Cyanotypes at Andinet in Ethiopia.

During a three week trip to Ethiopia this summer where I was teaching and decorating at Andinet School in Azezo I got the chance to make Cyanotypes with a group of 26 children from grades 1-3. With ages ranging from 6-25 and very basic english from most of them it was a challenge to get going but once they were able to see the process happening everything seemed to click. The paper I had pre-prepared at home in sheets of 6x4 and once there I got them to take it in turns of groups of two. I first got the children to explore the local fauna and flora of the school to find a suitable leaf or flower to use. A very basic set up perched on the edge of our classroom outside we were lucky to have such a bright sunshine on this particular day during their monsoon season. These are two test cyanotypes I made myself before starting with the children.


By the end of the session I feel as though the children; particularly those older were really starting to grasp the process and the importance of the sun within it, the whole morning was a complete success with compliments from the school director and an audience watching when we finished. Lots of smiley faces, dropped jaws and beautiful Prussian blue prints!

-Lucy J.

Wet Plate Party

[My apologies to those who would be forgiven for thinking this blog is becoming "The Wet-Plate Weekly". - other processes are available and will be written up soon- I promise!- P ]

Quite a few people have shown an interest in the wet collodion sessions I've run at UCA and a staff day is (still) promised. I thought it would be fun to have a bit of a party for some of the people on this blog group and others, mainly to socialise but also to provide me with some subjects. I also want to do a series of portraits of photographers and this seemed a good place to start.
As it turned out the weather wasn't special so the planned barbecue was off and we worked inside, using the (highly variable!) light from the French windows. We used my Watson whole plate camera and an interesting lens: an Aldis Epidiascope (projector) lens of 35cm and f/4. It covers whole plates easily with no obvious distortion (I've done quite a lot of swirly bokeh stuff recently and wanted a change) and it's a nice portrait lens: softish and low in contrast. It worked well with the available light, though some aperture control would be an improvement. I'll cut a slot in the barrel and make some Waterhouse stops for it when I have time.

Here's a test shot of Annie (Sorry Annie, we should have gone back and done another proper one of you). Marred by some dodgy glass-cleaning on my part. - At least that's what I think the problem was: A big section peeled off while the plate was drying. I had a new micro-fibre cloth I was using to clean the plates with and I'm wondering if that left some kind of residue. It may just have been carelessness on my part.

This one is my favourite: Martin Pover looking very distinguished - and possibly just a tiny bit like David Bowie? - a very 19th-century feel to the light and the lens quality. Just daylight and a small reflector to fill in the shadows. The exposure time was around 20 seconds at f/4 with bright but cloudy weather outside. (this equates to around ISO 0.2)




Next we had the undoubted star of the day.  Ruby is Annie Mitchell's daughter and the assembled photographers all agreed she looked just right for a Julia Margaret Cameron cherub!  One wild flower headband later she was ready to pose, sitting wonderfully still for 30 seconds. - Her eyes have moved a bit but to be fair we didn't tell her to stare at a single spot. Thank you, Ruby for being such a great model.

Below:  Annie and Ruby together. This was harder to keep still, despite Debra's 'watch the birdie' skills: She played cartoons on her 'phone to keep Ruby's attention in the same spot. I think I over-developed the plate a little I'm afraid.

Above:  Silke Dettmers. I shouldn't keep apologising for the technical defects I know, but I wish I'd have done a better exposure and poured the developer more evenly. I think I'm going to sit and practice with a dummy plate until I can do a perfect (or at least adequate) pour. The ideal is just enough liquid to cover the surface, spread evenly and swiftly and then kept on the plate, not dripping off the edges for the 15 seconds or so it takes to develop.

Lastly, Debra-Lorraine was good enough to bring her camera with her as requested. The idea of photographing fellow photographers with their cameras got a bit lost during all the excitement but the day was primarily for fun which I think we all had. I was impressed by Debra's keenness to pour plates. - most people are a bit reticent because it looks difficult. Several of the plates here were prepared by her.

Thanks to everyone who came. Special thanks to my lovely Catherine for feeding and watering us all and apologies to Algernon for his having to spend the day shut out from proceedings.
I'm delighted that everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves as much as I did. We must do this again!

                                                                                                                                             Peter.

Selfie stick? - no, that's a Black & Decker Workmate.

As Large As Life.

Some people will be familiar  with "The Behemoth" - my home-built 20"x24" mammoth plate camera which I've demonstrated at a few workshops. The current spell of good weather has meant I've finally had the time and conditions to have a bit more of a play with it.
The lens is a 21" (533mm) f/10 Taylor Hobson Cooke from a process camera with enormous coverage. The bellows extend to about 32 inches (812mm) which allows a good range of focus but this means it won't focus closer than about 60 inches (1.5m). This is close enough for most things, especially at this scale but it would be interesting to be able to photograph things at life-size.

A bit of calculating (the principal lens formula: 1/V+1/U = 1/f is so useful in camera building!) shows that for a 21 inch lens I needed a bellows length (U) of 42 inches. - Actually for 1:1 magnification it's easy- just double the focal length).  As the bellows wouldn't stretch further I built the Behemoth Close-Up Accessory - a 10 inch deep wooden box which clips to the back of the camera to extend it.

So to test it: The idea was always to make life-size head and shoulders portraits so I started with a self -portrait. - Always one to make things as difficult as possible for myself!
The depth of focus is tiny at f/10: - maybe an inch at best. I used by head clamp/rest to make my position the same every time and set up a rod on a stand with a paper flag as close to where my eye would be as I could. Focusing on this was just about possible.

The full set up:B&D Workmate bench is better than a tripod...

I used ordinary R/C enlarging paper as the sensitive material. This is around ISO 3 so I set up outside in open shade where there was a decent amount of light. The camera isn't very heavy -at least for its size(!) and will sit on a tripod. However, for this I used a Black & Decker 'Workmate' bench. The advantage is that the camera can be slid back and forth a few inches on the bench and locked in place much more quickly and easily than with a tripod.  With close up work like this it's a lot easier to set the focus and move the camera.
The two plate cameras behind me are just to make an interesting background. The round mirror by my feet is adding a bit of reflected highlight into my eyes. The two sticks to my right are my focusing target and to operate the card flap over the lens I used as a shutter. (This idea I got from Sally Mann: It works beautifully!)  Also visible is the metronome used for timing the exposures. 45 seconds at f/32 was the final exposure.

Here's my final picture for the day: I can't say it's particularly great: The chair I used made me 'slump' too far back and the camera should have been lower. My grumpy expression is mainly due to trying to keep still and with my eyes open for a long time on a bright day. Anyhow, it was meant as a test of technique and feasibility more than a piece of artistic expression.

Life-size self portrait. PR. August 2016

The paper negs were processed in the darkroom and then re-photographed and tonally inverted digitally. - I haven't had time to go back and contact print them yet. I'm therefore guessing a bit what constitutes a good paper neg: I just worked on getting detail in both ends of the scale (it's a fixed-grade 2). More on this when I've done some more work on it..