Diptych Project #14
Sylvan Lake, Summer 2025. Photographed on Harman Pheonix and, as always, developed in my kitchen.
Sylvan Lake, Summer 2025. Photographed on Harman Pheonix and, as always, developed in my kitchen.
Diptych Project #13
There is always something new to learn. And damn am I happy I got to learn Wet Plate, in the West Virginia mountains, from the talented, permissive and all around kind human Lisa Elmaleh. The first plate below was taken on the first day, the second on the last. Safe to say I learned a whole lot.
Nerds, proceed here —> Wet plate photography is a historic photographic method invented in the mid 1800s. Long story short you coat a metal plate (tin type) or glass plate (ambrotype) with collodion, sensitize it in a silver bath, expose your image and then develop your photograph. All while the plate is still wet. The process is somewhat complicated, sure. But it requires you to operate on intuition in a way that keeps you so magnificently present. Plus watching your image appear in the fixer is basically some kind of magic.
I’ve got to say I didn’t attend this workshop with any sort of ambition to continue making wet plates at home. I just wanted to dig deeper into understanding the history of photography. But I sure don’t feel finished with this. And the hunt for a 4x5 camera and chemicals has begun.
ROOTED I. Photographed on 4×5 aluminum plate using the Wet Plate process in Paw Paw, West Virginia. My thumbprint obscures the centre of the frame.
ROOTED III. Photographed on 4×5 aluminum plate using the Wet Plate process in Paw Paw, West Virginia.
P.S. Lisa is doing powerful work at the US/Mexico border. I highly recommend you check out her work and workshops! https://www.lisaelmaleh.com/promised-land
Diptych Project #9
CAMOUFLAGE
CONNECTION?
How messy is too messy? We all know that life isn’t perfect. That tolerance is a necessity for thriving and growing.
But when does tolerance slip into deception. Into abandonment of self.
Is it my fault
that I felt uncomfortable and detached? A square peg in a round hole.
After so many years. Is there even any hope of re-writing the programming of such formative relationships?
My gut say no. Or is that my fear?
How am I to know?
What is worth the fight.
I can’t do it all. I can’t be something that I am not.
And I am not a liar.
Diptych Project #8
SAME BUT DIFFERENT. Same family. Same genetics. Same home. Different directions. Different motives. Different gifts. Photographed on Kodak Gold (and the first home scans that made me feel like I was really starting to get the process dialled in)
SAME BUT DIFFERENT II. In our yard is a crooked tree. The way it grows nearly horizontal in the middle is our favourite part about it. The crooked bit perfectly holds the swing everyone loves to rest on. After the bend it continues growing straight upwards like all the trees around it. But it’s not like every tree around it. Photographed on Kodak Gold.
Diptych Project #7
the Louvre
CLOSED DOOR. there is so much beauty out there, if you can open the doors. Photographed on Portra 160.
REACHING. We all know the painting this photo is inspired by. The surprise little light leaks only add the to celestial feel. Reaching for that spark of connection, inspiration, belonging. Photographed on Portra 160.
Diptych Project #5
OUTSIDE. Fresh produce adjacent to a pile of trash. Streets bustling with people making their way in the morning. Taken from the windows of the room in the next frame. Photographed on Kodak Gold.
INSIDE. Throughout all of Cuba you feel its past, it’s history. Some in disrepair, some carefully preserved. Most a blend of whatever is available. Photographed on Kodak Gold.