A Day In Calgary!

$2 CAD pickup from Goodwill in Calgary last night. Todays fun itinerary includes a great Dimsum (food not the cat) and my second viewing of the Diane Arbus show at the Contemporary Calgary gallery. Might also go to the nearby library for a read. Gotta love libraries!

I should be making Ambrotypes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday!!!

I

Bought A Wet Plate Collodion 8x10 Silver Tank Kit

 Picked up this kit from the same Czech Republic seller that made my 16x20, 20x24 and 35x35 inch silver tanks. He is a good quality builder, and very reliable.

I currently have a working 8x10 silver tank, but it is a bit dodgy. This kit has multiple components. I can also use the fixer tank and the drying rack, so decided it was a good investment, cost $355 CAD. I now have a backup 8x10 silver tank, a new fixer tank and the drying rack. Extra dippers are also a good thing to have about. I will use all this new gear to death on the AMBROTOS KANATA project.

Fixer tank on the left, drying rack in the middle and silver tank on the right!

2 Possible Collected Ambrotypes

I have the Ambrotypes ready for the second phase of the Alberta Art Collection buy. I drop them off next week for inspection and judgement. They are not perfect, but they are quite beautiful. I love each in its own way.

If the images sell and are added to the "Alberta Collection" it will allow the trees to live on. They could possibly live longer in the collection than the live trees do in real-life. These tree Ambrotypes might be shown 100-200-300 years from today, anything is possible. It is like another form, another longer lasting type of life.  I am pleased the Ambrotypes might be collected but am also happy about the possible $2000 that might be earned.  $2000 worth of Silver Nitrate would be bought with that money. More Silver Nitrate allows for more Ambrotypes, bigger and better ones! Anything that allows me to make more pictures, fills me with joy.

These are the two images.

Cottonwoods #3, AMBROTOS KANATA, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, Sept. 2022

Cottonwoods #8, AMBROTOS KANATA, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, Sept. 202

Possible Work Sold and Collected By "Alberta Foundation for the Arts- Art Acquisition by Application"

Some possible good news today. Two Ambrotypes were short listed to be added to the permanent Alberta Art Collection. Money earned ($2000 CAD), if it happens, would be used to buy Silver Nitrate. The first possible Ambrotype sales, to fund AMBROTOS KANATA. Here's hoping this works out!

This major wet plate/ambrotype project will run upwards of 15 years and probably cost in excess of $100 000 CAD to produce. We will need to travel back and forth across Canada, making plates up to 35x35 inch in size, expensive, expensive, expensive. My hope is to earn some bonus money by selling plates, doing workshops and talks. All money earned from the project will go back into the project. This is the first positive sign that my evil plan may actually work!

Video: Facebook Reel, Beaver Pond

 

Video: Beaver Pond Version 2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Elk Island Park

Beaver Pond Version 2, AMBROTOS KANATA, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, Elk Island Park, Alberta, Canada, June 2023

3 Ambrotypes Overexposed

First Mammoth Ambrotype

Mixed Flowers, 20x20 Inch Clear Glass Ambrotype, June 2023

My first semi successful Mammoth Ambrotype. So much to learn yet.

Lube Man

Did a first today. After watching a bunch of YouTube vids I lubed all 4 tires on the darkroom trailer. God knows the last time it was done. I am the third owner of the trailer and have had it for 4 years now, maybe five. 3 wheels seemed OKish, one wheel quite dry and difficult.

Am becoming a bit of a Mr. Fix It on the RV and trailer, Fanny & Freddy. The repair efforts save money and help me zone in on making AMBROTOS KANATA a success.

Note* The ball bearing lube job will become a regular part of my routine maintenance now.

Columbia Icefields, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Banff-Jasper National Park

Columbia Icefields, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Banff-Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, June 2022

CAMERAMOBILE!!!

So how do you move a 150lb plus view camera in the field to make wet plate collodion Ambrotypes? How do to you manage to move this huge camera through your 60s and into your 70s??? How can you shoot such a cool tool into old age?

I might have found a solution THE CAMERAMOBILE!! Sort of my version of the Batmobile.

It is a former sailboat dolly made of 2 3/16 inch aluminum tubing and heavy duty wheels. The unit is rated to 500lbs. I can remove the wheels when I transport it in the darkroom trailer. This thing is fairly light and strong.

I was thinking off adding 4 trailer jacks to it . I could create a type of tripod. I could use the jacks to raise the trailer at the front or back or on all 4 side. This would help with uneven ground and composition.

 I am not sure this will work but am going to give this a go in 1 or 2 years when I start using the HF3535.

Cost $400 CAD.

Here’s hoping my cameramobile works!!

Vertical of Pond, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park

Vertical of Pond, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada, June 2023

Note* The blacks work better in this Ambrotype.

Detail of Pond

Forest Detail, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park

Forest Detail, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada, June 2023

Pond, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park, Alberta

Pond, 8x10 Clear Glass Ambrotype, AMBROTOS KANATA, Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada, June 2023

5 Bottles Of Varnish

To do this project I need chemicals, Most all the chemicals needed for AMBROTOS KANATA are expensive. I try to save money where I can, but it still costs so much. I use lots of the varnish, picked up 5 more bottles tonight at $39 CAD a bottle. Hope I can make it last a bit. Hope they can protect some beautiful Ambrotypes.

Snore!

 So one of the problems I have when making Ambrotypes is how exhausting a 12 hour plus work day can be. I sometimes need and want to take a siesta nap at noonish when the sun is most harsh and the day most hot. My problem is I am usually all stinky with chemicals and wearing spilled silver nitrate on my clothes which stains everything you touch. In my RV I already have multiple lightly stained areas, even thou I try hard to keep things clean. It seems near impossible to not get silver nitrate and other chemicals on everything.

So what to do?? I could change all my clothes and take a shower and then a nap in the RV but that is time consuming, water consuming and sometimes you have trouble getting out of bed again. You end up sleeping too long.

I came up with a short time resting solution. I am not sure this will work but plan on giving it a go. I bought a large size, strong, camping bed. I will place it in my washing, drying tent or in a shaded area for a 1 hour nap as needed. I can lay on it in my dirty work clothes outside the RV. It does not matter if I get it dirty, no big deal if I do. It will be my working-sleeping cot.

The idea if it works will give me a refresher at mid day. My father used to do this when he worked in his old age, he taught me his technique. Dad worked at a farmers market baking foods. He worked there until he was 79. He told me he would take multiple naps during the day followed by work. He was able to keep going all week that way before the Saturday Market sales day. Dad was the hardest working man I ever met, he set a great example for me. I hope I can manage to work half as hard as he did.

Cost $174 CAD

Keep It And Think Some More

I was going to toss this varnished plate in the garbage wash, then clean it and use the glass again. I then changed my mind. I think I might keep it.

In the future I hope to do more documentary type Ambrotype imagery. This photo makes me thing that way. It shows the forest in a non complimentary, non beauty way. 

One of the subjects I want to cover in the project is the murder genocide happening to First Nations Native woman across the country. To tell that terrible story visually I wanted to photograph the families of the lost and the locations their bodies were found in. It is important those Ambrotypes are honest to the crime, isolation and tragedy the individual experienced. I do not want beautiful forest scenes. The picture must be true to the reality that occurred there.

This Ambrotype gives  a bit of what I am looking for. A sense of loss, abandonment, isolation and indifference.. I will keep this Ambro and think on it some more.