The Mask Series – “If your face fits”

Heres my submission for the Wet Plate Collodion International Collaborative Collection… also known as The Mask Series.

The Mask Series has seen some amazing images submitted so far. I must say I had a few ideas but this was the original that I kept coming back to. I’m not one for writing artists statements, never have been, never will be.

This is a self portrait. It has a number of things going on but the main one is this… Its to do with self belief and confidence, or lack of, and how I believe we wear a multitude of masks in our life, in different environs and situations to help us cope and “fit in”. Read into this and the image what you will, I’m not going to waffle on about what this all means to me personally because I’ll not be able to put it into words.

Its a whole plate tintype. Shot on the Watson Studio camera with the Ross 17 inch f4.5 lens for 10 seconds with the Interfit lights. Also added in two pops of the Bowens flash heads, although I don’t think the flash adds much, as with just the Interfits it was 20 seconds but that was too long to stay still for.

It took quite a few plates to get the lighting and “expression” right

Thanks again to Steph for the final focus and lens taking off action! Couldn’t have done it without her.

If I can think of a more concise reason for this plate I’ll edit this post as I go along…