Cleaning the darkroom so I can do some salt prints. Found these old contact sheets of dad and mom. I miss photographing my father. He would always enjoy the session’s trying on different hats and clothes, then making more pics. It was a bonding thing for us. He is gone now for almost 9 years but I still have the photos.
Spending money like a drunken American sailor on leave in Pattaya, Thailand. Bought a second group of 8-ply mats and then a sink type table to wash my 16x20 plates in. Unfortunately the table is not big enough for 24 inch plates but should work fine for 2-16x20 Ambrotypes.
The plan is to fill this sink with water then to put 2 large 16x20 plates at a time in it to wash using my agitation pump system. I can rim this unit outside the trailer or in my wash tent. I think it should work well for the larger plates. Afterwards draining the water should be easier than when I use trays as there is a mid sink drain.
If this goes well, there is a possibility of purchasing a second wash sink. Wish it was big enough for 24x24 glass!
Note* The black colour is a nice bonus as it should allow me to view or at least partly view (depending how black) the plates as I wash them. Seeing your is encouraging when your involved in a long tough shooting day. You see what you have made and are inspired to work harder and create more!! Photography has always been that way for me, one image leads to another, which creates happiness.
Note** Gosh I need to sell some work, costs are sky rocketing!
I had some issues finding 8-ply mat board in Edmonton so I decided to order them pre-cut from an online store in BC,
I bought 20-11x14 8-ply boards with 71/2 by 91/2 windows and 6-11x14 8-ply boards with a 7x7 windows. Cost with shipping ($36 CAD) was $409.06 CAD.
We shall see how this goes, 8-ply board would be a bugger to cut successfully and highly costly to screw up time and time again. In my time I have flung more than a few screwed up 4-ply boards across the room in frustration. I should have pro quality windows cut and it might actually be cheaper in the end, by dealing with this company. There would be no screw ups on my parts. My online alternative process tutor Bill Schwab recommends using 8-ply board pre-cut. Following his lead on this cannot be a bad thing. Bill knows his stuff.
Bill Schwab's YouTube Channel, LEARN MANY ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES
8-ply windows have always looked so much better to me when I see the images presented that way in galleries and museusm. Currently there is photographic print hanging at the Alberta Gallery of Art right now that I love in this style (like the matting more than the photograph!). In the future to see versions of my own photographs printed in gelatin silver, salt, platinum-palladium or digital then mounted with 8-ply board and framed beautifully, will be a joy. A wonderful natural high for me. You want your finished work to be shown in the best way possible.
For the alternative process prints like Platinum-Palladium and Salt, you need a special paper to coat. The best I have found in the Hahnemuhle type. To that end I bought 100 sheets of 8x10 and 2 rolls of 24inch x33 feet. Plus a couple archival boxes to store my finished, matted prints ub. Cost with free shipping to Canada from B&H in New York was over $600 CAD.
Salt printing even thou it is a cheaper process than Platinum-Palladion, is still quite expensive to start up. I think I have most everything I need now, chemistry and supply wise. I hope I can sell a few prints to recoup my costs.
Ordered a ton of salt print chemicals and other necessities for matting recently. The matting tools are to properly present the work in 8-ply mats. The chemistry is to make salt prints up to 16x20 inches in size.
My biggest expense was gold chloride for toning the salt work for permanence. Cost was $179.95 USD (including shipping) for 3 grams. Making and using gold toner should be fun!
Here are some of the things purchased off Amazon. Things likes beeswax, borax, achival tissue and tape. Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Citric Acid, sea salt etc.
I bought multiples, which should allow me to make salt prints for several years. Then mount them into 8-ply mount board (if I can find that locally). The idea is to do portfolio editions of the life's work in Gelatin Silver, Platinum-Palladium and Salt. Then to mat them and store them in archival boxes. I will try to donate them to major Canadian galleries before my death. Then the important stories of the people that allowed me into their lives can continue to be told. Hope, hope it goes that way! The prints might all end up in the rubbish bin. You gotta try thou! So many people I know, never try. Trying keeps you young and striving in life, you have dreams and goals to chase down, not trying means you're already dead!
Linhoff 5x7 in the garbage dump, with backpack of holders and a second lens. Plus my 35mm Leica R camera. Beauty Gear!!
Part of THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP project in Mae Sot Thailand.
FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, webpage link
There are 12 project galleries on the webpage so far! There will probably a total of 13 or 14 galleries as I combined several.
https://www.gerryyaum.net/client-albums
I have always loved the look of SALT PRINTS. The warm, slightly mushy feel of the imagery is unique and beautiful. I will try making my first ever salt prints next week when I am off work.
I wonder what some Ambrotype scans would look like?
I also want to clean an area of the house to do all my matting in. I will have a print finishing only area of the house. Should be a fun week off doing photo things! Want to do 8-ply matting. Never done that before either! I love the depth an 8-ply matt gives to an artwork. It just looks so much more professional, more isolated, more beautiful.
ICheck out this wonderful salt orinting book by Christina Anderson.
"Ain't Photography Grand!!"
The website is coming along nicely. Still a few bugs, various mistakes, but things are looking up. The cost per year is about $270 CAD, for a domain name, web site host and more a pro looking email (contact@gerryyaum.net). I built the page by myself, so no extra costs there.
I have around 150 images on the site from 9 projects. Eventually I should have 700-1000 images from about 15 projects on the site. As I continue to shoot AMBROTOS KANATA, plus the 2 Thai projects THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP and THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, plus a possible major project in the Philippines, the eventual image count before I die, could hit 2000.
We shall see!!
Note* I hope someone somewhere views my life’s work and considers it worthy of a book. Some photographers do dozens of books during their lifetime. I would be happy with just one!!!
There are so many bad books published, even shitty books. I once saw a big colour photo book actually devoted to shit as a subject. Every picture was another toilet bowl filled with shit before flushing. When you see disgusting ideas like that printed in book form, you really wonder what it will take to get published. Does compassion and empathy for important lives even matter?
I hope this new photo website helps get the work into book firm someday.
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Found this today on an old phone. From the FLASH PHOTOGRAPHIC FESTIVAL in Winnipeg. The man pictured is Mr.Wee, from the dump series. He is a Burmese refugee who worked the garbage with his family. I found out in 2022 that he had passed away. I was told he thought too much and drank too much and that is the reason he died.
So many people in Thai that I have photographed have died. Last trip I learned of 4. I spent a lot of time with Mr. Wee, he was soft spoken and kind, with sad eyes.
This was shot early in 2013, only about my 3rd or 4th day in the dump. I was invited to a wedding.
The young girl beside me in the purple dress is named Iye-Iye. The last I heard she was living and working in Bangkok with her husband. She got married at 15 and had her first child that year.
The bride (also married at 15) that wedding day, is walking behind the table. Last I heard, she had her 3rd child and was back living in Burma after her mother in law got sick and needed medical care.
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| 2013 in the Mae Sot dump, at a wedding. |
Cottonwoods, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Dinasaur Provincial Park, Alberta, 2023. Part of the long term Canadian wet plate project, AMBROTOS KANATA.
Here is the latest incarnation of the title photo page. Things are slowly coming together but adding photos will take years as they are scattered and unorganized. There will be hundreds of images in at least 16 galleries. In the years ahead the AMBROTOS KANATA project alone will feature 400 plus Ambrotypes (at least thats the hope).
In the last little while I have had 2 different sets of people suggest I was too old to make photos in Indonesia or the Philippines. I am 59 years old and in good health. I was told at my age I should not consider photographing workers in the volcano in Indonesia and that Tondo slum in the Philippines was too dangerous, to visit. I was reminded that old people are usually more careful and afraid.
Why do so many people live in fear, especially as they age? Does it give them an excuse to get through life, to not chase dreams? A reason to just live a quiet, average, normal, old person life?
Today I received a book in the mail by the great photographer and multi-talented Gordon Parks. It is an autobiography (he wrote several) titled "GORDON PARKS, Voices in the Mirror". Mr. Parks wrote the book when he was 77 years old. The first thing I read was:
"Here in the autumn of my life I still feel that there is a lot more to do, that there are opportunities waiting to be grabbed."
I will follow Mr. Parks advise. I will chase down dreams, travel to potentially dangerous places, meet new friends, make new art. I will grab as much as I can for as long as I can. If I fail, I fail. Failure has always been something I can live with easier than regret.
This version of the title page includes some photo goals, and a large contact link (important). I also changed some font sizes, bolding the Project button, and moved things about a bit.
The photo to one of Jack in Klong Toey slum. A shot made with a extreme wide angle lens in his small home. I had to climb the furniture to get the angle. Last I heard in 20222 he was working in North Thailand.
Having some issues with the front page of my new photo web page. Here is the latest version. Probably lots of changes ahead. The whole, how to set up the sale of prints part of things is going to take a while to work out. I currently have a person waiting on a print, need to figure it out.
Note* I will be editing and adding photos to the site this next week at work. This could take decades!
Note** "Tears of a Butterfly" is from a Japanese poem I read many years ago. The expression has multiple, personal meanings to me.
Note*** The opening page photo, would be periodically changed out. The current image is of a drunk man (University Professor) shot in Japan as part of the "Kodoku" Solitude series.
Note**** The opening page has 2 current links. One to the "Project Galleries" which should eventually number 16 and include over 500 photographs. The second is to my 16 year long photography blog.
Note***** Hmm, 16 galleries and 16 years of photo blog stuff! I guess that shows a certain amount of commitment. Commitment that for some reason seems to piss off my photo friends, not sure why. Should not friends support commitment? Instead of being angry at it. Attempt to talk you out of creating more work.
A very early link to the page, UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Years from completion. I will probably eventually have to do my own domain name thing. Thou I hate extra costs, some things need to be paid for.
https://gerryyaum.wixsite.com/my-site
Gosh after 45 years making pictures, I will finally attempt to create a real website for the photographs. Will be adding images for years. So far 16 galleries. Hoping the website will eventually help print sales to fund current work. Will be making Gelatin Silver, Platinum-Palladium, Salt and Digital prints.
https://gerryyaum.wixsite.com/my-site/client-albums
