Video: Dead Aspens #1, AMBROTOS KANATA

Dead Aspens #1, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Waterton National Park, Alberta, October 2023

120mm Nikkor Lens, 8x10 Deardorff, Gerry Collodion, Vinegar Developer

Video: Cottonwoods #2, AMBROTOS KANATA

Cottonwoods #2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, October 2023

120mm Nikkor Lens, 8x10 Deardorff, Gerry Collodion, Vinegar Developer

Video: Lundbreck Bridge #2

The constrast is high, the day was sunny.

Got the Alberta Foundation For the Arts Money

Got my check from the Alberta Arts folk yesterday, $2000 CAD. The money was used to buy more Silver Nitrae for the AMBROTOS KANATA project.

I am happy the two Ambrotyoes are now part of the provinces ppermanent collection.  I think we now have 11 or 12 pieces in various collections across North America .

The Dangers of Mad Hatters Syndrome

"Something to think about in regard to my future Daguerreotype work. Traditional Dags are developed in Mercury vapors. This is why you need to use a fuming hood for this part of the process (exhausts the vapors safely). There are supposed cases of" Mad Hatters Syndrome" amongst Daguerreotypists of the past.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter!

"Mad hatter's disease is a form of mercury poisoning that affects the brain and nervous system. People can develop mercury poisoning by inhaling mercury vapors. Mad hatter's disease is caused by chronic mercury poisoning. It is characterized by emotional, mental, and behavioral changes, among other symptoms."June 8, 2020

Bow Lake #2

Here is another ambro from Bow Lake. I like it a bit and dislike it a bit.shooting distant mountains is difficult. Bow Lake are my first semi effective images. It is very difficult to get UV exposure right on both the foreground foliage and the distant mountains.

Video: Lunbreck Bridge #2, AMBROTOS KANATA

This Ambro is one of the most contrasty I have ever produced. It was down to the lighting that day. It was NOT an overcast day.

Lunbreck Bridge #2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Lundbreck Alberta, September 2023

Intentional inclusion of camera shadow.

Quote: Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Quote: Frank Zappa

 

Emily Carr Thought

“Listen, this perhaps is the way to find that thing I long for: go into the woods alone and look at the earth crowded with growth, new and old bursting from the their strong roots hidden in the silent, live ground, each seed according to its own kind expanding, bursting, pushing its way upwards towards the light and air, each one knowing what to do,  each demanding its own rights on the earth."  Emily Carr

Red Cedar, Emily Carr, 1931

Video: Cottonwoods #1, AMBROTOS KANATA

Cottonwoods #1, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, October 2023

120mm Nikkor Lens, 8x10 Deardorff (Eddy), Gerry Collodion, Vinegar Developer

Figuring Out Over the Winter, My Ambrotype Portraits

One of my wet plate goals this winter is to figure out how I want my Ambrotype portraits to look. I will be doing 8x10, 16x16, 16x20, 20x20 and 24x24 inch portrait plates over the winter months. I need to accomplish two things over the next 6 months, how to work with large plates better and create a portrait look on Ambrotype that I love. I have preferred to photograph people my entire photographic life, so this should fit right into my comfort zone.

I plan to experiment with and use a variety of lens and cameras, more details to follow. Currently I am thinking ultra large format tight heads on black with a very shallow depth of focus.

Video: Lundbreck Falls #2, AMBROTOS KANATA

Lundbreck Falls #2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Lundbreck, Alberta, September 2023.

Video: Burnt Trees on Bertha Peak#2, AMBROTOS KANATA

Burnt Trees on Bertha Peak#2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada, October 2023

Links: Nui-Ooh 2016

Here is an image from THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP series. Also, a story if you want to read an interview and see more. Photo made with a 5x7 Linhof view camera on Tri-x film.

Nui-Ooh, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot Garbage Dump, Mae Sot, Thailand, 2016

Arriving at the dump, via motorbike in 2018

CONTEXT-The social doc project THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, is ongoing over the last 10 years. Part humanitarian part photography. Basically, it started out photographic and extended into AID as people saw the documentary photos. So, over the last 10 years I have made maybe 100 trips to the dump and made perhaps thousands of images on a variety of film and digital cameras. The families are refugees from Burma, living and working the Mae Sot garbage dump in Thailand (they were forced out in around 2021). The work has been exhibited many times and has also been published in 3 photography magazines. We have raised around $10 000 CAD to help the people. I use the money to buy goods and distribute them to the people each time I visit. Things like headlamps, rubber boots, over the counter medicines, food (rice is so damn heavy!), toys for the children. I have a thousand links for that. Here is one, arriving late at night in 2018 on a motorbike. That year (2018) I stayed 6 months in Thailand and went to the dump nightly for about 4 months to photograph and distribute things. For me this is an example that Art can be a force for good in the world, and help those in the art. The photos directly lead to AID for the people photographed. You can go to the YouTube channel to see more of the same.

More Pictures and in interview from the night shoots of 2018 at the dump with the families.

Burnt Trees on Bertha Peak, AMBROTOS KANATA

Burnt Trees on Bertha Peak, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada, October 2023