wet Plate Collodion hings that others pass by

Shooting in the street of Los Angles and not being able to speak Spanish is a major problem for me. The good news is I have a friend Chris Sanchez that is from Mexico City. I invited Chris along so he could talk to people for me. The lady in this photo did not speak any English. I asked him if he would talk with her and see if she would shoot a photo with me. At first she said no but Chris did not give up. He started talking to her about Mexico City and after 20 minutes  she agreed . I think even if I could of spoke to her I don’t think she would of done it. I don’t think I could of got her to trust me. While I was shooting her Chris keep chatting with here. She told him that some one had asked  her for a photo with her food truck before. When she agreed the photographer brought out a naked girl to shoot on her truck. I think the lady felt like that was very disrespect full. I know I think it is. The way I see it is this beautiful lady and her food truck is the real shot any way. I all ways try to find the beauty in the things that others pass by. There is one more thing can some one please teach me Spanish? Haha.

Wet Plate Collodion my favorite photos of all time

                                      

 It was getting late in the day and I made a decision to push my portable dark room around the corner to see if I could shoot some homeless people that live in skid row. It was going to be a pretty big mission and I was not sure how the people that live on this street would react to me. All of a sudden this man in the photo walked up. I started talking with him and after 10 minutes I asked hi if he would shoot a photo with me. I ended up shooting one of my favorite photos of all time .My friends and this man ended up hanging out for a hr we all hung out like we were old friends. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He told us that he was pushing his cart around collecting bottles and cans and how bad is feet hurt. The crazy thing is he has casts on both legs could you imagine what that would be like? I was talking to my grandpa years ago about my problems. He told me if every one through their problems in the street and you could see what every ones were you would go and pick yours back up.  

kandee Johnson - Wet Plate Collodion photo shoot

 It seems that darkness has been casting it’s shadow over the world slowly, for a long time now. Each day we accept this because it’s just a little more than the day before. Over time it adds up to a significant amount which bring us to where we are today. In our pursuit for modern advancements we have compromised our morals. We live in a society where it is excepted that sex sells, negative advertising is the way we are sold products, negativity in the news, and headlines we see, night after night. This is the conversation that was sparked between Kandee and I during our photo shoot, we could’ve talked about this for hours. I was explaining to her the process I was using which is from the late 1800s. I explained to her that this style of photography is actually taking us backwards into the past 100 years. We then started talking about life in the same way. I look at Kandee as the light that shines in the darkness. Over this past year, her light has been spreading, and the amount of people following her is amazing. The people that are attracted to her share the same love in their hearts. It started as one small light that could be seen in the darkness, one by one a light was added like an L.E.D. panel. Kandee now has an army of people shining light, wired together by positive energy. I am so proud of you, Kandee. Keep this in mind next time bad things come your way: Insects and creatures that live in the dark are also drawn to the light. It’s like when you are camping and all the bugs surround your lantern. My point is no matter how annoying these things are we never turn off the light. The negative people are the bugs that will keep running into the lantern, until they self-destruct. . I have want to shoot Kandee with this wet plate collodion process for some time now. I’m glad our paths crossed again it made my day. I had Kandee hold this flower because it symbolized the beauty that she hold in her heart.

If you want to see what wet plate photography looks like here is a video of my friend Will Dunniway and company working with the wet plate process.

wet Plate Collodion The Downtown Pirate "Ricky"

 I look at the downtown Pirate as a historic piece of Downtown Los Angeles. He’s been here for many many years.  The pirate seams to be every were if you live in this area you know who he is.  He has a very color full personality every time I see him he make me laugh. Late at night I can her his distinctive Arrrrrr from my window. I feel like this is his way of letting us all know he’s still here holding down the street. The  Pirate is a very important part of this new project I have been working on. The basis of the project is connections. I feel like everyone in DTLA is connected in one way or another. He is the link between skid row and the redeveloped parts of Downtown LA. I shot him, as the Pirate my next step is to shoot him as Ricky. I have invited rick up to my place for time to time so i can get to know him better. There is so much more to him that most people don’t get to see. I plan to go to his place and show the other side of him that is hidden by the Pirate and the arrrrrrr’s. 

wet Plate Collodion brothers

 I love my camera! It seams to have this power that draws people in. I had it set up to shoot photos on Los Angeles st I was trying to figure out what I want to shoot. All of a sudden the man on the right in this photo came up to me. He started asking questions about the camera. I knew what my next question was for him was. He said yes it would be cool if you shoot a of photo of me. He explained to me that my brother and I are working on the elevator in the building and it just couldn’t interfere with our work. I was stoked I have all ways liked blue-collar workers. I want to shoot a book about them one day. I caught up with them right as they were leaving and took this one photo. After I developed it I noticed something very cool. They are brothers but one is way more laid back. The other is standing proud with every thing in order. I love how it shows the differences in personalities.

wet Plate Collodion Fire Works/dodger statium

 The fire works on 4^th of July have always fascinated me. I think we can all agree that the Independence Day firework displays are some of our fondest child hood memories. 

I watched the fire works on the 4th and it got me thinking about if it were possible to shoot fire works with this wet plate process?  I figured i’d have to wait in till next year. So I went to get a coffee with my homie james and he mentioned they were having a fire works at dodger stadium because the dodgers were on the road for the 4th. It was already late in the day but we decided we should give it a try.  We quickly loaded the car and drove over to scout locations. On the way over we stoped by home depot to grab some stuff to shoot at night (like flashlights!) and I started realizing this was going to be a challenging shoot. 

After traversing Elysian Park every which way, we set on a location that we had to push the cart down this dirt road for a ½ mile to get to. Now well past the point of no return, lacking a few essentials like sweatshirts, james set upon rigging one of my trays with epoxy while I set up the chemicals and  mentally prepared to deal with the cops, kids, soccer balls, cholos or whatever else was headed our way.   I shot a test and realized my collodion was jacked. It poured like elmer’s glue and my heart sank. 

 I tried to fix it and it got worse.

 I tried to fix it and it got worse. I found a spare bottle with enough for maybe two shots so we decided to wait till the light fell completely off. The hours drew on slowly as the temperature dipped and the wind picked up. We anxiously awaited the end of the game as our hands went numb and the threat of park rangers evicting us empty handed loomed. Finally the dodger’s get dealt with and the fire works are eminent. James is pressing me to get a plate ready but I know my timing has to be perfect to catch two plates. It’s time to do work and everything gets a little frantic. I pour the collodion and realize that I might not even have enough for this plate. Knowing this is my only shot I come out of the darkroom with my cartridge loaded and a certain intensity. With the camera locked and loaded I awaited the first explosion. As the sky began to light up I opened the shutter and and left it in the hands of my grueling preparation. The fire works were not being launched from where we expected but it looked like it was gonna frame even better. Then I notice I haven’t pulled the dark slide on the film back. I jump to fix the shutter, pull the dark slide, wait for my moment and re-open the shutter. When I felt I captured enough I closed the shutter, let the show end and then re-opened to let the city burn into the plate. The lights of the stadium started to re-fire as I closed the shutter for the last time and I was pretty sure I just killed it. James held a flashlight I rigged with a red gel over my shoulder in the darkroom as I poured the developer and realized the plate had been scratched by the dark slide. I pushed through without emotion and got it out and in the fix. James crouched eagerly over the plate in the fixer with a flashlight as I walked away and noticed some park police had pulled in. I again sprang into action and started cleaning up all the chemicals I wasn’t really sure the cops were gonna be cool with, as I heard james yell out “I think the plate might be scratched but I can’t tell!” I already knew. As I labored through all the mess, hassling ass cops and thick dodger traffic; I was crushed. Seven hours of grinding, my body aching from exposure, my assistant beat to shit and one of the most beautiful photo’s I have ever taken irreparably marred by a stupid mistake that left a big white scratch over my downtown skyline. 

 This is photography. This is why it feels so good when things line up.

Location: Dodger Stadium Los Angeles,Ca

Wet Plate Collodion Lauren Graham

 When I opened the bay door to the loading dock behind my building thousands of photos emerged. I had been shooting out of the front side of the PE lofts where I live. I just was not felling it. It didn’t feel like los angles too me. From my loft I can look down onto Los Angeles st  it is amazing. Since the day I moved in I wanted to shoot on this street. A year ago I brought my digital camera down to this street to shoot and didn’t get very good results. I think I just looked like some yuppie trying to exploit people. Yesterday I set up my dark room up on the loading dock that opens up to LA st. The people on the streets accepted it. That camera draws a lot of attention and people just want to get their photo taken by her.

I called my new neighbor Lauren up to see if wanted to shoot at my new studio (Los Angeles st). We ended up getting some beautiful photos. This is going to be where you can find me for the month. I’m so stoked on it. Now that this door has opened I’m going to focus my camera on the people of LA st.

Lauren has a tattoo on her heart that says, “trust for sale”. I was very fascinated by it. I had to get a photo of it.  We started talking about how we wanted to shoot it. I thought it would look funny with her braw on because of where it was placed. I felt like the message had to be a felling of being exposed and vulnerable. So I just asked and she said ya lets do this. We shot here straight up on the street in the daylight.  It needed to be raw and gritty. So I used all my old chemicals and let the wind blow the dirt from the city on to the plate before I exposed it. Its not every day someone is willing to expose their soul for a photo let alone to the world.  She is one of the coolest girls I know. Thank you for these photos.

I did quite get what I was looking for with this image so I stopped shooting after this photo. I need to rethink this one. I am going to try to reshoot this at some point. As far as this image goes I love it.

Photo: Lauren Graham
Location: Los Angeles St LA,Ca