I’ve got a routine going of pouring my own 4×5″ gelatine silver plates and then scanning them and inkjet printing the results but I’ve felt unsettled because I would like to have a 100% analogue process, [AAA] in stead fo [ADD]. To address this I’ve been messing with salt printing some of my 4×5″ plates. It works quite well because they are very contrasty. Simple silver emulsion plates are generally too contrasty to print on modern photographic papers. The downside of contact printing 4×5″ plates is the resulting prints are so small. I’ve therefore been experimenting with different ways to work with larger glass plates and over the last couple of weeks have built myself an adapter back so I can shoot Whole-plate (6.5×8.5″) Victorian book-form holders on my Intrepid 8×10.
So now I need to take stock of where I go with this next. The Intrepid works well and has a wide range of movements but using it for whole-plate sizes does involve carrying a larger camera than necessary. This counts for a lot as three mahogany plate holders containing six sheets of 2mm glass weighs quite a lot on its own. A Victorian whole-plate camera may be a better way to work with this format but they have fewer movements and finding one in a useable condition may be a challenge.
Another thought that occurs is adding an expansion back to the Intrepid. I’ve always wanted to have a go on a 7×17″ banquette camera. I could build a back and a couple of plate holders to fit the Intrepid using the same basic approach. The result wouldn’t be particularly portable but the idea is crazy enough to be appealing and who knows, it might just work!
Looks great, very well done! You could always go back in time to those other two Edinburgh photographers, Hill and Adamson. Maybe re-photograph some of the scenes they visited. Calotype paper is very lightweight and lots of fun. Check out the Calotype Society on Facebook and the internet.
I always feel guilty I don’t just work Calotype living where I live. Pre-covid I used to walk past Rock House (where H&A were based) each day. If I did do paper negatives I’d probably do a slightly later version rather than pure calotype. Fox Talbot original technique was very capricious and soon dumped apparently. It makes me wonder if Adamson had his own variation on it. You also need lots of sunshine which is a rare commodity around here.
Currently Rock House is a holiday rental property so I have wondered about renting it for a couple of days just to do the complete retro thing. I imagine it is expensive.
You may find Rob Douglas’s website interesting, he has done most of the early calotype processes. Here is one of his articles about Adamson and his process. I think calotypes are much easier than wet plate collodion.
https://www.papershadowsandlight.com/adamsonknows
Review Rob Douglas website, he has lots of info on Adamson’s process. https://www.papershadowsandlight.com/
Lookup Rob Douglas’s website, he has lots of info on Adamson and uses Adamson’s process. Search for Paper, Shadows and Light.
Thanks Terry. Very interesting stuff. I’ll investigate further.
Firstly, great images and use of the camera.
If possible I need your expertise if please?
Can I ask you a Q’ about shutter placement/FFD?
Be here well, as was once suggested to me.
Bests
D.
The shutter is the lens cap!