On May 30th I ran an Ambrotype demo day for the benefit of UCA colleagues who've expressed an interest in the process - or just wanted to know what I was doing when seen wearing a big black apron and smelling vaguely of ether..
Despite being busy with show preparation (there's never a good time to schedule these things and this was the 'least worst' day) eight people showed up and everyone sat for a portrait.
We had a lot of fun and I got to share this magical, alchemical process with some more people. To all those who came, thank you for making it such fun and I'll give you your original plates as soon as I've varnished them for you. In the meantime here you all are:
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| Anne's healthy outdoor tan has recorded as much darker, due to collodion's relative insensitivity to the red end of the spectrum. |
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| Alana's inspired lace mask suits the patterns of the process artefacts beautifully. |
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| Dylan channeling Johnny Depp in 'Dead Man' |
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| Lisa's hair shines to the point of solarising. Beautiful! |
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| Matt wins the award for Most Terrifying Stare in a Collodion Picture. |
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| Rosie looking cool in another beautiful plate... |
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| Dylan again, more Oscar Wilde this time. Part of the emulsion came off the plate on this one, thankfully only at the bottom of the image. |
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| Alana on a whole plate (6.5"x8.5") Just superb. |
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Kelly Marie's plate has taken a little longer to prepare - worth the wait though!
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A great day with some interesting conversations: The process throws up fascinating insights into what photography was, and still is. I find it connects me with the fundamentals of photography in a very different way from other methods.
Special thanks to Dylan and Alana for all your hard work, especially the clearing up! - Much appreciated.
Peter Renn
