Sorry I’ve not blogged for a while. I’ve been very busy of late. One thing occupying my time is a wet plate job I have going on over the next couple of months. Today was the third day of seven, between September and November.
I’m not allowed to post any of the plates from the job online, which is a shame, as a plate from the first day is one of my all time favourites, but this one today I don’t think really counts.
Lets just say that the plate before this one came out completely blank! The client boss was not happy at all. No chance for a re-shoot. It took me a while to figure out the school boy error I’d taken. At the time I hadn’t even considered it, as surely I wouldn’t be so stupid! Well apparently I was.
In trying to discover why I had made such a mistake, I’d “thrown” my camera to one side and poured another plate to see what on earth was going on. No focus or framing, just f8 for 8s. And what do you know this serendipitous plate turns out! I really like it, no idea why, maybe it was just to reconfirm to myself I’m not an idiot all of the time.
So just goes to show, you’re only as good as your last plate! or is it your next one?
Love it…..but nice to know you are not perfect !!!
plate holder in wrong way round is my guess…..
You read my FB post didn’t you, go on admit it….. Yes absolutely right. Terrible error. Reflecting back on events today and it’s not only mistakes that happen when rushed in pressured environments, it’s accidents also, and that can be even worse with Wetplate….. It’ll not be happening again.
I’m still making dumb ass mistakes 42 years after I first picked up a camera. It’s part of the journey, and contributes to our learning and our joy when things really work well. When working under pressure it is easy to be distracted and miss a vital element. Don’t beat yourself up, tell the client to have a bit of patience and understanding. This window shot is excellent. I’m drawn to them myself.
Thanks Andrew.
In this situation I don’t think the client can be patient and understanding. The wet plate photography would be the first part to be scrapped from the project sadly.
Although they love the look and idea of using wet plate, it jars with their current workflow and timeline.