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Thread: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

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    Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    "From inside the lens of a delivery truck converted into a camera, Ruhter becomes the machine’s very manual settings: the shutter and the processor, and also the “film,” which he makes from scratch on sheets of aluminum up to five feet wide. "

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/t-...-danziger.html

    http://www.danzigergallery.com/exhibition/ian-ruhter

  2. #2
    bob carnie's Avatar
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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    So how do you feel about the development errors?

    For me they are very distracting to the point of why bother showing them. To others these images may the greatest thing since sliced bread.

    Please do not take this the wrong way, as I completely understand how difficult this may be to produce, but the artifacts actually take away potential for me.

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    adelorenzo's Avatar
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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    Any flaws or errors in the plates don't bother me one bit. I've been following his work since the beginning and I've always liked it. He started out doing a lot of portraits which I liked even more than the landscapes.

    Most people probably saw this three years ago but for those who haven't:


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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    meh. bigger ain't always better. some guys just can't stop at 8x10.

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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    The video that adelorenzo linked to is in itself fascinating. It is very well done. The work as presented in the video is inspirational and thrilling. I'd like to see the plates in person. The "flaws" don't bother me as the content is fantastic.
    My flickr stream

  6. #6

    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    Quite fascinating video

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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    I'm a fan of very large format work. Minor flaws really aren't that distracting to me, anymore than being able to see the imprint of a chisel's mark on a stone statue is a distraction.

    When you are getting up above 8x10, and especially when using wet plate, I start to see the process of simply taking the image as part of the art itself. The minor flaws and such that go along with it aren't a terrible thing, but part of the record of the act as a whole. Getting a flawless image is impressive and all that, but a few blemishes along the way don't really ruin anything.

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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    Are you saying because it's ultra large, it cannot be free from flaws? I agree, it's hard to shoot flawless plates, big or small. In the 1800s, they just worked harder at it. Today, you do big, you are famous, even if the shots have major problems. In the 1800s, practitioners would never show a flawed plate.

    Ruhter's plates are ok, some are pretty good, but most do have a lot of common mistakes. I wonder why he didn't just learn to fix those, before going for the gallery scene? http://images.exhibit-e.com/www_danz...ts_com/042.jpg is an example, decent, but poor exposure, developer lines, and it looks like some chemistry problems. But hey, he's in the NY Times now. There are much better wetplate lanscape photographers shooting the West the past few years, including Dunniway, Jacobson, and even Coffer.

    Watkins, 1865 and 1861:



    Last edited by goamules; 5-Nov-2015 at 09:29.

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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    Of course any sized format can be free of technical flaws, and if given the choice between the same image with and without flaws I am going to choose the flawless option in the vast majority of cases. (In some cases the stories that go with the flaws of an image make it that much more interesting. There is more to art than just pretty looking pictures after all.)

    But just because every last detail is not perfect, that there were some flaw in methodology or theory during the practice of the craft, does not mean that what is produced is wholly without merit or any redeeming value.

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    Re: Very large format wet plate by Ian Ruhter

    I didn't say it was wholly without merit, though maybe other posters implied that. What I said is it exhibits flaws in technique and knowledge. People are given a pass for those problems in wetplate, because "wetplate is so hardddd"....(it's not)....and "that's the old timey look of the 1800s"....(it isn't). Now you are approaching the final misconception: that the artist "places these artifacts on purpose, for the effect..." Very, very seldom is that the case. Maybe with Sally Mann, who purposely slops chemistry around just for the flaws.

    So, if someone made obviously flawed large format (or 35mm) film prints, would no one say anything? Would the person be worthy of a gallery and journalistic fame? No.

    The final argument is "it's the composition that matters, even if there are a few flaws." Well, I'd agree if it was a carefully constructed still life, or a Decisive Moment capture of some great action (I saw a wetplate of a guy feeding seagulls today, that IS amazing). Maybe even a carefully lit portrait. But shooting the Yosemite Valley isn't any novel composition. It's capturing what God made, as millions of other photographers have done. So, what merit is a flawed, big plate of that? That it's big?

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