I took my 12×20 plate holder to a local woodworker after he got in touch on Facebook saying he might be able to help.
I explained the situation to him and he managed to very carefully pry the 10
0 year old plinth off the face of the plate holder. The light trap inside that was revealed was a source of great interest to the both of us:
Yesterday I had a pretty shitty day. And I went to bed and decided that today I was going to go out and make a plate. I figured the 12×20 camera doesn’t work yet but the 11×14 still does so I might as well get out and use it.
Woke up a bit late this morning but the weather was nice, no wind, and I headed out to Bushy Park to try and see if I could find some old Oast Houses (hops drying sheds). I got out there but unfortunately they were all fenced off. Not wanting to drive my van onto private property I just headed back out to the Southern Midlands. I drove down Hollow Tree Road (an old favourite) and saw this nice weeping willow sitting in the middle of a paddock.
I got the materials together and headed up to the lakes to try and get my first 12×20 ambrotype out of this new camera. Well… More hurdles and frustration.
Went up to Tunbridge again today with a girl I met a couple of months ago. She’s the niece of a really talented and well known artist around here. I like her edgy look and thought she’d look nice in wet plate. We drove for like an hour to this location, which I had originally set aside for my first 12×20 plate (I’ll still do it, there’s more to this composition for a panorama)
Here is the 20×24 silver tank I had made with a terrible dodgy brace/leg systen. Originally I needed about 14 litres of silver nitrate to fill… way too much.. that’s more than $1200! But I have it chocked out with styrofoam nearly halving the volume to only 7.5 litres to immerse a 12×20 plate. Not bad. Bonus of this tank is it can do 16×20 plates if i ever go that big, although unlikely. 11×14 and 12×20 is good enough for a long time.
So last night it was driving me nuts while I was in bed. Lying there thinking about the varnish and the evenness of developing on the big plates and just lay there brainstorming. Then I picked up my copy of the Silver Sunbeam (the original wet plate manual) and started reading the section about the varnish…
My 12×20 camera arrived last week. I was watching the Australia Post app like a hawk. I was literally waiting at the door when the postman arrived at 7pm. Cost me a fortune in duty but as mercy would have it, the seller was kind enough to pay the duties for me, without even asking. Faith in humanity restored.
It really is a wonderful camera, and in pretty good condition for it’s age. I knew cosmetics weren’t important but I was surprised anyway. The plate holder, thankfully, is good to go and no major modification is necessary. The plates look as though they sit right in the registration zone, same measurement as the film. Unfortunately I damaged one side of the plate holder when I varnished it (to seal it against silver nitrate) and the light trap got damaged. Luckily, the other side is still ok but I will need to use my dark cloth to cover the plate holder to stop any potential light leaks as the light trap on that side is a little worn as well.
12×20 plate holder, painted and varnished to protect against fogging and silver corrosion
Couple more pinholes. Having lots of fun with this camera. I like it so much I ought the 6×6 version.
Also bought some chems and gear to start developing film at home. Haven’t done it in a couple of years. Will just stick to B/W for now I guess.
Well things have slowed down a little. I’m working flat out for the next couple of weeks trying to catch up on rent and other annoying life things so photography has had to take a back seat for a little bit.
I’d spotted this fantastic twisted looking tree from the road on the way back from shooting out at Hamilton the other day. It was on a property in front of an old 1830’s era house in Hayes. Y I stopped and went to the house to ask permission if I could shoot on their property. At first the woman that answered the door was very suspicious, not even opening the security door and asking me “why? what for?”, understandably, seeing as I was standing there, 6 foot 1, beanie, sleeveless metal tshirt with the words “BONGRIPPER” emblazened on the front and filthy jeans and doc martens.
Ambrotrocities 