I'm very interested in knowing his process, it is clearly wet plate collodion, does that mean the truck is a portable lab? Or is he preparing the plates before he goes out?
They also appear flexible, so he is using a plastic instead of glass...
EDIT: ok, judging by the AgNO3 stains on their overalls, the truck is a portable lab. Which makes sense since wet plate doesn't last long between preparation and development.
thrice wrote:
I'm very interested in knowing his process, it is clearly wet plate collodion, does that mean the truck is a portable lab? Or is he preparing the plates before he goes out?
They also appear flexible, so he is using a plastic instead of glass...
EDIT: ok, judging by the AgNO3 stains on their overalls, the truck is a portable lab. Which makes sense since wet plate doesn't last long between preparation and development.
Have a look at his earlier film which answers some of your questions.
Wet collodian needs to be prepared, shot and processed on the spot before it dries. People don't realise how difficult it was to create some of the earlier images such as those shot in mountain ranges, before dry plates where introduced in around the 1870's, because you literally had to bring your darkroom with you. The truck is a camera and darkroom.
$500 per shot... Wow
I have got 4x5" including film and developing costs down to about $3/shot. I can't imagine the feeling of going somewhere spectacular, and not being able to get the shot at $500 per attempt
