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Tintype from the "Music" collection.

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Officer Gulch, CO. Tintype.

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Officer Gulch, CO. Tintype

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Officer Gulch, CO.

Officer Gulch is one of my favorite spots in Colorado. It is a beautiful little lake off Hwy 70, 5 minutes up from Frisco, CO. I love to go fishing there with my two daughters or walk around the lake and take in the beauty of the surrounding mountains.
I had meant to go take wet-plate collodion photographs of that area since I got started with the process. I finally got to it and here is the first one.
On a side note, after taking a couple photographs, I caught a nice trout. My daughter, Enora, caught the most beautiful little cutthroat trout and my wife, Rachel, and oldest daughter, Elaiza, caught the last trout of the day. All in all a good day!

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Ambrotype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens".

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I ran out of aluminum plates for my tintypes, so I decided to give ambrotypes another try. Ambrotypes are wet-plate collodion photographs made on glass.  They appear as a negative image in front of a light background and as a positive image in front of a dark background. It is quite magical.

The results I had gotten with ambrotypes in the past were not to my liking and since then I have felt a bit intimidated by the process. I had thought I should adapt my technique and chemical formulas from tintypes to ambrotypes and wasn't sure what I should really do.

I just realized, thanks to a post by Eddie Gunks on collodion.com, that I probably didn't need to change anything. Here is my first ambrotype in seven months:

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens"

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens"

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens"

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Add caption

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The Colorado prairie.

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North of NCAR, Boulder, CO.

I am back outside, owning my skills in the great Colorado landscape. This is another view of the Foothills near NCAR in Boulder.
In my last few landscape photographs, you might have noticed that the edges were much darker than the rest of the image. Although I liked that vignetting effect, I also wanted to decide when to incorporate it. I realized that my developing technique was the cause for this: in my mobile darkroom, the safe light is a red bike light that doesn't give out that much light, so to help me while developing, I use a home-made plastic tray on which the plate and the developer sit. I think the developer pooled around the edges of the plate, causing greater developing there. For the first time I used the same technique in the field as I do at home: pouring the developer on the plate while I hold it in my hand, I can quickly drain the excess developer off the plate and achieve more even developing. The results seem to confirm my theory.

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Vintage Bullet Mic.

Tintypes from the project

I am offering two original tintypes for sale on ebay. They are both from the project "Collodion 365" and were displayed at Redline during the Denver Month of Photography.
Your bid will go towards purchasing chemicals and materials to continue and finish my year-long journey into wet-plate collodion photography.
Visit the links bellow to see the items:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330573232254
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330573232685
Thanks,
Denis

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Speciale dedicace a Thomas.

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From the compost.

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Tintypes "From the compost"

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I've almost got things under control... but here are a couple collodion photographs I made of Elaiza. I didn't even have to ask her to pose for me, she came to me and explained she had dressed with a black skirt and a white shirt because my collodion images are in B&W. She stated she was ready for her photo shoot. I could only oblige her.

Technical issues

Hello,
My desktop hard drive failed yesterday. I am in the process of fixing things but it might take me a while before I can scan my photos and upload them to the blog.
Thanks for your patience.
Denis

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All together now...

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 -6

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 -5

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 -4

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 -3

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 - 2

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Passed Boulder on Highway 36 - 1

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens".

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Tintype "From the compost".

My life "unplugged"

I experienced several hours of power outage this morning. No coffee pot to brew my trusted morning friend, no computer, no internet, no phone (since I use Vonage). No connection to the outside world.
What a nightmare! I have lectures to create for my photo class, I have calls to make, I have emails to respond to, I have photos to post on my blog...
What is a modern man to do in such situation, beside sitting on the floor in a fetal position and cry in frustration?
Fortunately I had wet-plate collodion to save me. As long as there is a sun in the sky (even hidden behind thick clouds), there are photos to be taken. I grab my red bike light and my trusted Petzl and onward I go. The smell of ether, so sweet to my nostrils and numbing for my brain. How wonderful! A few images later, I am back with you my friends...

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Tintype "From the compost".

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens".

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens"

Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise: Présélection Prix QPN 2011

I am very proud to have made it through the first round of selection for the Prix QPN 2011. At stake an exhibition during the "Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise" (2 weeks of photo related events and shows in my dear hometown, Nantes). I am competing with great projects, which you can check on the blog of the QPN.


Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise: Présélection Prix QPN 2011: "Le jury de présélection du Prix QPN, composé de 11 membres de l'association, s'est réuni le samedi 14 mai 2011 . 13 dossiers ont été ret..."

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"Robin egg" from "A collection of somewhat random specimens"

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"From the compost".

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"From the compost"

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"From the compost".

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"From the Compost"

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"Germination"

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Tintype from "Home Science".

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Untitled tintype.

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Tintype.

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"Rural Graffiti", tintype.

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Wet-plate collodion landscape.

I love this view of the foothills near Golden, I am not sure that this panorama does it justice but it was good practice. It took me about 1.5 hours to get the four plates. I discovered a huge light leak on my bellows (I have already patched them once) by the second view, which I dealt with by wrapping my camera in my dark cloth. That worked and I was able to finish the panorama.
I have to say shooting outside give me an enormous respect for early landscape photographers like William Henry Jackson who documented colorado in the mid-to-late 1800's.

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"On the way to Golden, CO".

Back with landscape photographs,  after a few months shooting tintypes at homes. I was quickly reminded on how challenging it it to do wet-plate collodion in the field. I had started to feel that I gained a pretty good control over the process and thought my technique was coming together nicely, today's outing was humbling.

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Tintype, "From the compost".

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Enora & Elaiza, tintype.

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Tintype, "From the compost".

2011 Wet-plate day!

Today, May 1st 2011, is the third edition of wet-plate day! Here is my contribution to this worldwide event.

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Tintype from "A collection of somewhat random specimens".