Alex Boyd

Very interesting.
I suppose it is natural to think that you will get better photographs when you are not faced with lots of difficulties. But maybe the opposite is the case. I went to a talk on Frank Sutcliffe recently, given by the man who owned the Sutcliffe gallery in Whitby. One of the points he made was that Sutcliffe spanned the eras of wet collodian, dry plates and Kodak roll film. In other words, it got easier and easier to take photographs. Yet Sutcliffe's best work by far was done with the earlier, more difficult, processes. Makes you think....

Alan
 
Interesting but also disappointing I've seen far better quality wet plate work, whether historical like Sutcliffe's work or more recent.

Ian
 
Easiness generates more, but not necessarily better work. A certain amount of resistance from the medium seems to be very helpful. Is it because the difficulties distract you from interfering too much with the image itself?

Clearly these are heroically taken pictures. Perhaps that’s the point.
So often, after a prolonged struggle to construct a Very Large Camera, and master the chemistry, the result is a picture of a patient and loyal girlfriend or wife in the back garden.
 
I am put in mind of a comment attributed to Ansel Adams to the effect that all worthy photographs are walking distance from your truck (lorry)...
 
He's not the only one shooting Collodion outdoors in Scotland.

If I can get the process working I would love to take it out around Scotland, the beach and the pebble at Elgol would be brilliant to shoot on glass ambrotype.

www.srfilmphotography.co.uk

About Simon Riddell Film Photography

Specialising in analogue and alternative forms of photography. Award-winning portrait and wedding photographer based in Scotland. Internationally renowned wet plate collodion artist.
www.srfilmphotography.co.uk www.srfilmphotography.co.uk
 
Alan Clark said:
Yet Sutcliffe's best work by far was done with the earlier, more difficult, processes. Makes you think....
Click to expand...
Really really hope this is true!
I'm struggling with every possible aspect of ancient LF format equipment right now - perhaps this means that great photographs will eventually emerge . . .
 
AnalogueWendy said:
Really really hope this is true!
I'm struggling with every possible aspect of ancient LF format equipment right now - perhaps this means that great photographs will eventually emerge . . .
Click to expand...

Keep at it! Sutcliffe is a great example to keep in mind when you want the inspiration to persevere. He earned his living by taking studio portraits. But the photographs we know him by now seem to be taken for his own pleasure. If business was slack he might go for a walk along the harbour, and spot a group of fishermen. He would ask them to stay put, rush off up the hill to his studio, coat a sheet of glass with collodian, rush back with all his gear, then set about the seemingly impossible task of organising a group of up to nine people into a cohesive group. Because of the very long shutter speed each person had to adopt a pose that could be held for several seconds without moving but had also to look natural. And each one had to be made to adopt a shape that fitted into the overall composition. And the background had to be considered. If he could get Whitby Abby and some picturesque sailing boats in there - so much the better. As if all this wasn't difficult enough to organise, he also had the tricky business of setting the camera up in the right place, composing, focussing, loading the camera and -finally - making the exposure.
Then he had to get back to his studio and do all the other things necessary to produce a photographic print.
This wasn't a one -off for him. He did it time and time again, and produced some amazing photographs.

So much for a relaxing walk round Whitby harbour.

Alan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top