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.
Hello, Doctor. These are really nice. I like the ghostly image, too, half-seen, half-unseen.
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