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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

the wet plate collodion photographic process « Previous | |Next »
June 18, 2013

Wet plate collodion photographic process, which is used to make different image types, had thrived from the 1850s to the 1880s. The photograph is made not on paper but on a sheet of glass or metal and rather nasty chemicals including heavy metals and poisons are involved in the process.

The process has been re-surging of late and a number of workshops are offered at the Gold Street Studios in Melbourne and the Analogue Laboratory in Adelaide.

RousselDTangerine.jpg Denis Roussel, “Tangerine,” 2012. Archival digital print

Mark Voce says that to create a photograph using the wet plate collodion process:

we first have to pour a solution of collodion on to a sheet or plate of glass or black metal such as tin or aluminium, after a few seconds the collodion mixture starts to go tacky at this point the plate is placed into a tank of silver nitrate. The silver nitrate sticks to the collodion creating a light sensitive coating on the plate. From here on in the rest of the process takes place in the dark under a orange safelight.

He adds that the now sensitised plate is now loaded into the camera’s plate holder / dark slide and exposed.

Voce continues:

One of the disadvantages of the wet plate collodion process is the working time, from coating the plate you have just ten minutes to take the photo and develop the plate. T The plate is exposed just as with a normal sheet of film although it is much slower and is dependent upon the amount of infrared light on your subject. With the plate exposed it is developed by pouring a small amount of developer over its surface after a few seconds the plate is then fixed before being washed and left to dry.

He adds that the wet plate collodion negative is a beautiful object to hold and that it feels like a moment in time has been frozen, captured on to a sheet of glass or metal.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 4:33 PM |