Before the end of 2011, I knew I had to get another custom wet-plate collodion camera to add to my collection. Last February, I secured a hand-crafted, 20 x 24 cherry wood collodion camera from Rochester, New York.

In December, Sherilyn and I made the trek north again to pick up “The Beast,” a custom 40 x 40 collodion wet-plate camera. This one-of-a-kind camera is the only one of its size and design in the United States.

{We didn't name this camera "The Beast" for no reason.}

I had seen pictures as the camera was coming together, but didn’t really grasp the sheer size of the finished camera. It took four of us — me, my wife Sherilyn, the designer Steve and his wife HA, to load the camera into our trailer.

Steve’s wife took all of our rigging and bungee cords and went to work securing “The Beast.” After about an hour, she had it tightly secured into the trailer so it wouldn’t budge during our 16-hour drive back to Kansas.

We’ll be shooting several new collodion wet-plate photography series with “The Beast” this spring. We’ll get custom trays, a table tripod and tanks to accompany the new 40 x 40 in its new home at Thomas Gibson Studio. Stay tuned to the blog and our Facebook page for bonus photographs and updates on what’s to come in 2012.

Cheers,
TG
Thomas Gibson/Thomas Gibson Studio

Everyone should take a road trip — a real, cross-country road trip — at least once. Whether you choose to set out on a road adventure during the beautiful summertime or, like we did, during the dead of a winter storm, be sure to make a few impromptu stops along the way.

Thomas Gibson Studio set out on a road trip to upstate New York a few weeks ago to pick up a much-anticipated custom-made collodion wet-plate camera from our friend Stephen of Rochester. Nearly 900 miles away from home, my wife Sherilyn and I decided to take some time to take in the sights at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. If you’ve never been and you have even the slightest appreciation for art — be it Warhol’s “Pop Art” or beyond — you should put viewing the pieces at the Warhol Museum on your to-do list. From a fine artist’s standpoint, visiting the Warhol Museum was both inspiring and uplifting. The museum houses seven stories of Warhol’s work, from his early abstract experimental films to his eclectic thrift store collections to his early sketches — which became iconic masterpieces — for major publications. It was a phenomenal experience. No matter whether you’re a fine artist, photographer, student or someone who just appreciates innovation and creativity, everyone will gain a new perspective on life and art by visiting the Warhol Museum.

Warhol’s influence on American art in the past 50 years is evident. His bold techniques — from blending silk screens with photography and painting — were way ahead of his time. Some may say that Warhol’s style was too simplistic or obvious, but that’s the irony in the work — from the marriage of commercially popular styles with a raw, blatant edge, he created pieces so catching, so unique, that they practically begged for attention — in a good way.

In addition to Warhol’s influence on the entire fine art community, his influence on my personal artistic vision is vast. The ideas of blending mediums in an unpredictable yet beautiful manner, with a daring sense of unpredictability and subtle charm, carried over into my personal fine art style — including my work with collodion wet-plate photography. I find that my own artistic process with collodion wet-plates mimics Warhol’s hands-on screening process. In collodion wet-plate photography, I produce plates, pour and mix the solutions, stage the shot, process it and varnish it. The process is repetitive, yet yields stunning new images that are obviously stylishly connected, yet can stand on their own as independent, one-of-a-kind pieces.

After we wrapped up at the Warhol Museum, we finished the last five hours of our 1,200-mile trip and made it up to Rochester, where we met our good friend Stephen and our new friend … the beautiful, cherry wood wet-plate camera. Stephen usually takes four to five months to craft a camera; I can say without doubt that he is one of the best custom-camera makers in the U.S.

Though I have experience with wet-plate photography, shooting with a new camera always reinvigorates the creative process. From getting a better feel for a fresh, custom-made collodion wet-plate camera to finding the perfect spot for it in my rural Kansas studio, I love making my way around a new piece of equipment and seeing how working with something I can truly call my own helps enliven my energy. With this new wet-plate camera, I’ll be shooting my new series, “Living Legends.” This new camera is sure to become a legend at Thomas Gibson Studio. In addition to this beautiful new camera, I’ll also have to invest in a scissor lift-type of equipment to enable me to travel with it and be able to also raise the camera higher and lower.

The shots of energy from visiting the Warhol Museum and finally meeting my new wet-plate photographer primed me for the last part of my winter road trip: a salt printing class with France Scully Osterman.

Salt printing goes hand-in-hand with the collodion wet-plate photography process that I’ve been perfecting for years. A salt print, or a salted paper print, is a photographic printing paper that is coated with a salt solution and a silver nitrate solution. The amount of hands-on work with the salt printing process is incredible. While I understand that most mainstream, digital photographers who may be unfamiliar with the process could see this process as tedious and time-consuming — can’t photo-editing software achieve the same effects? — the beauty in salt printing photography is achieved by the perfect balance of imperfection; the right amount of exposure to light, drying time and patience can produce an image so ethereal and emotional it simply cannot be replicated digitally. These types of prints require a time commitment — at least a full day — as well as an emotional commitment. The work flourishes even more when it’s obvious it’s been created with ample time and heart — and with that, the pieces could hold their own in specific gallery shows.

At France’s quaint home gallery and studio, she welcomed us with a wealth of salt print training and information. I’ll be sharing more details of France’s salt-printing lesson — including quick smartphone pictures and handout tutorials — on the blog in coming weeks.

What are your experiences in salt printing? Where would you go if you had a chance to take a cross-country road trip? What pit stops would you make on the way? Tell me about it in the comments section.

Despite the winter storm blanketing the nation in sheets of powdery snow and shimmering ice, Thomas Gibson Studio is trekking east to Rochester, New York, to pick up what is sure to become a staple at the studio: a custom-made 20 x 24 collodion wet-plate camera hand-crafted from cherry wood by a local upstate designer.

Wet-plate photography dates back to the 1800s, introduced by photographer Frederick Scott Archer. The wet-plate process involves dissolving bromide, iodide or chloride salts in collodion (which is why we sometimes call it the “collodion process”) and spreading the mixture onto clean glass plates that are then soaked in a solution of silver nitrate and water and exposed to the camera while still wet. This produces a negative image that can be reproduced a number of times.

Even with the obvious developments in photography since the times of Archer, collodion wet-plate photography remains popular for its charming, old-world aesthetic appeal. I’m ecstatic to add this rare wet-plate camera – one of only possibly four in operation in the United States – to my studio, which also features a conventional wet-plate dark room.

At my rural Kansas studio, I’ve been incorporating collodion wet-plate techniques in works such as “The Gatekeeper,” “The Reveller,” “The Projectionist” and “The Eptomologist.” All of these pieces are part of a bigger series of works entitled “The Occupationalists,” which pays homage to some of the more unusual professions in our history. I was inspired to capture these careers in north light using the collodion process after revisiting Irving Penn’s brilliant book, “Small Trades.” In “Small Trades,” Penn immortalized France’s street vendors in a simple yet chic manner – and in north light. I was so taken by Penn’s craft – the way he caught the emotion of the “everyday” and “mundane” worker without losing respect for their being – and subject matter that I decided to adapt the idea to what piqued my own interests – the odd jobs of the world. A healthy mix of the real and the surreal combine to bring out the historical significance in these jobs, and what better way to illustrate that than with collodion composition? This year, I hope to add more collodion compositions to these 20 pieces produced in my north light studio ­– with the help of my new custom-made wet-plate camera.

{"The Gatekeeper"}

“The Gatekeeper”

{"The Reveller"}

“The Reveller”

{"The Projectionist"}

“The Projectionist”

{"The Entomologist"}

“The Entomologist”

Besides picking up my new wet-plate camera in Rochester, I’ll also be participating in a salt-printing process class with France Scully Osterman. The Ostermans have been have been instrumental in collodian wet-plate photography’s revival amongst mainstream and fine-arts photographers around the globe.

It’s sure to be an inspiring workshop that will help me push my creativity to the next level – which means even more intricate, distinct designs and portraits to add to upcoming galleries and exhibits. These additional trainings will also benefit the local community as I gear up to offer an “Introduction to Ambrotypes” workshop at my studio this spring. Stay tuned to my revamped blog in the coming weeks; here, I’ll be sharing more exclusive collodion wet-plate photography expertise – along with more shots of (and more shots with) my beautiful new wet-plate camera.

Even though I don’t even have my hands on this wet-plate camera just yet, I’ve already slated its first project. Debuting in 2012, “Living Legends” will be the first project shot with this custom collodion wet-plate camera. “Living Legends” is a celebration of real-world influencers from every genre, from musicians who dedicate their talents to charity to inventors who change the way we live in our world. At this point, I’m scouting nearly 50 of my favorite living legends to capture in this collodion wet-plate project. My crew of production experts, writers, art directors, stylists and photographers will help make “Living Legends” comes to life. Upon completion of the project, “Living Legends” will grow many legs – from a series of national gallery shows, e-books for your computers and mobile devices and of course, a beautiful, real-paper, hardback coffee table book available on-demand.

What experiences do you have with collodion wet-plate photography? Tell me about them in the comments section.

Cheers,

TG
Thomas Gibson/Thomas Gibson Studio