counts, but the mind that’s behind it. It is the imagination that guides true photography”

Reversed Ambrotype Technique

 Hi Everyone, Merry Xmas

I decided to write up a little note for my blog and Facebook about the system I will probably use to make ambrotypes. Writing things down helps me focus my thoughts, figure things more clearly.

First off, I wanted to thank all of you who have reached out with advice through the last 2 or 3 years. Without your help and suggestions, I would have never been able to move forward. My goal in all of this is to develop a working system that will allow me to make 35x35 inch plates. I need a practical working technique that can go that large. I will be working out of a darkroom trailer while traveling around Canada in an RV. If possible, I want to complete the entire plate in the field. The photo making trips could last up to 4 months each, having completed plates makes a certain amount of sense. Seeing the completed plates will inspire me (assuming they are good) to work harder to make more. That’s the hope anyway.

What type of substrate? Tin types were never my thing, Black glass while beautiful if done right I find a bit to 2 dimensional, I also do not like the reversed image. The glass is also hard to find. For me the answer is clear glass ambrotypes. Not only clear glass but reversed clear glass. I love the illusion of 3d this creates, I also love the idea, the feeling that the image is caught INSIDE THE GLASS. There is a certain innate beauty in having a subject IN the glass. A moment of time inside that is captured from a “another world” and preserved like Orwell’s coral paperweight from 1984. A nice bonus for me to doing these reversed ambrotypes is that everything is the right way around, no backwards writing, backward subjects. Another thing I prefer about “clear glass reversed ambrotypes” is that the front of the image is glass, not varnish. I like that you cannot see the varnish, only the sheen/shine of the glass. It all works out for me as the most beautiful type of ambrotype.

So, then the question becomes, how to make the reversed clear glass ambrotypes? Many have spoken against applying paint/Asphaltum or other substances to the collodion side of the plate. Many have said this is archivally unsound and it may well be. How long will it last? 100 years? I have Japanese Ambrotypes that are coated on the collodion that are in reasonable shape after 150 or so years. My thinking on this is simple, the reversed ambrotypes are the most beautiful in my eyes. So, I will work to create them as archivally as I can but being archival is not my main goal. The main goal is to create beautiful photographs, photographs that matter and photographs that inspire. If this type of Ambrotypes lasts only 100 years or 75 years, so be it. I would rather have the kind of imagery that inspires me that last a shorter period of time than create archivally longer lasting works that leave my heart cold. What is the use of creating technically more archival work that fails to excite?

So here is the system I am thinking of using to create clear glass reversed ambrotypes. I will of course continue to adapt as necessary and listen to suggestions of people with much more experience at the process.

- I will use readily available 3mm clear glass (possibly 4mm for the 20x24 to 35x35 plates) as a substrate.

- A double layer varnish of modern “Liquatex High Gloss Varnish” will be applied. Double seems better than single.

- A blackening coating of high-grade artist black acrylic paint by Liquatex (have experimented with many types of acrylic). The acrylic coating will be applied on top of the varnishes, the plate is taped off allowing for a thicker coating. I have also

tried to use Asphaltum in a mix of 1-part mineral spirits and 2 parts Asphaltum. This works fine

and creates a nice black. Not a fan of the smell and not sure I can get the Asphaltum in enough

quantities to coat possibly hundreds of large 20x24 and 35x35 plates. Not sure Asphaltum is

practical to use on the large plates. I have also tried black velvet but do not like the resulting look.

- Before flowing the plate with collodion I will first coat the entire glass plate with Albumen to get better adherence. Currently I am using a non-ether added collodion. Thanks, Borut P for that suggestion.

Any thoughts? Play nice

Here is a link to a video of a 4x5 clear glass reversed ambrotype made as indicated (except for the Albumen coating).

https://vimeo.com/660088315

Merry Xmas 2021

Merry Xmas and happy holidays folks from a cold Edmonton guardhouse. It is -27C here today with a much colder wind chill.

Me, My Mask and My Tree!

Working Xmas

 Ambrotypes, Chess and STAT pay! You gotta love working Christmas/Boxing Day.

Looking at plates and studying a game

Clear Glass Looks Nicer To Me Than Black Glass

Head to head. Clear Glass -Black Glass, same subject. The clear glass plate might be a tad underexposed but I like it better that way.

Clear Glass Versus Black

Video Link: Tree Near Dinosaur Provincial Park, AMBROTOS KANATA, 4x5 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Alberta, Canada, 2021

 Here is a video link to the TREE photo, Ambrotypes always look better in video

Tree Vid On Vimeo

Quote: Sammy Davis Jr.

 "So long as you can dance, and be happy dancing, that's the best in the world!"

Tree Or Person Ambrotype?

Some of the tree Ambros seem to have almost human characteristics .

Tree In Campground Near Dinosaur Provincial Park, AMBROTOS KANATA, Clear Glass Ambrotype, Alberta, Canada 2021

The images are improving. I feel anything is possible with the future Ambrotype work.

Tree Clear Glass Ambrotype

Like The Clear Glass Version Tree Better Than The Black Glass Version

Like this clear glass tree version Ambrotype (viewing through the glass) better than the black glass version. Am excited about moving up in format size soonish.

Clear Glass version.

Black Glass version, made the same day

Tree Ambrotype Work, Before And After

Tree work...wet and dry. One is wet in the tray, the 2nd is dry with a warm light. It is reversed because now your looking through the glass at it.

Wet in the tray at the time of making

Dried and coated with 2 layers of varnish and black acrylic paint. The pic in its finished form, you look through the glass at it (the reason for the reversal/flip of the image).

MORE 4X5 Clear Glass Ambrotypes, AMBROTOS KANATA

 More completed 4x5 clear glass Ambrotypes. AMBROTOS KANATA hopes.

Cleaned these up at work tonight.

My Long Winded Answer To A 3 Word Question

Question asked about the dump hats, I kind of went overboard in the answer, as I tend to do with most Dump things.

MS WROTE:

To the dump?

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  Gerry Yaum

  yes...part of the donation for THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP PROJECT. I work at a petrochemical plant in Canada, night time security (at work now). In past years I have sent out emails asking for donations from my fellow workers. That has lead to money donations (had a fundraiser here once), to hat, boot, and toy donations. So I sent out another hat request last night as I am planning (If Omicron allows) a trip back to Thai in February. Figured some new hats was the way to go, see photos from past donations.

  

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  Gerry Yaum

  Hot as hell in the dump, hats needed. They just sit around the offices here at work, never used. Figured handing them out for use was a better deal. The children, teens and adults in the dump use them.

  

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  Gerry Yaum

  As do I. I use my share of hats. In the first dump photo years I never wore a hat but later on several of the older women in the dump (mother like) would give me shit for not having a hat to protect from the sun. Now I always where a donated contractor hat as well.

  

Hat Donations Working

The hat donation email I sent out yesterday at work is reaping some results. Will take these donated hats to the dump and hand them out to the families.

One working friend, dropped these off today

X1D Blad With Adapter And Tri-Elmar Leica Lens

Playing with a new camera set up at work today. Thinking of taking this deal to Thai. The body is a Hasselblad X1D, the lens is a Leica M 28-35-50mm F4 (Tri-Elmar).

I got an cheapo Chinese adaptor off E-Bay a few days back, it allows me to mount the Leica M lens to the Blad body. There might be a bit of vignetting at the 28mm setting, but the 35 and 50 look fine.

Because all XCD lens for the X1D Blad use leaf shutter, you have to use the electronic shutter when using adapters. Am not sure how that will affect things. The Leica lens is sharp and more compact than my 2 XCD lens (21mm and 45mm). Might be worth taking to Thailand. Manual focus of course. I like having 3 focal lengths along with the 50 meg sensor.

The Set Up