10×10″ Collodion Negative meets Lith
Easter gave me the opportunity of making some collodion images and to print them in the darkroom. I started the day with cutting the plates. I have a lot of clear glass left over from some frames of which I didn’t use the glass (back then) and was so smart as to save it. I cut some 10×10″ plates and started on a series I’ve been having on my mind for quite some time now. It’s about nightmares, paranoia, etc. I still have to come up with a title. These are the first shots in this series. Luckily I still have to practice on my negatives (subbing them with albumen for example, had lifting of the collodion, or perhaps, cleaning them even better) so they came out anything but perfect. The exact raw feeling that I was after when thinking out the images in my head.
I shot the plates on the first day of Easter and varnished them that same very day. I was ready for the second day of Easter. Darkroom. Lith printing. I wanted that grainy and raw feel lith can give you so it wasn’t too hard figuring out which way to go with these. The images are contact printed (I love the 10×10″ size) on Rollei Vintage Paper 131 developed in Rollei Superlith developer 24+24+600.
I still have a lot to learn regarding the making of decent collodion negatives but for lith printing they work out just fine so far. If anything I’m having fun!
Cemetery Tongerseweg Maastricht
Yesterday the weather again turned out to be on my side so I grabbed my gear and went for the cemetery this time. I’ve never been there and that surely was a shame, what a remarkable place. If I ever wish to be buried that would definitely be the place to be.
Bart unfortunately had to work but my dad tagged along this time. The new dark box was finished right in time for yesterday so that lent me the perfect opportunity to try it out. It worked! I’ll dedicate a separate post to this box so no further details for now.
As said, what a beautiful place and I’ll just let the images to the talking I guess 
It was a great day and I can surely advise you going there if you haven’t already. You can check out their website for more information on the cemetery.
I’ve also made two negatives of which one has passed the selection to being printed. Lith it will be again so I’ll have two larger prints, printed by hand, to be shown at the exhibition in September. I’m really looking forward! Last weeks of preparation now so very busy but it’s all coming together quite nicely.
Have a good night!
-Indra
Lith Print of a Clear Glass Ambrotype
As said before I also made my first real clear glass ambrotype, aka a glass negative, in Montzen. Yesterday I tried to make a lith print out of it. Very much to my liking! The grain really adds to the ambience and feel of the image.
I used Rollei Vintage 131 Fiber paper and made the first print on 18×24 cm paper to try it out. I loved it so much I”ll be making a large print as soon as the paper arrives: 50×60 cm. Also, this was my first go with the Omega D2 enlarger…wow..that thing is awesome!!! Beautiful machine which I’ll use a whole lot more often now that I got it working with the 4×5″ glass plate holder.
The only thing needed to be done was the toning part. I always used selenium toner before but also bought gold toner a while back. With selenium the tone, or wouldn’t hardly change, or make it more red. Both was just not what I had in mind. Luckily I remembered my gold toner in time so I ordered 2 more liters for the large print and tonight tested it. The prints are still wet so I’ll scan and post them tomorrow. Impressions: 4 minutes were too long; too blue. With 2 minutes I kept a little warmish yellow and got a little blueish and that was exactly what I was after.
Sure, with lith printing the true characteristics of Collodion have practically gone (though not really if you look carefully) so you might wonder why. First of all, because I couldn’t wait making and printing my first collodion negative! Secondly, lith printing is what I know (a little) and came to love (traditional bw printing has gotten boring to me) so this was the way to go for now. I’m still trying to figure out which processes I’m going to dive into for printing the collodion negatives but time has not really been on my side so far. Thirdly and most importantly, because I like it! So eat it!
Anyway, a happy goose here and I’m looking forward to the big print!
-Indra
La Gare de Montzen (BE)
Yesterday the weather had finally decided to give us a break thus some great photographic moments we just had to seize! My dad and I visited La gare de Montzen in 2005 and we decided to head back yesterday to see what has changed and of course to photograph it again. In 2005 I took my digital SLR and, because I was getting back in touch with analog, also my Nikon F100. This time I went collodion all the way!
The place had been severely abused since last time and gave me the creeps even more (which is great!). We were able to get the car pretty close to one of the sort of entrances and didn’t have to drag our ass off getting all the stuff inside. Once setup finding objects and sceneries was not that hard. But time flew by like mad and I ended up with 4 great bga’s of 4×10″ and one 4×5″ glass negative. The latter I’d like to print in my darkroom for the upcoming exhibition. Have not yet found a proper process to print it with so I’ll probably stick with lith for now to see where that’ll get me. On to the photos!
The plates were all fixed using KCN 2%. Exposure time varied between 3 to 13 seconds up in the end.
Anyway, hope the weather will keep on being the good guy and hopefully we’ll soon travel to another abandoned little gem!
-Enjoy, Indra
Enci Maastricht on Collodion
Yesterday finally was a day where I had the time to go out with my collodion stuff again! Had to wait til after three as the weather was a bit unstable. “Buienradar” is a wonderful site to keep track of these nasty rainy moments. Gave a green light after 3 and came out right!
Brought too little water with me, just 5 liters, normally at least 10, but it had to do. Shot 4×10″ plates and used up quite a bit to pinpoint exposure. There was a lot of UV, times when stopped down to at least f22, where 1 a 2 seconds which is very little. Today I fiddled a bit around with them, removing a little veil with a cotton ball and varnished them old-shool to give them that little extra weight. They came out just fine! Looking forward to the next shoot, hopefully this Sunday!
Anyway, I’m one happy goose so good night y’all! 
-Indra
10×10″ Hottiness & Darkbox in the Making
I know the size of the original plate doesn’t come across on a computer screen but I just want to share how awesome I find the size: OMG AWESOME! So…
First time for me making square plates which is kind of cool. Hasselblad superior King Size stuff Unfortunately they don’t fit in my scanner so I’ve photographed them with a Canon S95 lousy in comparison so never mind the qual please…the one of my brother looks way better in person (he does too).
Also, we’re currently working on the all new making of a darkbox so I can finally photograph the beautiful city of Maastricht for my Alexander Simays project. The box is ready, thanks to my wonderful extremely supportive boyfriend, and we’re now waiting for the black cloth to arrive. I’m really looking forward to that little gem because it’s said to be extremely thin AND light tight. I’ve ordered an extra piece to use as a dark cloth on my camera. My current one is rather thick and not light tight enough, a PITA that is. Below some examples of what the box will look like.
The closed box
The opened box, with the bars to hold the dark cloth
The table on which the darkbox will reside. This table fits on the cart for my bike so I can drive it all around Maastricht without it touching its soil.
Once finished I’ll post the exact specifications qua size and all that’s been used etc.
Good night
Rubytype Rubyred Rubybrother
Last week I went to Tilburg to buy me some glass. They had lots including all kinds of colored plates. Red jumped out. Ruby red to be exact. In Collodion it’s not all that uncommon to experiment with different colors of glass. A friend of mine recently told me that all of these colored variations are called rubytypes, even though the color is not ruby red, but it happened to be so in my case.
Two days ago my brother visited me and I had a day off so the perfect opportunity to try some of these. The first I noticed was that the collodion peeled off way too easily with these plates. They had the same treatment as the black glass which I also bought that day and they came out just fine. It was like the collodion just wasn’t willing to stick to the glass. Anyway, will have to look into that some more, maybe treat the edges with albumen to keep the collodion from peeling.
Anyweez…the results were quite pleasing! The first photo I took (on the left) is qua composition the most appealing to the eye but was a tad overexposed, which I adjusted with the second plate (on the right), but unfortunately the peeling was worse. Black glass has deeper blacks but with the red glass the blacks are deeper, meaning they are more dynamic. They have this special look which is impossible to convey on a screen with a scan, you’ll have to do with it. Below I’ll post the way they look when held to the light and when scanned with a black backing. Ruby red. Lovely red.
This is a fun and nice survey into a different dynamic layer in Collodion photography. I’m looking forward doing some more soon. These were 4×5″ plates but I also have some 8×10″ and 10×10″, the latter being an incredibly sexy size! Yes. Size DOES matter. Have a good evening
Varnished or Tarnished ?
Having read many horror stories concerning varnishing with the traditional stuff (sandarac, ethanol & lavender oil) which made images disappear at times I felt very lucky never to have encountered this. I began to think maybe other people were just being sloppy with their varnish. Up until yesterday.
Quinn made a plate of me the first time I went to the photo fair in Bièvres and it was beautiful. They just didn’t have time to varnish the photo but I offered to do so myself back home. Once back home I never dared to varnish it thinking something might go wrong and at a certain point even forgetting about it. Until yesterday.
My boyfriend went to varnish the plates, he has more fireproof hands than I have, and he came back up showing me the plate of Quinn partially having vanished. What caused it? I don’t know. The plates before and after that one came out just fine. Maybe the plate was too old? Maybe the ethanol used in my varnish decided to fight with the ethanol used in the collodion mix by Quinn? Who knows. It happened and this is the way it looks…
At least now I know the plate will live for over a 100 years
“Mother” – World Wet Plate Day 2011
So, finally I came around to scanning my photo made on World Wet Plate Day last May the 1st. Considering all things that went wrong that day (working on assignment, lost screw of tripod which made it rather unstable so lots of unsharp stuff, wet plate slide didn’t slide properly, screwed up developing as it was too dark in my tent, forgot to put on lens cap before removing slide and so on and so on..) I’m quite pleased with the result.
"Mother"
If you’d like to see all entries for Wet Plate Day check out this site.
-Indra
Alexander Simays Project – Part 2
Last Sunday I finally had the time to actually start with photographing Alexanders locations. I decided to start at the “Markt” in Maastricht. There were three spots there I had to be so I’d be able to hit multiple flies at once. It took about two hours to pack everything and load the bike (it’s been awhile and my new camera is bigger than the former one so had to relocate some things) but finally we were ready to get it off
Bike with the "Big Boy" and all the stuff
We arrived at the square and started building up the darkroom tent and someone who we knew came up as she knew we were planning this and she wanted to see it. I made test plate, decided I had to double the exposure and went for a “real” version on 18×24 black glass. While working people gathered around the tent as they got curious (who wouldn’t) and by the time the successful plate was made I had people from “Handhaving” which means something like never-got-around-to-be-a-real-Cop-kind-of-people and they asked me if I had a license to do this. I go like what? A licence to make photos? But since I was using “public space” (mind the word public) I needed a license to put up a tent on the square.
The All-Evil-In-Public-Space-Darkroom-Tent
Bart asked their names and we complied to packing up our stuff and leave (damnnn). Luckily I had already made one good shot so I wasn’t all that upset but for a 2-hour preparation I had hoped for a little more. Unfortunately these guys were very hard set and unfriendly on top of that so we figured it’d be better not to be too stubborn as I have to be there more than once. So we started packing. They left and 5 minutes later their boss came around to check. He was much nicer and if we’d met him first good chance we could’ve continued working. Oh well…He advised us to contact the municipality to get a license for doing what I wanted. So I did today, unfortunately the person we needed wasn’t around. To be continued….
Markt Maastricht @ Wet Plate Collodion BGA 18x24 cm
Anyway, this story will continue and hopefully with more prosper than up until now…I have my hopes up
-Indra
Indras Devolution vs Mondiaans Evolution – Remake
As mentioned above this is a remake of the version before. I have deleted that one as I choose what you get to see and I have decided it to be my final on this matter only. The reasoning behind the edit is that I found the former ones (“Ruin” & “Birth”) too unsharp and the model in “Ruin” was not centered enough. Still isn’t perfectly in the middle; that photo didn’t seem to like that and lived its own life for a bit which really suited the thoughts behind it (yes, I can do the blabla-bullshit too).
When I was in high school we visited the “Haags GemeenteMuseum” where a lot of Piet Mondriaan’s (1872-1944) work is on display. One that particularly attracted me was his painting “Evolution” made in 1911. The painting contains a lot of theosophical influences and symbolism, the latter always fascinated me in art. With this painting Mondriaan hoped that people looking at it would convert to being more spiritual and less influenced by material and earthly ways.
“A cosmic, mystical evolution progressing from matter through soul to spirit, influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s Theosophy, a combination of mysticism and new science. Three nude female figures, or perhaps one figure seen from three different points of evolution: the terrestrial or earthly body on the left with the red shapes behind her(red signifying earthly passion) and the triangles indicating nipples and navel pointing downward to earth; the soul at center with the white light behind her and her eyes wide open (Steiner felt young girls (hence the why I used a male) had extra visionary powers due to their supreme feelings of devotion and he thought full enlightenment only came with eyes open) with her nipples and navel triangles pointing upwards to a higher plane; and finally the Divine Spirit on the right with yellow stars behind her whose nipples and navel triangles point both up and down in a perfect harmony of the spheres through a dynamic balancing of opposing forces. The spiritual and physical in unison.” (Source: CSULB)
Of course, as one can tell from my former posts, I don’t believe in human kind being able to act as a spiritual society as a whole. We become too polluted by money and power. It is my belief that one day this will cause the ruin of mankind as we know it. So, when Carlo (my former teacher at SASK) came by to ask me if I wanted to work on the theme “Seven Deadly Sins” I was more than compelled to do so. Only to make 7 photos, each of them depicting one of the sins, seemed quite boring and rather cliche to me. Also, the Catholic Church came up with these categories as those are the sins all bad human behavior can be narrowed down to. But Man made these, not God. I wish to convict mankind in its entirety for they created everything and thus should be held responsible. The painting of Mondriaan hopped back into my thoughts one day and I decided to remake them, my way. “Devolution” as I see no hope for humankind because they are so susceptible to these so called “Seven Sins”.
I’ll post the photos separately below with the explanation for the ones interested. If you wish to remain blissfully ignorant, please refrain from reading the last bit, if you can
Birth: This is the purest, most innocent humankind will ever be. Hence the lilies, the shape of the nipples and belly button, the eyes & the position of the head pointed towards the sky / heaven
Narcis: As you grow you become polluted by money, power etc. You base decisions on what works out best, firstly for yourself. Self love and preservation. Egoism. Hence the choice for the narcis flower, the eyes looking a little over the audiance, the view into one self only explained differently than Mondriaan's version. Here it means getting influenced but you remain the center of all.
Ruin: No explanation needed I think. The dead branches stand for doom. The eyes closed, the shape of the nipples etc pointed towards the earth, completely materialised. Ruin.
All images are 18x24cm black glass ambrotypes. Exposure time: about 20 seconds. Fixer: Sodium Thiosulphate 30%
I’ve gotten around the way I would like to present them. They will be printed on 70 x 100 cm (inkjet, I don’t want the print itself add anything to the photo besides making it bigger) with a white border from around 10 cm’s on each side. The prints will be mounted on foam board to keep them from fluctuating in the frame and then framed in black aluminum frames without glass.
The order of the images has also changed. First I wanted to present them in the same manner Mondriaan did, the final image, the result by that I mean, in the middle. But “Narcist” fits better in the middle, not just qua meaning and thoughts behind it, but also qua look of the image. It just fits better there hence the choice.
Anyway, I am looking forward to some more reactions on this work! Have a great evening!
-Indra
First 4×10″ Plate
Yesterday I had someone coming over for a wet plate collodion demo and that forced me to test my two batches of Collodion, old and new, with the lighting setup from FalconEyes I bought not too long ago. With my old collodion (approx. 1 year old) I couldn’t get an image to form on the plate with 1 minute of exposure. I bought the lights to shorten my exposure time. With the new batch I had an image within 30 seconds. Still have to try it with human skin to see if it’s even shorter (I used a glass head this time) but didn’t have the time yesterday.
The girl came over and I used her for some plates which I made outside because the weather was terrific. With the new batch I had a lot of stripes and stains. When trying the old batch the stains were gone but had trouble pinpointing the exposure as it’s a lot less light sensitive than the new one. The stripes could be caused because the batch came fresh out of the fridge and hadn’t had much time to reach room temperature. I’ll have to look into that because I will need it to work soon (demo SASK St. Niklaas). You can see the stripes in the 4×10″ plate but I like it anyway. Since it’s my first 4×10″ I’m going to keep it!
4x10" Black Glass Ambrotype
I look forward to the series I’ll start making of Maastricht soon on this size. It’s a fun size to work with and to look at. These series will moreover be awesome in 10 to 20 years from now as Maastricht is changing so rapidly.
Have a great day y’all!
-Indra
P.s. my “new” camera works like a charm
La Vérité – Fashion Ridicule: Photo 1
I don’t know yet if I’ll post every photo that I make on the net or just wait until the series is completed and then blow you away with all the images but here’s the first one. I’m very pleased with this outcome and I’m terribly looking forward to making the next photo. Unfortunately I have very little time as we’re still in the middle of a renovation at our house and a Collodion demo coming up this Sunday in Doesburg so I’m not sure when it’ll take place but hopefully soon. Now that I have finally decided on the path I wish to follow with my new project I feel more alive than ever and keen on working!
With this project I try to play around with “truth”. Truth in what you see in the magazines; all the faked photoshopped images you see literally everywhere.
I will be making self portraits (digital) and manipulate them in such horrid manner that they won’t resemble myself anymore. I then photograph the printed version on Collodion to combine the two extremes.
One process where you can’t really cheat, and one where there’s practically only cheating.
What is real, what isn’t anymore. Are the photoshopped images real? No, but it certainly is a form of reality people like to see, over the real truth even.
I’d like to play with that so get ready for some more rather creepy images soon (I hope)!
BGA 18x24cm
Exposure time: 45 seconds
Lens: Steinheil 230mm f5,6
Fixer: Sodium Thiosulfate 30%
La Vérité / Fashion Ridicule
To continue the concept explained in the former post I will post what I had in mind first and how I’ve changed my mind into something I will work on starting in a bit.
I thought of photographing my graduation work on Collodion first but the graduation work has text in the images. After that body of work I wasn’t so sure anymore the text was needed as the series on its own were very capable of conveying the story. But since it has been made on film there was nothing I could do to change that and redoing the photographs is something I will never do as it they took so much effort in making. Most of the photos have been redone 3, 4, 5 or even 6 times to get them right. Self portraits are not the most easy thing to do but it was very rewarding in the end.
Unfortunately when I exhibited the work when it was done there was a draft which caused the images to flip over on the wall, scraping over the wall and ended up being severely damaged. After all this work it was like a stab through the heart and never felt like redoing any of them.
4x5" Tintype ( I love the hands!)
So…last Friday I took an image to photograph on Collodion to see what the result would be. The text kind of faded a bit due to Collodion registrating things slightly different than normal film. And that made me decide it was not suitable.
BGA 18x24 cm
Last night I couldn’t sleep and finally had the time to rethink my concept all over. I decided I would make digital images in studio, self portraits, modify them in Photoshop to make them look like the horribly altered magazine-photos where nothing is real anymore, and than rephotograph them on Collodion. That way I would combine 2 extremes in techniques and perfection vs. non-perfection. More to follow on that soon!
St. Pieters Berg Maastricht 25-04-10
My second attempt at outdoor photographing on Collodion. This one was not as successful as the last one but a good learning process nonetheless. It turns out I have a light leak in my back where the slide slides in. You’ll see a fog coming from the left which is caused by this. The weather was qua lighting a bit unpredictable. the sun came and went at the flip of a dime. A bit hazy too so the harsh shadows which I was expecting and, even worse, hoping for didn’t turn up. The last plate I did was pretty good, capturing a nice contrast on some rotten trees but I managed to wipe the image off when all I had to do really was the fog with my cotton ball. Anyway, that’s a part of it and it’s cool
Lens: Steinheil 230mm approx. f20
Exposure times: between 3 and 8 seconds
Fixer: KCN 2%
Self Portrait 05-04-10
Wasn’t sure what to do with this photo but it keeps intriguing me even though it’s technically not a well performed photo at all. I like the dreamy kind of ambiance it breathes.
Exposure time: 3 seconds f14
Fixer: Sodium Thiosulphate 30%
Size: 18×24 cm Black Glass Ambrotype
Sunday Morning Me
First Collodion Shoot Outside – The Photos
So, here they are!
First plate 4x5" Tintype; approx. f20, 2 seconds, Fix KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 3 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 3 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 3 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 4 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 6 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
8x10" Glass Plate - Approx. f20 - 3 seconds - Fix: KCN 2%
I hope you like them! The plates look nicer qua contrast and detail in real but anyway
Oh and the lens used: Steinheil 230mm. I love it for landscapes; The angle is pretty wide!
-Indra
Bart & my Brother 06-04-10
"Sunday Morning Brother" Lens: Steinheil 230mm f14, Exposure time: 4 seconds, Fixer: KCN 2%
Lens: Steinheil 230mm f14, Exposure time: 4 seconds, Fixer: KCN 2%
Lens: Steinheil 230mm f14, Exposure time: 4 seconds, Fixer: KCN 2%
Bart 05-04-10
Lens: Steinheil 230mm f14, Exposure time: around 3 seconds, Fixer: Sodium Thiosulphate 30%
Bart 1
Bart 2
Bart 3
My Dolls 24-03-10
Was able to take a couple of hours off again, wanting to make some more plates of my dolls. These are not as special as yesterday but I do like them. It’s an unfinished project so far so more will follow.
Exposure time: 8 seconds, Fixer: Sodium Thiosulphate 30%, Lens: Steinheil 230mm f5,6
Doll 1
Doll 2
My Dolls 23-03-10
I’ve always wanted to do something with dolls so here we go:
Doll No.1
Doll No.2
Doll No.3
Want to present them in a Triptych, kind of like this
Fixer: Sodium Thiosulfate 30%, Exposure time: 3 seconds, Lens: 230mm f5,6, Black Glass Ambrotype 18x24cm
My Mom and Dad 07-02-10
My parents came to visit me and that was the perfect opportunity to make some plates with them. They both had not seen the process in real life yet so it was really exciting. I decided to make the photos outside so I would avoid the extreme long exposure times even though the weather was a bit cold. I made them on our terrace, one side of the face alongside a wall. The weather was besides being cold also very cloudy so I expected everything to be even lit. Boy was I wrong on that! The first photo I took was from my mom and when I saw the plate developing I noticed the lighting was very uneven. Turned out that the wall reflected so much (UV) light that that part ended up being much better lit than the other part of the face. The plates after that one I turned their faces more towards the wall to keep down the contrast a little.
All photos made with a brass 230mm lens @ f5,6
First plate 4 seconds (too dark):
My mom @ 4 seconds
Plate 2 Mom & Dad together @ two times 4 seconds:
Mom & Dad @ 2 times 4 seconds
Plate 3 Double Dad @ two times 6 seconds:
Double Dad @ two times 5 seconds
After that I had to run for an appointment. With the stupid thought I’d flip my silver bath to its bottle later on so I wouldn’t have to hurry the process. On itself a pretty, unlike me, wise decision until it was 3 days later and the bath was completely fogged up. So, now I’ll have to sun it, tomorrow probably, and see how to fix it again. I’ll get it done but that’s something I’ll never do again!
First Self-Portraits on Wet Plate
I used to make lots of self portraits, mainly because I don’t like to work with other people that much (depending on what kind of work) I don’t have to explain to myself what I want, I’m available anytime I am; no need for an appointment etc etc. It’s been a while since I’ve made one, mostly because I’m finding my way into this process but 2 days ago I made some. Pretty hard finding focus when I don’t want to stop down the lens to keep exposure time a bit under control. Pretty hard to get it sharp at 25 seconds…but okay, here’s what I have:
18x24 Wet Plate Collodion BGA
18x24 Wet Plate Collodion BGA
