Collodion studio social

Well, Thursdays collodion social went very well. It was an open door sort of thing, whoever turns up turns up, but the main reason was for Shane Balkowitsch visiting again after 13 years. Last time he visited it was at my smaller studio in Wellington House, Ancoats, Manchester. Shane was in the UK for the UK wet plate event and for his lecture at the Pitt Rivers museum..

There was no set agenda, it was very informal, whatever happens, happens.

First to arrive, and it was a pleasant surprise, was Adam French, who I have been following on Instragram for a while. A relatively newcomer to wet plate collodion and a very talented photographer and all round nice bloke. Followed closely by Nicole and Claus Malek, who popped a bottle of fizz as soon as they were through the door. Soon Shane arrived and made his own way up to the studio with his trademark bowler hat in place.

Tony Lovell eventually arrived late afternoon, after lugging his wet plate trailer all the way, ready for travelling to the UK wet plate weekend at Guys Cliff, Warwick on the weekend. I did laugh when he pulled a bottle of JD out of his pocket with a cheeky grin on his face.

Simon Sharp also came along. I’ve also never met Simon, having only spoken on the phone and had texted to say he was thinking of coming along. I’m so glad he did, he has a very interesting take on photographic practice and practitioners.

Marizu Okereke made a surprise appearance, having cycled from Manchester, I’ve seen Marizu on the odd occasion at various events but not really had time to catch up, so it was lovely that he’d made the journey to the studio.

People came and went throughout the day, many hours were spent sitting around the studio table with a variety of drinks, talking all things collodion related. Obviously, talk soon turned to plate making. .

Shane had brought his very compact wet plate kit. A “Klein Special”, a hand made 35mm wooden plate camera, with two plate holders and its own dedicated silver tank (insert made from a tictac container). All very nicely stored in a pelicase.

At one point I came out of the darkroom, to find Shane selling a workshop to a couple that were hovering just outside my studio door. It’s quite common for people to wander straight in off the corridor, as if I’m in the studio area I just leave the door open. Many interesting interactions happen that way but that the first time I’ve had someone promoting and selling a workshop for me.

Adam had brought along his portable darkroom which he set up in the corner of the studio. It’s very compact, portable and works very well. Check out his work on Insta.

Tony Lovell had brought along a box of prints made from collodion negatives. Mostly silver gelatine but also there were some Carbon prints. Here he is signing a print of Shane from a plate he made during one of the European Collodion Weekends.

Nicole was shooting with her 6×6 3D printed wet plate cassette that attaches to her Hasselblad. I can’t believe I didn’t get any images. If any of you did please could I get some for this blog post please. The 3D printed back is very clever, especially as it also fits my Kiev 6×6, so I had to buy one of course.

The only plate I made on the day was of Adam. Shane only shoots on black glass, and I have a very limited stock of very flat 5×7 inch black glass from years ago. Finding affordable flat black glass has become almost impossible, so we decided to give it a go. This is with window light towards the end of the day, just a sit there and shoot it sort of thing. I’ll have to digitise the others made on black glass and add them here.

I didn’t take that many pics, but here’s a few more from the day.

Although the rest of floor 4 at the mill was quiet, Shane did pop in and visit the talented Janet Howkins, botanical casting artist, as she was working on a very large commission.

Thank you Shane for the gift of the printed version of The Collodion Chemist by Dr Stefan Hughes.

And thanks to everyone that came along, old and new friends, we should do this more often.

And an additional huge thank you to Steph for bringing us a very tasty Chinese takeaway at very short notice. Much appreciated by all.