Rustic Stomp 2026

Well that was a busy weekend. I had just got back from Portugal thinking I had a day to spare before The Rustic Stomp Festival in Dorset.

Silver nitrate bath sunned and filtered, fresh-ish collodion, fresh developer and fixer. Van packed and as usual the panic of thinking you’ve forgotten something, despite the lengthy list you’ve checked off. What had I forgot? To travel down on the Thursday and not the Friday. So glad I messaged Moo Pa to check.

One long drive and possibly a speeding ticket in the post later…

Last year Andy Moo Pa and I had struggled on the first day with excessive heat, especially in the pop up darkroom. We had to tweak our developer quite a bit to get decent plates. This year we thought “it can’t be as bad as last year!” Well, we are now into the second week of another heatwave but this time we were prepared. A 6×3 white gazebo to give shelter from the sun over the top of the darkroom. And, as we had power, I took along my portable air con unit from the studio. What luxury!

The festival site was a tinder box just waiting for something to happen. On Friday evening someone yelled “fire”. Lets just say if the wind was blowing in another direction it could have been a whole lot worse. Luckily no casualties apart from some small tents.

It was not surprising how quickly the fire spread along the hedgerow. Started by an unsteady camping stove. A local farmer was luckily at hand with a bowser and several fire vehicles arrived within minutes. Not bad considering the number of wild fires happening at the moment. BBC news link.

Luckily the festival was given the okay to carry on, with continued monitoring by the fire brigade.

Here’s the first test plate of Moo Pa. I shot most of the weekend at one second at f4 on my Ross sliding box camera.

And one of Tim. These are quarter plate, but I also shot some 5×4 and half plate.

Same spot as last year, and again quiet to start off. We think a number of people went home after the fire assuming the festival would be cancelled. Saturday was the busiest day and a little more managed on Sunday morning.

Winona sat for a couple of plates on the Saturday. She didn’t like this one so came back on Sunday for another. Similar pose but softer lighting later in the day. She was far happier with the reshoot, and I get to keep this one. Win win.

Tom Carradine came for a portrait just before he was due on stage. Lovely chap who knew about the process having sat for other wet plate photographers.

The photo cases we made were very well received and considered a success. So they will continue, maybe in additional sizes.

Chemical issues persist. The same issue again. I cannot see the plate develop until the very last second and then it appears as a positive not a negative under the safelight. It Fixes fine, just over exposed, so timed development is required rather than observation.

Silver nitrate bath has been well sunned, filtered and balanced. Collodion is my usual supplier. Dev I mix to my usual recipes. And fix is fresh. Usual safelights. I have no idea. After 16 years of wet plate this one is starting to bug me. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Thankfully my final plate on Sunday gave me a little bit of reassurance.

Mia came by to see what we do. Moo Pa had made a plate of her parents the day before. So we asked if she fancied sitting for a plate. I’m so glad she did.

We hope to be back again next year. An additional 6×3 white gazebo instead of the smaller black one would be a welcome addition. Plus better signage would help explaining further what we do.

And a reminder to everyone that the UK wet plate weekend is in August at Guys Cliff again. Contact Ray Spence for further details and payment.

Sadly, Moo Pa and I will be shooting at the Phoenix Festival in Wales so cannot attend, so we hope everyone has a great time.

And thanks to Helen for the extra pics as I forgot to take any apart from some of the plates themselves.