Shooting ambrotypes in Boulder, CO

Recently I have been working with ambrotypes: wet-plate collodion photographs shot on glass.

In the past, most of my images were done on aluminum coated with a black enamel paint. I buy the aluminum cut to size; I only have to peel the protective layer of plastic and it's ready to roll. This made my life easy and I liked it!

But I also enjoy challenges - as you might have noticed when I decided to pull a trailer carrying 80 lbs of equipment and chemicals with my bike, on a rugged trail... So here I am cutting glass, cleaning it with alcohol, cleaning it in my dishwasher, cleaning it with whiting... When the glass plates are finally cleaned, I sub the edges with albumen (a mixture of egg white and water). This helps the collodion adhere to the plates and avoid the lifting of the emulsion during processing.

On Monday, a friend, Larry, stopped by to witness the production of a wet-plate collodion photograph. After shooting a small alumitype successfully, I did my first 8x10 ambrotype:

Larry.

And today, I headed toward Boulder, parked my car near Lee High street and shot a couple ambrotypes of the Foothills. They came out really nice.

Today was a good day!

8x10 collodion landscapes.

After having done my first 8x10 plates at home, I needed to see if I would get decent results in the field. I had some doubts on the size of my portable cardboard darkroom and was also curious to see how much more difficult it would be.
I put my darkbox in the back of my trusty Toyota Sienna (not the most glamorous car, but it's the right size for this type of work) and headed out towards Eldorado canyon. I parked at the Fowler trail head.

I couldn't lug my camera very far - which I expected since it weighs 16 lbs - but found a nice view of the foothills:

Fowler Trail, near Eldorado Springs

My cardboard darkroom was very cramped, but I managed sensitizing, developing and washing inside. I had to fix the plate outside the car, but that worked just fine. I am happy to verify that I can use my current workflow for the larger plates.

Here is the second shot of the day:

Fowler Trail.

It was a beautiful and quiet morning.

First plates out of the Calumet C1

Last Friday, I finally got all my equipment and chemicals ready to give larger plates a try. It was almost as challenging as my first day in wet-plate collodion photography.
I got very used to my small 3.25x4 in plates and was very comfortable with the process. Going up in size threw me for a loop. I couldn't hold the larger plates the same way so I had to relearn all the gestures. It took me a while to figure out a procedure that felt right.
Eventually I got a decent first plate out:

First plate.

When Elaiza came home from school, she let me take a portrait of her. This is the second plate of that day:

Elaiza.

I really like the size of the new plates, they have a presence that can't be ignored.