20x20 Inch Ambrotype Portrait Idea

Been thinking of a combination camera and lens to do, 20x20 inch close up ambrotype portraits. I would be using the HF3535 camera with its 8 foot bellows (allowing for close focus) along with the Voigtlander 655mm Series IV No. 7 lens.  The Voigtlander lens is supposed to be able to cover 20x20. Ross the person I bought the lens from in Vancouver used it on a 20x20 Chamonix camera.

The great unknown on this is how long the exposures will need to be. I will be shooting with a very long bellows requiring extra exposure. How long will that be? Can the subject hold still that long even with the assistance of the neck brace I will be using? Also what kind of depth of field are we talking about? It might be an inch or less.

There are lots of unknowns in this close up, large square format, ambrotype idea. Will it work? I might need to add additional UV light sources to shorten the exposure time, also waterhouse stops might need to be made for the lens to allow for smaller f stops (which also leads longer exposures).

I hope this idea can be done as it  is my soul portrait idea, for the project. I should be able to try making 20x20 portrait plates by June.

Note* Currently my thinking is the ambrotypes would be made on 3mm or 4 mm 20x20 using clear glass. I might at some future date change to black glass. Many of my online wet plate collodion friends prefer black glass to clear.

Note** Adding additional UV light sources to a portrait, in the field, might be difficult. When shooting in remote locations I would have to manufacture a power supply.

Filip with the HF3535 he built

Voigtlander Series IV No.7 655mm lens

A photo Ross made with the lens, the plate measures 20x20 inches The shot I am planning to make would be much closer, composing on the chin and the top of the head.

Video Link: Gordon Lightfoot At 81

I would love to photograph him for the KANATA wet plate project. Mr. Lightfoot is now 81, one of the best song writer, singers of all time.

Gordon Lightfoot performs 2 songs

Gordon Lightfoot at 81, happy and performing

Red Ribbon Campaign

I learned of this important campaign to help indigenous women last night from a Facebook friend. 

Red Ribbon Campaign

A new campaign has been launched in awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The Red Ribbon initiative is a Treaty #3 movement for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who stand against violence towards aboriginal women and girls.

The Red Ribbon represents Zahgidiwin or “Love”, in honour of the Seven Grandfather Teachings.

Wearing the red ribbon signifies a commitment to honour, respect, protect and love Indigenous women and girls and to come together in ending violence against Indigenous Women and Girls.

Amber Tuccaro Story And AMBROTOS KANATA Photo Idea

AMBROTOS KANATA needs to be true to this land and the people who live here. All stories need to be told.

Amber  Tuccaro and her mother broke my heart and opened my privileged white boys eyes a tiny bit. When I heard Ambers voice, it haunted me, I wanted to include her story some how in the AMBROTOS KANATA project. 

Here is the video I watched earlier:

Amber Tuccaro's unsolved murder

After thinking things over all night, I fell asleep, I suddenly woke up with a possible idea on how to photograph Ambers story (it was strange like my mind was still thinking while I slept). The idea might help educate more Canadians on about the genocide happening to indigenous woman across the country.

I am not sure it is appropriate for me to do these ambrotypes, to tell these stories, so am asking several First Nations Facebook friends for advice and help.

The idea would be to photograph the places the bodies of woman victims were found, then to meet the families (if they OK a meeting) and to photograph the family, or a member of the family (mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter). The family could then share a personal story about their lost daughter, something true and human, something that could be included with the photographs in an exhibition.

We can often overcome racial prejudice and indifference when we learn more about the humanity and the suffering of others. Human beings are empathetic and compassionate by nature, you just have to wake them up sometimes. You sometimes just need to slap people out of their indifferent, coma like state. 

Ambrotype photographs of the ugly places the poor victims ended their lives, contrasted with compassionate portraits of those who loved her, and the voice (audio or written words) of those who suffer from loss telling a story of the person who was murdered, would be powerful. This idea will not change the world, but it might help some people start to think in a new way, it may help to change prejudiced, negative attitudes. That would be the hope anyway, and heck you got to believe people will change for the better, or what use is life. The photographs and stories would also be a tribute to the woman who were taken away from those who loved them. The ambrotypes would say they were here, that they were important, remembered and loved.

Still thinking on this. Please listen to the video link above, and hear Ambers voice.

Note* AMBROTOS KANATA is a 15 year photographic project of Canada. The pictures will be made on glass using a process called wet plate collodion. The glass photos or ambrotypes are a beautiful but difficult to make. The wet plate process dates back to the 1850s. 

Note** Please go and listen to Amber's voice on the link above, it is important to hear her.

Update* Maybe we could call this part, this CHAPTER of "Ambrotos Kanata", LOST SISTERS.

Amber Tuccaro

Quote: Sitting Bull

 "Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children."

Sitting Bull

Quote: John F Kennedy-Jacueline Kennedy

 "One Person Can Make A Difference and Everyone Should Try”

John F Kennedy

"He believed that one man can make a difference – and that every man should try."
Jacqueline Kennedy

Got Some Hahnemühle Platinum Rag Fine Art Paper For Large Platinum-Palladium Prints

Picked some very large Hahnemuhle Platinum paper. I am going to print THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP in Platinum-Palladium. This roll paper measures 24 inches x 33 feet. I will use it in 20x24 inch sheets to print large 16x20 inch plus images. There will probably be over 30 images made from the 7 years of images shot at the Mae Sot garbage dump with the families. 

These platinum-palladium prints are for exhibitions. I hope they will eventually be collected and shown by a major Canadian gallery. 

Note* These 30+ prints will be the first part of my "Retrospective Project Series Photographs". The plan is to eventually print a selection of  20-30+ images from each of the major photo projects of my lifetime.

Note** The paper is on special order and will take 2-4 weeks to arrive in Edmonton. Until then I will continue to print Platinum-Palladium on smaller paper sizes.

Video Link: Woo Family in their home, Palladium Print Development Video

24 inch x 33 foot Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag Fine Art Paper

Video Link: Bill Murray, How A Painting Saved Him

The power of art for good, got to love it!

Bill Murray Tells The Story Of How A Painting Helped Save Him

Update* From the Wikipedia page of Jules Breton.

Breton's change in fame can be contrasted with his contemporary the artist Vincent van Gogh. During their lifetimes, Breton was a celebrated and highly paid successful artist. He spent months creating some of his works. Whereas, in 1880 Vincent van Gogh was so poor he walked on foot 85 kilometers to Courrières to pay a visit to Breton, whom he greatly admired, but turned back, put off by Breton's high wall.^[12] No great collectors flocked to purchase van Gogh's works during his lifetime, he received no commissions to paint from New York City, no prints were made while he lived, and he died in poverty. However, at a 2015 auction van Gogh's work Paysage Sous un ciel Mouvement, painted at a time he generated one work per day,^[13] commanded $54 million.^[14] Ironically, in a letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh mentions he viewed Breton's painting The Song of the Lark and considered it to be "fine"

"Song of the Lark" 1884 by Jules Breton

Bought Me A Gopro Hero 3 Silver Edition Camera With Accessories

Got this old GoPro that shoots in 1080p for $30.00 USD plus shipping tonight. I want to use it for the AMBROTOS KANATA project YouTube channel.

GoPro Hero 3

Hot Water For The Wet Plate Darkroom Trailer?

Never knew something like this existed, it might be a nice addition to the darkroom trailer. It would be especially useful when the trailer is used as a regular darkroom to develop sheet film and make contact prints.

Mini Electric Tankless Instant Hot Water Heater

Large Cooler?

Tonight I am trying to figure out how I could use this large cooler for the AMBROTOS KANATA wet plate project. Maybe it could be used to transport the chemistry to remote locations where I could then set up my wet plate darkroom ice fishing tent to make BEAUTIFUL ambrotypes!

Igloo Trailmate Cooler

Video Link: 19 Year Old Martyr, Angel

When you know people in Burma, everything becomes so much more real. I think back to all my friends I met in the dump over the last 7 years.

Angel, Ma Kyal Sin, was a wonderful spirit, she had a soul that cared. An example for all of us, condolences to all that loved her.

19 YEAR OLD ANGEL, MA KYAL SIN

Autobiography: TEARS OF A BUTTERFLY

Been thinking I need something to do at nights during the long hours, weeks, months and years of the AMBROTOS KANATA photography project. Why not try to write a autobiography? 

Over the last few years many different folks have often told me they like to hear my photo stories. I gotten that same comment from such a variety of people, it got me a thinkin! Maybe I am good at it. Why not do a biography? All kinds of fools write books, I am as big a fool as any of them.

I have always liked the term TEARS OF A BUTTERFLY, I think it fits my personality and would make a great title. The biography would be a photographic memory and tell the stories behind the photographs. I would also like to include the imagery. The stories might bring the people in the pictures to greater life, it could tell their tales with words in addition to the photographs.

The book would need to be honest and straight to the point, with no exaggeration or falsehoods. It would be an open document to the life lived, the people met, and the images created. I might also include sections from this blog in the book.

Hopefully something like this could be eventually published and would live on with the photographs.

Master Prints In Platinum Palladium Idea

Now that the palladium curve for digital negs seems to be rounding into shape, the creating master series of Platinum-Palladium series photos seems possible. The idea goes as follows.

Create a series of large (11x14 or 16x20) photographs on Platinum-Palladium for each photographic series of my lifetime. Those series then would be donated to any museums world wide who would take them. Of course there is no guarantee that anyone would want them, but I got to try!

Series that have 25 or photos for this "Master Print Collection", might include:

BODY SELLERS

THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP

THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

MY FATHERS LAST DAYS

THE TRAIN IS COMING

BARGIRL

THREE HEARTS

AMBROTOS KANATA

KODOKU

BANGKOK STREET LIFE

SUKHUMVIT AT NIGHT

EARLY WORK (photos from the early years)

I believe I can start working on this "Master Print Collection" next winter. It seems like a grand old way to end a life in photographs.

Video Link: Development Of Woo Family Palladium Print

Here is a link to a 3 minute YouTube video I made of the development of the Palladium "Woo Family In Their Home Image". Tonight is the first time I am using my own personal curve digital negative for Platinum-Palladium prints! Damn if doesn't work!

Video Link: Woo Family Palladium Print Development

Woo Family Palladium Print Development

Less Contrary Palladium Print 3

 Here is the Woo family portrait in a less contrasty version from a new digital negative.

Less contrasty version of the Woo family 5x7 neg image

Digital Negative Platinum-Palladium Curve Works!

Hell yes!!! The platinum-palladium curve fir digital negatives  that I have been working on, seems to be working. The first 2 images below are first try prints using the curve with 12 minutes exposures in the UV unit.

Two prints of the day, Young Girl In The Dump and Woo Family In Their Home, both from 2016 at the Mae Sot Garbage Dump, Thailand

Hibernation Time Is Over!!

Well it is time to dig my wet plate darkroom trailer out of hibernation. I want to take the trailer on the road for the first time (bought it over 1 year ago), so I need to figure out how to make it road worthy. I will have to design a system that allows for a quicker set up/shooting and yet does not come crashing down as I pull the trailer around Canada. The trailer will be used for AMBROTOS KANATA, the long term wet plate project.

First things first thou, need to do a bit of house keeping in the trailer!

 

The trailer pre-cleanup and pre-roadworthy

Link: Alfred Stieglitz's "Camera Work" Magazine

Here is a great link to Stieglitz's legendary "Camera Work"

CAMERA WORK LINK 

MY GPS NAVIGATION DEVICE

 I got my GPS navigation device working. It is a circa 2003 Meridian Color Magellan. I got the tool fir $40 yesterday. It is old but in 100% working condition so should serve my needs well. My plan is to use it to record all wet plate photography positions for the AMBROTOS KANATA 15 year project. I will be able to record my exact longitude and latitude position (within 3 meters) in degrees, minutes and seconds, anywhere in Canada. 

A good $40 investment, that will give the project and plates added dimension and beauty. Having the longitude  and latitude of every plate made, every photography making position , just seems right.

Note* I am also thinking of scratching the longitude and latitude into each plate (especially the large ones) as part of the perm enact title.

Note** This device has many functions. I am stream lining and simplifying the set up feature to just give me what I need, my location.

The new-used Magellan GPS Navigator

Combining Darkroom 1 And 2

Two years ago since I set up darkroom #2. Now with my old home being sold I will move darkroom #1 into the same space. I have large metal sinks to move, new counters to build, the ventilation system to be transferred or built from scratch. Also moving multiple enlargers including a Saunders, a Durst 1200 and an 8x10 Durst, it should be interesting :) Will start doing that this spring/summer/fall. Will be moving everything solo, by my lonesome, that should be especially interesting with the 8x10 enlarger. I will also be setting up a higher humidity coating room for platinum printing and the big Nuarc UV 40 inch unit. Once the combined darkroom is completed it should be awesome and the last darkroom of my lifetime.

Darkroom #1

Darkroom #2

Possible Shooting Location For “Lost Sisters”

Found some possible shooting locations for the LOST SISTERS part of AMBROTOS KANATA. The “Lost Sister”story is about one of the biggest tragedies in Canada, the genocide of indigenous women murders country wide. 

police-probe-possibility-lone-killer-dumping-bodies-outside-small-alberta-town

Transport Case Options For The HF3535

Thought I would do a HF3535 transport box update. Local carpenters seem very expensive. I am looking into some local companies that make custom transport boxes as well. As a third and maybe the best option I am conversing with Filip H in the Czech Republic who is the builder of the HF3535. He is suggesting a strong 40 kilo box that he can ship smaller and that I can assemble IKEA like in Canada. 

The Filip box might be the best option depending on cost. I might mount and leave his type box in the trailer permanently and  just use it like a sort of shelving safe storage unit. When I need the camera I can take it off the transport box shelves in pieces and use the Rock-n-Roller cart to haul it out to the shooting location for set up. The box would never leave the trailer. The other option is to have 2 boxes of some kind that would leave the darkroom trailer loaded on the cart.

Am still thinking this one out.

20x24 Inch Silver Bath

 I have a 20x24 silver bath on order from the Czech Republic, cost was $370 USD including shipping to Canada. I have the builder checking into the possibility of making me a 35x35 reinforced silver bath as well, it will probably be very expensive.

20x24 inch Silver Bath for Wet Plate Work

GPS The Ambrotypes

I have decided to follow in the footsteps of a fellow I used to know. Years ago when we made pictures together he would always do a GPS reading at every place he set up his tripod. I always thought that was a good idea. 

With the 15 year AMBROTOS KANATA project looming ahead of me I thought I would try the same thing. With every Ambrotype I will take and include a GPS reading as part of the story. Everything wii be recorded in my project KANATA diaries. I might also carve the GPS numbers into the collodion emulsion and use them in the titles,

To that end, tomorrow I am picking up a used mobile GPS device locally for $40. :)

Middle Metal Case Fits The 11x14 Camera

The second metal box bought yesterday fits the 11x14 camera! Hurrah!! All it took was a bit of cutting with an sharp knife and I was able to cut out a space that allowed for a smooth unencumbered. closing and locking of the case.

So now the small case will be my 8x10 transport case for AMBROTO KANATA and the middle case will be for the 11x14 camera! I even have some spaces to put a meter, cable releases and  lens.

11x14 camera in the middle sized metal case

AMBROTOS KANATA Idea: “Lost Sisters”

I was reading yet another story of a Indigenous woman murdered in Canada,

Here is the terrible story

There are no works to tell this terrible story, no words to express the anger, sadness and digust. Maybe I can do it visually in the project.

A photo of where the bodies are found, combined with a photo of the poor victims  family member. A father or mother, a brother or sister.  Plus a story about her life.

Maybe this will help humanize this terrible genocide.

Photo Story: Anapon With Flower

"Anapon 53 with a flower he found, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019"

I have been photographing Khun Anapon since about 2012, this photo was made at this home in 2019. Anapon had found a plastic white flower on the ground near his home in Klong Toey slum, Bangkok. He brought the flower back to his room and tied it on the door outside his home. When I asked him about the flower he laughed and said he found it and liked it. It was such a simple nice, sweet thing. A forgotten man, living by himself for decades in room made out of scrap wood under an active freeway. And yet he still wanted to decorate his home, and make it more beautiful. Got to love the strength and beauty of the human spirit.

 

"Anapon 53 with a flower he found, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019"

Got Me 3 More Metal Transport Cases For AMBROTOS KANATA

Got some more metal transport cases today, that I will use for the AMBROTOS KANATA 15 year project. Got 3 boxes-cases for $180CAD. The small case and its foam fit my 8x10 Deardorff perfectly, so will use that case for that camera. I am not sure how I will use the other 2 yet. The cases are heavy, but strong, and should protect the photo gear very well. The only problem is I might need to remove some of the section dividers to place larger cameras.

Update* It is early days, but according to my measuring so far. I might be able to go 8x10 camera, 11x14 camera and 16x20 camera with these 3 boxes. That would be great, I could use the other larger box ($40CAD) I bought, for something else. These smaller cases would be much easier to carry in the trailer. My only worry is that they would probably have less foam protection in them.

This larger 3rd case is 24x34.25 (interior)

Love that I can protect DADS 8x10 Deardorff. My father bought this for me years ago. Now whenever I use the camera, I think of him. Having a nice heavy duty box to protect dads camera is GREAT! I was able to sneak 2 lens and a lens board adapter as well, along with the 8x10 Deardorff.

Photo Story: Boy Sleeping On The Ground In The Dump

Since I cannot return to Thai and have some free time I thought I would revisit some photos and include some stories. Here is the first.

 

"Boy sleeping on the ground with the flies in the dump, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand, 2013"

 

I arrived at the dump early that morning (following the advice of my friend Larry), it was roughly 5am when I got there. I handed out 2 bags of food to two dump shack homes. Then I wandered and made photos. It was 2013, my second trip to Thailand that year and probably my 10th or 11th visit to the dump. I found a group of boys sleeping in the open on the ground, there were lots of flies buzzing about and landing on their faces and hands as they slept. They were new to the garbage dump, recently arrived from Burma, so had no shelters to live in. This boy had a grace and beauty to him, even thou he lived in an ugly world. Later on after he woke up, he was shy and quiet, and said nothing. He never complained, this was normal for him.

 

Photo Story: Khun Owen In Klong Toey Slum

Since I cannot return to Thai and have some free time I thought I would revisit some photos and include some stories. 

"Owen 52 talking on a busy street, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019"

 

I met Khun Owen 3 times during my 2019 time in Klong Toey Slum working on THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED UNDER THE FREEWAY. On this occasion he was talking to himself and speaking to people passing by. He also spoke to me (see video link). He was breaking a piece of re-bar off of a block of concrete. I think he was going to sell the bar somewhere. He seemed not well, a bit erratic and possibly damaged because of substance abuse or mental health related issues. Quite often in Klong Toey you meet people who suffer from the effects of YAH BAH (crazy medicine) a drug that I am told fries your mind after extensive use. Khun (Mr.) Owen was kind to me, he accepted me and seemed to enjoy having his photo taken. I hope to go back and learn where he lives "under the freeway" and hope to learn more about life. That is of course assuming he is still with us in 2021. Life in the slum can be harsh, often when I return people I knew from earlier trips had passed, even people in their 50s like Khun Owen.

 

Video made at the same time as the photograph 

 

Photo Story: Cooking Breakfast In The Dump

Since I cannot return to Thai and have some free time I thought I would revisit some photos and include some stories. 

 

"Young win family daughter, helps cook breakfast, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2013"

 

This photo was made during my first series of trips to the dump in 2013. The Win family daughter was very young here, she was helping her her older cousin (?) cook breakfast. They fried up some eggs that in a wok over an open fire. This young girl is someone I have photographed many times over the years, in 2019 during my last trip to the dump I continued to photograph her and her family. The mother and father from the family have split up, the father now lives by himself in another area of the dump. The whole family works extremely hard, harder than any other family group I know in the dump. There are 3 daughters, 2 sons, a mother and father plus a grand father in the dump. I am not sure if the grand father is still alive, the last few trips to Thai I have not seen him. He was a grand and friendly man who had me take a picture of him posing with his prize pig! Check out the video to see a bit of the time with the family the day this photo was made. 

 

Video made at the time of this photograph

 

Photo Story: Jack In His Room

Since I cannot return to Thai and have some free time I thought I would revisit some photos and include some stories

 

"Jack in his room after doing meth, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019"

 

Jack had just finished doing meth in his shack alongside a busy road under the freeway in Klong Toey slum. I had climbed into his room and stood up against a far wall to make the photograph with an extreme wide angle lens. I remember that after I took off my shoes to enter his room, I was covered in sweat and I could hear the noise of the traffic outside the room. The camera kept slipping in my sweaty hands, and I was trying not to fall over onto Jack. The shack is small and shared by 2 young men (Jack and a friend), both suffer from substance abuse. I did not know Jack well, but he allowed me into his life. I remember asking him how old he was he laughed and told me in Thai, "70 years old". When I offered him some money, he refused me. He was also missing a finger on his left hand, I am not sure how or when that happened. I hope to spend much more time under the freeway next trip. Jack does not talk much but with time I hope we can become friends. I recently heard that part of the freeway has been knocked down so I am unsure how many of my friends have lost their homes. Such is Bangkok, always in flux, a huge city of over 11 million people. People like Jack are often swallowed up, lost and forgotten in that jungle of humanity.

 

Flange For 42 Inch Red Dot Artar Lens

Am going to get a flange made for my 42 inch Artar red dot lens. I have had the lens for several years. SK Grimes in the states will make it for $165 USD plus shipping. I can then use the lens on the Chamonix 16x20, the HF2024 and possibly the HF3535 via the universal Sinar lens board.

42 Inch Artar Red Dot Lens Story

Custom Made Wooden Boxes?

Am checking into the cost of getting custom made wooden boxes for the two super large HF cameras. I might need 3 boxes, 2 for the HF3535 and 1 for the HF2024.

Edmonton-Thailand Dream

The position of Dim Sum when I woke up.

Just woke up from a weird dream. 

I was driving down the road  At night in my old truck with my cat Dim Sum. Al of sudden the lights in the truck flickered and went out. Everything was black, the road in front of me plus all my driving gages. I could not see the speedometer, the gear I was in or the road in front of me. 

In desperation I pulled to the side of the road and stopped. I tried to turn on the hazard lights but they did not work either. Jus ahead of me on my left I saw a entranceway to a rural home.i carefully pulled over and parked beside a white house with a red roof, On greeting out, I thought to myself “This looks like a Thai house and yard”. Then I see re coloured Thai font on a fence post and told myself in the Thai language “Pasa Thai!”(the writing is Thai). 

I get up go to the house and see a woman outside, I again speak Thai “Sawatdee Khup (Hello)., she says nothng. Sudden there is a man there and I speed again “Sawatdee Khup, Pom choo Gerry. Pom mee bun hau gun rot, mai mee fail” (Hello,  my name is Gerry, I have a problem with my truck, it does not have lights.) Everyone  (4 people) just stares at me and say nothing.

Then I woke up. I am squished into my chair, my leg is numbA,  with Dim Dom wedged in beside me.

The 3 Parts Of AMBROTOS KANATA

I was thinking that I might divide AMBROTOS KANATA into 3 sections, 3 types of photographic subjects.

1) The Grand Landscape (city, slum, reserve, nature, town).

2) Portraits (of Canadians from all walks of life, ALL Canadians). 

3) Still Life's (found objects, road kill, tree section portraits , rock section portraits, abstracts, single items of all kinds).

Note* These ideas are of course fluid and constantly in flux. The project is still evolving in my mind and will probably continue to evolve for its 15 year run. I wan to plan the trip, but I also want spontaneity in the regards to subject matter and creativity. Lets be smart about these things, lets not be too too rigid. It is important to remember this is not work, this is about art, love, feeling and enjoying life and photography on a hour to hour, day to day basis.

AMBROTOS KANATA Diary Notebooks

I have started writing a ANBROTOS KANATA diary. Over the course of the coarse of the project I will be writing notes, thoughts, ideas, subjects and technical inform in these diary notebooks.

Huge New-Used Metal Transport Case For AMBROTOS KANATA

Picked up a huge 30x34x10.5 transport case tonight. The case is old and banged up but still has many more years of use in it. I plan to use it to carry my HF2024 camera (20x24 inch view camera) when I am working on my 15 year cross Canada wet plate project. 

I will need to cut out some parts of the inner section dividers and re-foam the interior but I believe the case is a great addition, to the photo gear team. It will protect my beautiful HF2024 as we travel the bumpy roads across Canada. 

The woman who sold me the case claimed it cost $1000 CAD (probably an exaggeration), I paid $40 CAD. I am quite happy! Now I just need cases for the 16x20 Chamonix and the HF3535 cameras.

Update* The HF2024 might not fit in the box, it is 29.5 x 29.5 x 5.9 inches when folded without the knobs. The inside of the box without foam measures about 29.25 x 33.25 x 7 inches. So I might be 1/4 of an inch too small on one side!!! If I cannot fit the HF2024 in the case, I will instead use it to hold my Chamonix 16x20 with holders and a lens or 3.

Update** I just did some measuring and wrote up a little drawing. With the 16x20 camera I will be able to place the camera with 3 inches of foam on all sides, and have a 4.5 inch storage space at the top of the case. It will be a big box but should protect the Chamonix for years of effective use in the field. Got to love that for a $40 cost with some garbage found foam thrown in :). 

Chamonix 16x20 with brass lens.

HF2024 camera (20x24 view camera with movable back like a Linhof camera)

New $40 Transport 20x24 inch camera