working on more Earth Magic photographs

Photograph of myself preparing a glass plate by Ayse Idil Idil.

family and cameras

It's easy for photographers to get carried away talking about gear.  I've done it, despite all efforts not to.  Some people seem to like talking about their camera more than they like using it.  Having said that, I'm about to write about cameras here.

This was my Christmas gift from my parents.  It's a Hasselblad, a camera I never thought I'd own.  More importantly, it was my mom's. 

I've written before about how my mother was a professional photographer, and how I used to use her darkroom when I was a teenager.  There is a bit of camera gifting history in my family.  My mom got her first camera from her grandfather.  My parents gave me my first camera for Christmas when I was six years old.  Since then, at least five of the cameras I've owned have come through my parents, generally being passed down from my mom.  The rest of them were stolen in 2006 when someone broke into my apartment, a month after I moved to Chicago.

This particular camera was originally a gift from my dad to my mom.  Now it's mine.  I feel honored.  I can't wait to use it.

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I may not be posting a lot of new images here, but that doesn't mean that I'm not busy.  I've finished quite a few things recently.  It's just not time to share them yet.

busy as usual

I've been spending more time in the woods, taking photographs for the "Earth Magic" series.  Wet plate collodion is a kind of ridiculous process - you have to coat the glass plate with collodion, make it light sensitive, shoot the photograph and develop it all within around ten minutes.  So I've been lugging a bunch of gear into the wilderness and processing things in a cardboard box.  One nice thing about this is having deer surround you - at one point as many as eleven were keeping an eye on me.

I've used a lot of unconventional darkrooms before, but this is the first time that I've heard birds singing while developing images.

Long time internet friend Gea* visited last week, and we finally met in person after being in touch for at least 8 years.  She went into the woods to witness the deer herself.  I'm not sure, but she may have also taken a snapshot of me rolling around in a cardboard box on the ground, developing glass plates.

I'm still working on the "Symbiosis" series, and it's coming along very well.  A few rolls of film were shot last night.  I'm thinking that the series will be done before too long, though I know better than to assume too much.

wet plate witchcraft in the woods

Yesterday I hauled a ridiculous amount of equipment and chemistry into a wooded area so that I could take some wet plate photographs for the "Earth Magic" series.  This involved me going across town with an 8x10 camera, tripod and other heavy and cumbersome gear.

And a cardboard box, to serve as a makeshift darkroom.

Things came along surprisingly well and I was able to take a lot of photographs without any major mishaps.  Not bad, considering it was my first time doing wet plates without the safety of running water or a nearby darkroom.  The location was beautiful and perfect for the photographs.  If you ignore the gang of ten year old boys on bicycles.

On the way home I realized that I'd officially made the transition into "functional hobo":  a pushcart loaded with bags and a cardboard box, hands blackened from a run-in with the silver nitrate bath that the plates are dipped in, and a container full of wine and alcohol bottles (used to hold chemistry).  Maybe I should make an attempt to look a little less sketchy next time.

I'll post some images from yesterday soon.

starting over (again)

After much work on the most recent incarnation of the Symbiosis series, I decided to start over.  Again.  I've lost track of how many incarnations there have been in the past 8 months.  There have been 11x14 photographs with oil pastels, 4x6 foot collages on unstretched canvas with oil paint, 11x14 photographs with oil paint and 16x20 photographs with acrylic paint.

On Wednesday I photographed artist Steven Johnson Leyba.  Wet plate portraits.  He was in town for an exhibition he was in.  We've been friends for around a decade and have worked on collaborations a few times in the past.  I'll post images as soon as I'm able to print them.


Later on Wednesday, I took more color photographs for the Symbiosis series (which, to be honest, I'm thinking I need to re-name).  On Friday I got into the color darkroom to make test prints, then did some quick painting with acrylics.  I'm very happy with how they're turning out so far.  A very different feel.

I'm thinking that I'm going to keep them small.  Intimate.

Tonight Jane and I are planning on seeing Wolvserpent and Locrian.  Last summer I photographed Locrian in anticipation of their upcoming release on Utech Records, "The Crystal World." 

Look at the Utech website to see Justin Bartlett's great cover artwork for "The Crystal World."

painting progress

Retouching color photographs the old fashioned way.

No, I'm not using an easel.  In fact, it's startling that I'm not doing this while laying on the ground.  Maybe I'm finally growing up.

The first few images in the Symbiosis series are coming along quite nicely.  I've also been attempting to design an album cover for an old friend's music project.

Autumn has begun to settle in here in Chicago.  It made me panic a bit, as I haven't been able to finish nearly as much of the Earth Magic series as I'd like, and since the wet plate process favors natural sunlight it seems that I should get to work immediately before the city is covered in snow.  I started to worry the other day, but it is supposedly my "witch" series.  Jane reminded me that Autumn is most definitely the "season of the witch."  Still, I'd better to to work right away.