Theres something about that chap at the back of the shot that makes me laugh. You can just imagine what he’s thinking…..

What else could it have been;)

The Temperance project for PHM has a couple of awkward shots right in the city centre and in areas where parking the van/darkroom would be problematic. I know some people have built darkboxes on stands etc, and I have one made out of a wooden suitcase, but I want one I can wheel around with me. I saw one made from an adapted wheelchair so that got me a thinking. I’d looked at all sorts of handcarts, sack trolleys, wheelbarrows, fishing carts etc and then “boom”, as they say in CSI NY, why didn’t I think of it sooner….. this is perfect. Wooden box top with drawers for plates etc, pop up/fold out darkroom section above that. Water bottles down below on the tray thingy….. Watch this space.

Now where did I put my hammer and mastic.

Today I started on a recent commission by the Peoples History Museum  as part
of their next exhibition “Demon Drink: Temperance & The Working Class”.
Its a very small part of the exhibition but I’m pleased to have been asked to contribute.

I’ll be shooting about eight wet plate images. These plates are to be presented as prints as part of a map of Manchester Temperance sites.

So today I convinced Steph into helping me out shooting in Manchester City centre and all the challenges that brings. ie Traffic Wardens, drunken homeless people, Man City football supporters, Community Service “volunteers” and the good old British weather. The wind got so bad we had to pack away the gear as the amount of dirt getting blown up was becoming increasingly problematic.

Heres some quick examples of the sort of things I’ll be shooting over the next few weeks. There a few awkward shots to come including one on busy Deansgate. That’ll be fun…

Granby Row, Whole plate wet plate negs. Dallmeyer f8 for six seconds.

Temperance Street, Whole plate wet plate negs. Dallmeyer f8 for four seconds.

And a fogged one, just to tell me not to pull the darkslide all the way out.

And a couple of tintypes towards the end… It was getting pretty bright and hence over exposed, these were f8 for 1 second.

I guess these can be considered test plates as they still have to be given the okay by Kate, the curator, at the PHM.

Had forgotten that the Biennial was on till the end of September. They were also filming “Flog It” in the grounds also so it was really really busy…..AND we had to pay £5 for parking…..whats all this membership stuff for then? Dont get me started.

There was one artwork that stood out by far for me. This piece by Olivier Grossetete.

“Olivier Grossetête’s Pont de Singe reflects the architecture of Tatton’s Japanese Garden as well as the flight of fancy of the Formal Gardens as a whole. With their many follies (like the Choragic Monument, which was erected in 1842 to commemorate The Grand Tour, or the Sheep Stealers’ Tower, which had its own ‘hermit’ employed to frighten dinner guests) the Gardens have always been associated with pleasure.

Grossetête’s structure is a folly of design and engineering: a featherweight bridge designed for contemplation rather than function, emanating from and leading to the water, held aloft by three helium-filled balloons. The work recalls the power of daydreams and their ability to transform reality.”

You really have to go see it.

And yes that is someone yawning in the background…..

I’d sold one of my cameras recently and rather than the money get frittered away I decided to invest it into my Victorian plate collection. I was lucky enough to see these online at a Harrogate auction house and called to leave an absentee bid as I’d be working at the time of the auction. When I called the next day I found I’d won the bidding for less than my highest amount.

Steph and I took a trip up to Harrogate on the weekend to collect them. They were described as 11 Victorian ambrotypes. Turned out there were ten ambros and one tintype, no problem considering how fantastic they are.

Under closer inspection, as hoped, they seem to be of one family’s holiday to Scarborough and Whitby, maybe taken over separate years. A collection of family images like this is quite a find, usually they get broken up and sold on separately. I’m glad to say I’ll be keeping them all together.

Quarter plate ambrotype.

Quarter plate ambrotype.

On the reverse of two of the frames is this badge… Children’s Corner was one particular end of Scarborough Beach.

Quarter plate ambrotype.

Quarter plate ambrotype.

1/6th ambrotype.

1/9th ambrotype. The detail in some of these plates is amazing, easily readable on the bucket is “A present from Whitby”.

1/9th ambrotype with the same lady and little girl as in the above plate.

The rogue 1/6th tintype.

This is the plate that stood out to me when looking at the auction online, that young lads blonde hair was visible in several of the plates. 1/6th ambrotype.

On the rear of this case is written “taken on Jubilee Day at Scarbro’ 1897″.

There were also a bunch of spare foils, felts, cases etc…

The following two high quality plates don’t seem to fit in with this “family” but were in the same lot.

This is this fantastic quarter plate, cased, tinted ambrotype. On the rear of the case is stamped ” H.C. BOOTH, ARTIST, HARROGATE.”

And this 1/9th ambrotype is quite unusual as its highly polished/burnished almost to a mirror like finish.

First a test quarter plate ambrotype. Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear f8 for 12 seconds.

Whole plate tintype f8 for 6 seconds.

Steph, Sue and Pat stop for a breather before continuing their bike ride. f8 for 4 seconds

These scans dont do the actual plates any justice, the main image at the top is great, the details always surprise me.

So, ID-11 at 20C 15 minutes 1-1 dil., water stop, rapid fix.

Well at least theres some images on there. Half a roll of exposures, maybe taken with my old Hasselblad kit I sold a while back. Looks like an exhibition at the Holden Gallery and an exterior shot of the Whitworth, for some reason.

So I suppose it does work, although thats one heck of a lot of grain, mind you I suppose it is iso 400? Unless its been exaggerated by this process?

Edit: The artwork in these two images – “‘Monument for Damian’ sculpture by Brigitte Jurack, displayed in the ‘Art School!’ exhibition in the Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University, March 2009.”

Now where that roll of NPS I’ve got somewhere?

Bois Durci – A hard, highly polishable composition, made of fine sawdust from hard wood (as rosewood) mixed with blood, and pressed.

Measures 2″ x 1 7/8″ x 5/8″

It hasn’t got a tintype or ambrotype inside but a paper image of some sort. Maybe this is how they were supplied from the manufacturer with a mock up or maybe someone chose to use a paper image rather than a plate?

Decided today I may as well process it. Its been a while so had to pop to Calumet to buy some film dev.
Again twelve minutes of ID-11 1-1 dilution at 20ºC (ish), water stop, and rapid fix.

Resulting in 5 shots on the roll. Film as last time wound tighter than a wound spring, was fun getting it on the spool.

Not sure where these were taken but I’ll tell you something for nothing, they aren’t from around here.
France/Italian Swiss maybe. As for date, 1950′s maybe?

Answers on a postcard please…

And thats one weird looking car…

The one above of the young ladies is badly bent/warped but still a great little plate.

And a well dressed young couple with a great painted backdrop, at first I thought that was a lighthouse but its more like a pagoda…

And this young chap, you can imagine him wetting that hair trying to get it to stick down just before the shot…