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Last weekend saw my first 2010 outing in Mr Shifter (my 1964 Morris ambulance). An excellent time was had by all, the sun shone, music flowed, good food and drink, surrounded by friends old and new. I remembered how much I love being in a field. I managed to make some tintypes as well! Although on Sunday I had all sorts of chemical/exposure? difficulties, having to filter everything often - in hindsight I wonder if volcanic dust played a part in the havoc - it was certainly visible on parked cars etc.
Here's a few images from the weekend

I will add some on here later ...

Future Relics and Ghost Images

Recently I decided I need to commit one day a week to my own art practice - so last Friday I unearthed all the wet plate chemistry and camera and thought I'd try to make a few test exposures. I managed to make three images before the rain started. Having not even been near the chemicals since last summer I was pleased to achieve an image at all.








Today I have been making some more tests, and all the usual issues have arisen - over/under exposure, over/under development, and judging by the other process-related 'artefacts' evident in the resulting tintypes I have concluded that my silver bath also needs some tlc, currently filtering and sunning.

I always forget how keen the creative lows and highs are. I was making images around the vicinity of my home. I like to think of the direct connection with the early pioneer photographers who also made their work around their homes (WH Fox Talbot and Lacock Abbey, for example, or Niépce's famous plate, the view out of his window, even Lady Clementina Hawarden). I had made a few exposures of the house, circling around, looking for inspiration, while still just attempting to gauge the exposure etc. (see here for today's images)

I was using the broom to prop open my front door, which naturally reminded me of Fox Talbot's Open Door so I decided to use that as the basis of another test exposure. Whilst I was making the 25second exposure, two of the cats, Gonzo and Minnie, decided to hang around the doorway. Here's the result.



For me, photography isn't about the surface, or the sheen. It is more than a tool or a vehicle to convey an idea or concept. Through the incorporation of the Wetplate Process there is an embodied nature in the coming together of material, and moment, creating a unique future relic. If I wanted the process to be invisible I would not be playing with chemicals and metal and glass. I have always liked this sort of ghostly image, obscuring and revealing.

I want much more practise now, more days like today, I'm so glad it's Spring.

Last summer at Workhouse festival, whilst on my first ever foray into making tintypes 'in the field' I met a fellow photographer Cordelia Weedon, who proceeded to document some of that day's activities. Here's some of the photos she sent me recently.

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Doctora Memoria da Silva is also on facebook - more photos there..

a few tests

A few more early plates, all processed in the field. Plenty of teething problems, but that's all part of the wonder of this amazing 19th century process, the Wet Plate Collodion Process. In the background of the images are glimpses of 'Mr Shifter', my 1964 Morris LD Ambulance. Mr Shifter is high on my 'To Do' list, after the winter.
Watch this space for more ...

Spring is here

This is a very early test from last year, of one of my sons. The best plates were given away before I documented them. This year I hope to make many more.
Finally the dark winter months have passed, now to get started. The good Doctora had two outings last summer to Workhouse Festival, Llanfyllin and Square Festival, Borth, and then went into hibernation. This summer will see a renaissance of the travelling tintypist. I learnt a great deal from my two experimental outings in the field, not least that the wet plate collodion process can be capricious and not always predictable!