How to shoot the AMBROTOS KANATA Canada wide wet plate project effectively in the wintertime?
I have been thinking of this tonight at work. To do the project right, winter shooting, snow shooting, cold weather shooting is a must. But how? It would be physically difficult but that can be overcome with effort. The thing that concerns me most is how to keep the process functioning in -20C temps when everything, including the water so important to the process freezes.
Been brainstorming some possibilities.
- Purchase a 4x4 heavy duty pickup (second hand of course), to pull the trailer in adverse weather conditions.
- Purchase a camper insulated for the cold with toilet, shower, kitchen and bed (second hand of course).
- Figure a way to run the furnishes safely both in the trailer and the camper to keep the water supplies from freezing. There is potential for an explosion or fire when working with things like Ether/bio ethanol/collodion and open flame areas from furnaces.
- Reconfigure the darkroom trailer door for winter weather.
- Extra propane bottles.
- Figure a way to do wet plate with a heater safely. I would have to pour the plates and possibly store the collodion outside for safety reasons.
- A high energy, low power exhaust fan?
The camper truck set up would allow for longer trips in cold weather, using FANNY the RV in the wintertime is a no go. I could probably not shoot plates larger than 16z20.
The cold will give me all kinds of tech problems with the process, but it still might be easier than working in extreme heat. I had a lot easier time making Ambrotypes at 3C as compared to 29C.
