Eden – Wet Plate Nude, Series #1

Now that I’ve got all the necessary materials, I can finally green light this project.  I’m going to do a series of nudes on glass negatives and various metals, tin and aluminum.  I’m really enjoying the process, but it’s very strange ending up with only a few plates from each shoot.  The setup + taking each shot is around 30 minutes / plate.  In the first plate, below, we shot it three times to try to get it right.  There goes an hour and a half. 🙂   We shot 6 plates and I ended up with these three that I liked the best.  It certainly makes you take your time before you take the shot.   Here is the lovely, Eden…

Eden I:  In this first shot, I was trying to get it a little sharper, but after 3 attempts, it was just too hard of a position to hold for 10 seconds.  I used a 2k hot light here, which is usually a lot of light for normal film or digital cameras.  In wet plate, which is around 1 ISO, you need a lot of light to record an image.  The shot grows on me the more I look at it though.  I think a lot of these images are going to have a different feel to them due to the process, and it’s one of the things that I’m really enjoying about it.

Eden II

Eden III:  I’m not quite sure what caused the white areas in the top left and right, but they’re in the image.  It can’t be wiped off.  My silver nitrate is new, so I’ve heard of such things happening with that…more mysteries in wet plate land. 🙂

That’s all for now.  Look out for the next one soon…

James

8×10 Camera Portrait Project

Well, I’ve finally decided to get my 8×10 camera project off the ground.  I’ve got a wonderful Horseman 8×10 camera that I’m going to be taking out in the field, and shooting in the studio.  It’s going to be a mixed media project that will include polaroid(made by polaroid), Fuji Instant Film, and of course, 8″x10″ film.  I think most of it will be black and white, but I will also shoot some color.  The objective of the project is going to be getting a wide range of New Yorkers in front of my lens.  Getting out into the field with this camera is not necessarily easy, but it is do-able.
So I thought I should start with my lovely and mostly patient wife, Maria.  She kept saying, “How long does this take”??  lol…Yes, this process takes longer than your usual portrait.  This will be one of the challenges of getting strangers to pose for it on the streets of New York.

So here’s a photo of the rig I’m using to get the camera around.  Basically, it’s a set cart, a tripod, and the camera.

Here’s a shot I took of myself in the studio.

Here’s Tomaz from New York Models.

So the project begins.  I’m really excited to shoot 8×10 film.  I think that part, and the film processing side is going to be a fun exploration.  I’ll post more as it progresses.

Darker Evolution

Evolution has taken a little darker turn as I’ve switched up the lighting and played in the shadows a little more. The project is coming along nicely. Give a warm welcome to Natsuko…

Smokin!!!

I’ve been wanting to play with a smoking shot for some time now and recently had an opportunity to do so. Shooting smoke is a lot like shooting water. Every shot is unique. You just want to keep shooting to see what will come up next. It makes for a fun project. I believe I’m going to be playing around with this medium for a while and see what comes of it.

Makeup:  Dyana Aives

Evolution Continues…

…and the Evolution Project continues…

See the “Evolution Revolution” Post to see the story behind the work and the first series that got the project started. I’m currently looking for a gallery home for these images and the many to come. I’ve got more models, men and women being shot in the coming months, so keep a look out here for updates.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with more talented models for the project. Every time I shoot someone new, something unexpected and wonderful comes out. Here’s a few more from the recent work.

Susie 

Tove

Jasmin 

Paola 

Feel free to comment. More updates soon…
James