ALIVE INSIDE THE GLASS!

Here is a conversation I had with MS (the founder of modern wet plate) on Facebook. Thought it was important to include some of my motivations for making these difficult things.

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• Gerry Yaum No problem … but be aware that eventually it will fail and destroy your image as it has with every other collodion image done that way given enough time. Another form of magic. 
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• Gerry Yaum

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• MS---  those ambrotypes shown in the links are most likely 130-160 years old (1860-1890).....seems pretty good, long enough... I can view these old pieces at home with no problems, limited damage. In fact I love the look so much they inspire me to push forward through the difficulties of wet plate. Will they actually last 250-300 years? maybe?? Seems long enough to me. My pics are not that important . Sometimes we get carried away with the whole archival thing. 200 years seems plenty long. The other and maybe better option (as you know, being the YODA of this whole wet plate thing) is just coating with varnish, then framing with black velvet or some other cloth behind. That will get the same 3D looking through the glass effect that I love. Want the illusion of 3D, the subject alive inside the glass. That is what is magical for me, and why I am not a huge fan of tintypes. It is like the moment in 1984 where Winston Smith has the piece in glass (paperweight) from another age, it is a magical wonderous thing, a time tunnel to a past long gone world. When I look at the Japanese woman in the ambrotypes, it is like they are still alive captured inside the glass. That is the feeling I want the work to have. The photo from the most recent version of the film. The life inside the glass is precious and special.

Winston Smith finds a glass paper weight. From the film 1984 starring John Hurt.