Peoples History Museum – Creative Craft Day

I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to stop at my stall on Saturday at the PHM Creative Craft Day. And a special thanks to those people who purchased work from me, much appreciated. Selling work can always be a little daunting, you never really know how its going to be received but I must say I really enjoyed the day and met some interesting people

Along with the stall I had volunteered to shoot a couple of plates throughout the day as a wet plate demonstration. I think everyone enjoyed seeing the process at work.
Shooting indoors can always be a challenge. The PHM has a glass ceiling in the Turbine Gallery and it was a bright day but even then I was having to ask sitters to stay as still as possible for 30 seconds without the aid of a head brace. So these plates are slightly back lit from above with a white reflector bouncing light back in. Great attempts from my three subjects Catherine, Liam and Nija. Well done, thirty seconds is a long time to try to sit perfectly still for.

Nija sent me a link to her blog about Manchester where she mentions the PHM day. Click here. Its always interesting to hear/read how people interpret what you say. The things they might pick up on and what details they hear. Its a little like Chinese Whispers I guess. Its a great blog, check it out.

Other artists at the event that were of interest were Annie Hewitt, Steve Talbot and Annette Cobley to name just a few.

So all in all a worthwhile event, I’ll look in to doing some more. It was also good to see people more interested in the original plates rather than the alternate process prints I’ll bear that in mind for the future.

These are 5×7 ambrotypes.
Jamin Darlot Cone lens (Still surprises me how wide angle this lens is).
F4 for 30 seconds.