Foire à la photo de Bièvres 2011 – Impressions
Friday
Last Friday we left for Bièvres. Geer-Jan, Paula and Jeroen were already at the hotel in Igny so we would meet later that day to have some dinner together. The latter actually being the main reason we went to Bièvres 
The drive went fine, we arrived at our hotel, unpacked some stuff and took off for Bièvres to look around but mostly to grab a glass of wine and enjoy the weather.
The famous square in Bièvres
After that we went back to the hotel, caught up with our friends and searched via the Michelin app on the iPhone which restaurant we would pick for the evening. St. Pierre in Longjumeau it would be. Since we all loved duck, on a plate, the choice was not hard and we had a great evening. After that we got “home” and prepared ourselves for Saturday, the first day of the fair, by going to bed fairly early.
Saturday
We got up early, mostly because the bed was crap, so left early for the fair. Of course, a good day starts with a good cup-a-joe!
Then the time came to check out the fair. I wasn’t really looking for anything special. If I’d find a pretty looking daguerreotype for not too much money I would’ve bought it (as you can tell from this I didn’t). I did buy a Polaroid SX-70. I already have a 600 camera but it sucks. It uses its flash all the time so I upgraded. Now just have to get some film to see if it really works…
Not looking for any lenses or cameras or whatever, I have what I want maybe for just a bigger wide angle but that seems not the place to look for one. Quite a bit of lenses were bought up by a small group of people so you’ll probably soon see them somewhere on the net for double or triple the price they were on the fair. And on the fair the prices genuinely were already through the roof. Hasselblads 500CM with an old silver 100mm for €1300,- just to give you an exorbitant example. Oh well…lucikly I didn’t feel like spending lots a money except on food so on to the good part
Oh..I said on to the good stuff…right…
Back at the hotel we stashed some drinks for later on that night. A wise person is prepared...for more!
And then…we left for the restaurant, the same we went last year as it was THAT good. Luckily Paula came along this time and we had the night of our, well, weekend!
The owner recognized us from last year so we were headed off to a great night! We chose from the “Menu Tradition” just like last year which also seemed quite like last year:
Petites Pièces de Canard (cou farci, magret seché, friton et grattons)*
Velouté Froid aux Asperges, Raviolis au Chèvre Frais
Terrine de Tomates au Basilic, Tartine au Beurre d’Anchois
*
Gigot de Canard mijoté aux Bolets et aux Girolles*
Confit de Canard aux deux Pommes
Magret de Canard aux Groseilles
Cassoulet aux Soissons Géants
Poisson suivant le Marché
*
Craquant Glacé Banane et Chocolat, Nougatine aux Amandes
Soupe de Melon, Fruits Rafraîchis, Siphon Cassis
Sorbets, Turbinés au moment*
Pruneaux à l’Armagnac
The dished with the little star behind them is what I ate. This year I did feel like duck
Same dish like last year (I could tell from my former post about Bièvres) but wonderful!
Again, the cheese in between the main and desert was simply fantastic! The magnificent Creme de Roquefort she had last year she didn’t have this time but if we were to come again she said we should call in advance to “order” it. Nice!
Again, all things came to an end and in the middle of a rising thunderstorm we headed back to the hotel. We installed ourselves downstairs with some wine and ended the night with a(nother) drink and a laugh.
Sunday
Yes, this day started a little slower than the others but it started alright. Again with the crappy breakfast at the hotel but Jeroen was kind enough to get up early to score some lovely chocolate goodies from the local bakery. Unfortunately Jeroen headed back home shortly after that because he had to go to work again Monday morning. Geert-Jan and Paula would leave later that day but first we went to the fair again. Today the collodion booth would be set up by Vincent, Basile and Fabrice.
Fabrice was on one end of the three booths, Vincent on the other and in the middle there was Jacques Cousin with some of his work (?). Across the booth the wonderful pieces of Matthias Olmeta were displayed.
Bart and I were asked to model and we ended up with cool plates of ourselves
John Brewer again made me this wonderful silver box, this time to fit plates of 10x10"
At around 4:30 we got tired and headed back to the hotel. We took a little nap after having made reservations at a Moroccan restaurant. This was really nice food! Different than the kitchens we are used to and that makes eating all the more fun. Thank god for our multi-cultural society: if all we had to eat was Dutch food we’d be utterly doomed!
We still had a bottle of wine left at the hotel so enjoyed us a quite lonely evening. Well quite..that was until the weather changed…
Knock knock..here we come...
Boom boom here we are!!
Truly awesome, I love thunder and lightning! It was like a light bulb in heaven had gone bad and was constantly flickering, remarkable and a beautiful end to a wonderful weekend.
I had actually in mind visiting Paris on Monday as there was an exhibition at the MEP I would’ve loved to see but it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays..darn..Collodion plates of Mark and Scully Osterman and Joni Sternbach were there as well as a large panoramic daguerreotype which is quite rare. Unfortunately that little plan didn’t happen we so we headed back home today. You can’t have it all
-The end-
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 
Wet Plate Exhibition & Demo KunstTour Maastricht
May is filled with good things and here’s the thing I’m currently working on: a Wet Plate Collodion exhibition at the Timmerfabriek Maastricht during the KunstTour / Art Tour 2010 starting at the 22nd til the 24th of May.
On top of that I will be giving my first demonstration in public of the wet plate process on Sunday the 23th starting at 1 o’clock. I’m thrilled to be able to do so (keep fingers crossed for the weather ) and looking forward to it immensely! I hope to see you there!!
Blackart Woodcraft Fixer Box
It has arrived!! I’m very happy with it, it looks fantastic, is built very sturdy and way in time for the Wet Plate demo I’m planning for the Kunsttour in May. I figured it to be nice to have the KCN out of the way from people Anyway, not much to see, on to some photos:
Front with a see-through part
Back
Needless to say; I’m very happy!!
“Docu” of St. Pieter Berg Collodion Shoot
Bart took some better shots of my darkroom this time so I can show you better how it’s done inside. And some more bike shots, it still is fun!!
Bart pushing the bike and all up the hill, that was pretty heavy
Here I could do it myself
Inside of the tent: Left on the ground is the cooling box which keeps the developer and collodion with a frozen pack, on the table at the back is the silver bath with on the left compressed air can, on the right is my back, on the left my developer tray, at the bottom my collodion pouring tray which is only on the table when needed, red LED light you can see glowing in the approx. upper right
On the left of the tent is a box upside down which holds the tray with KCN and water next to it
On my way
The split seconds before removing the lens cap
Well, that was another trip. Looking forward to the next, although first I have to receive my new collodion as I just ran out of my stock.
-Indra
Contrastique’s New Website in the Air!!
I just have to show it off I’ve worked pretty long on the design and am very proud with the result. For the design I was inspired by wet plates as you will probably notice. Luckily I could find a person willing to turn the design into a proper functioning web page since I know nothing about website building. I might pick up a coarse on it but photography is already taking up so much time I’m not sure it would be a wise decision, at least not for now. Here’s the link to my new site:
Here’s a sneak preview:
Website FrontPage
If you have any comments or remarks on the working and functionality of the site please let me know! Publications is not working perfectly for everyone so far but it will be fixed soon.
-Indra
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
