Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 15 of 15

Thread: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Kalamazoo
    Posts
    648

    Re: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

    Quote Originally Posted by Vaughn View Post
    Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    AZ
    Posts
    4,431

    Re: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

    As someone who has taught a few free informal "classes" on wetplate I think getting a little cash to recover expenses is a fine idea. Especially in an introduction class, many students just want a chance to see the process and decide about doing it. Better to do a demonstration and gathering all at once, and charge a little to pay for things.

    I once had a college professor who asked us, "what does it take to become a recognized expert on a topic?" His answer was, "read three books on it." Wetplate certainly is not like that. A decent practitioner needs chemical knowledge, physical skills (the pours), equipment and knowledge of it, and mostly enough experience to be able to troubleshoot anything that can and will go wrong with this fickle process.

    When I set out to learn this, I decided I would shoot at least once or twice a week until I "got good". I've done that for two or three years. I still get anxious when shooting in public. If teaching a workshop I'd want to know enough that if a student had a problem I can tell them what caused it. And how to fix it. It would be awful for the student to say, "I have blue splotches....I have ridges...I have lifting collodion....no exposure....fogging...too much contrast....scum....etc. and not have an answer.

  3. #13
    Vaughn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Humboldt County, CA
    Posts
    9,211

    Re: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

    Garrett, that is true. At the same time, having to go through the trouble-shooting of a problem with the students can also be very educational. "I do not know...let's figure this thing out" is a powerful tool.

    I admit that I do not know everything about carbon printing. What I do know is how to make beautiful carbon prints...and I can teach others how to do it. And I can point the participants towards people who might have the practical experience of things I may not be personally familiar with. And I seem to learn a few things every time I give a workshop -- both about giving workshops and about the process.

    Vaughn

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Washington, D.C.
    Posts
    1,498

    Re: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

    Thanks!, I appreciate everyone's perspectives and comments. I've been a photographer and a research scientist for many years and the skills I've acquired have helped me quite a bit in coming up to speed on the collodion process. There's a distinction between understanding and practicing the basic process and the mastery that comes with years of experience. However, there is still disagreement and an incomplete understanding of the process. For instance, on the matter of acidification of the silver bath, some practioners use a neutral or a slight natively acidic bath-- while others acidify with nitric acid or acetic acid. One reaction forms more silver nitrate, the other silver acetate. Some argue that their way is correct, but in fact, there are successful wet plate artists using each method.

    For every two wet plate artists, there are often three opinions. Very often an artist with a problem will change four or five variables at once, so we at least think someone was right. Even the masters don't always have every answer. One of John Coffers "mythbusters" endorses the use of denatured alcohol in place of grain alcohol. He's partly right because denatured alcohol may be fine, but "denatured" tells you what it isn't--pure ethanol, not the identity of the denaturing agent. From my personal experience, I know that some denaturants may cause fog on the plate--so the brand of the denatured alcohol can be an important factor.

    I like to triangulate some of the most successful methods through research and testing. Just reading through the full archives of Quinn's site and the wet plate forum have been invaluable. I find many roads that lead back to Waldack and Neff's excellent Treatise on Collodion (1858). Their (CdBr/NH4I) "Collodion A" survives as only slightly altered in the Scully and Osterman Positive Collodion (referenced in C. James) and Quinn's "New Guy" collodion. I like to give a starting point and options that are working for other artists.

    Jason, I think you're right about my pours not being an issue. I still need to perfect the physical process of my plate development (trying to avoid helper trays) and deal with a contamination issue due the design of one of my modifed plate holders. The issue with corduroy/crepey lines was due to excess ether evaporation.

    Cheers, Barry

  5. #15
    Alex Timmermans
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Holland
    Posts
    589

    Re: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop - April 16-17, Washington, DC

    Barry,

    Knowledge is one, enthousiasm is two.
    I have seen many theachers who had the knowledge but not the enthousiasm. And in that case class can be very very dull....
    The collodion is a very steep learning process, but boy it is really fun when it works.
    I myself had many problems in the past few months.
    If you have the enthousiasm to bring a nice course it will be a pleasure for your students to follow your workshop !!

    BTW currently i am using the poorguy collodion formula. I needs no ether at all !
    It just works perfectly. very nice contrast en no flowingproblems at all ( no stripes)
    just give it a try.

    Alex

Similar Threads

  1. my new wet plate back
    By eddie in forum Cameras & Camera Accessories
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 19-Dec-2008, 07:38
  2. Charles P. Farmer Workshop
    By Don Boyd in forum Style & Technique
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 17-Sep-2006, 08:05
  3. Wet Plate Collodion question
    By Pete Caluori in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 16-May-2006, 20:16

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •