Project Basho’s Fall 2007 workshop/class schedule announced, PA, US

Philadephia’s Project Basho have announced their Fall 2007 class and workshop schedule:

Fall Classes and New Workshops

We would like to let you know that the fall schedule for photography classes and workshops at Project Basho has been finalized and is posted on our website. We have exciting workshops coming this fall. As usual, we are offering beginner and intermediate black and white classes along with an introductory color class. These classes are very small with a lot of feedback from instructors and are very structured with ongoing assignments. We also offer an afterschool class for teenagers.

In addition to our regular workshops like an introduction to large format photography and palladium printing, we are featuring some exciting programs this fall. We are inviting Shelby Lee Adams again but this time for a Location Lighting workshop where participants will learn the intricacy of lighting with the mixture of natural and artificial light. This use of lighting is considered to be essential for today’s editorial and commercial photographers. Shelby will deconstruct other notable photographers’ lighting techniques and walk you through the process making it approachable.

We are offering Creating a Photographer’s Artist Book by Olivia Antsis. If you have ever had a desire to create a one-of-kind book of your photographs and learn the basics of bookbinding, this workshop is for you. Photographers will learn how to use their photographs to make compelling visual narratives.

In October Craig Barber will lead Cultural Landscape, the workshop which will expand your understanding of landscape photography. He will explore how photographers portray cultural impact on the environment and also look at how the photographer’s own culture affects their vision.

In November, we are inviting Kerik Kouklis to offer a One-day Gum over Platinum Printing workshop as well as another Wet-Plate Collodion workshop. Kerik covers these historical processes in a friendly and approachable manner and his workshops have been very well received in the past.

Kevin Martini-Fuller will be offering an Introduction to Studio Lighting as well as Nude: Form and Light and Carbon Printing.

Last but not the least, there are still a couple of more summer workshops scheduled and some more opening left: Introduction to Studio Lighting workshop by Kevin Martini-Fuller and Gum Bichromate workshop by Scott McMahon.

Lecture Series Starting This Fall

Our first lecture series in May with Shelby Lee Adams was a great success and we are looking forward to more occasions like this. When we finish our new multi-purpose room, we will be bringing a lecture series to the Philadelphia photography community.

We are scheduling one lecture a month this fall. The first one will be by Shelby Lee Adams again in September. We are working closely with The University of the Arts and hope to run Shelby’s lecture in a larger space at UArts.

In October, we are inviting Craig J. Barber, and he is going to share his work and his latest book. This will be his first lecture in Philadelphia. In November, Kerik Kouklis is scheduled to join us.

A Gallery Space Opens This Fall

As you know, we have been working on the second phase of construction, and we will soon finish the space. Starting in October, we will be showing photographs on our walls.

The main gallery room is 600 sq ft with a 14ft ceiling and unique architectural details. The gallery also extends to a 40′ long hallway in the studio. That is over 100 liner ft. space for hanging photographs. We will be slowly and thoughtfully developing a series of photography shows which are visually stimulating as well as thought-provoking.

Tintype Portraiture Session During POST

October is the time for the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours. It is a great occasion where many artists’ studios will be open to public. As an artist-run organization, Project Basho is happy to be part of this unique annual event.

In order to provide an occasion for raising awareness and appreciation of historical photographic processes, we are having tintype portraiture sessions during POST. Tintypes have peculiar qualities which are difficult to reproduce with other technologies. For a small fee, you can have a one-of-a-kind tintype photograph made of you while you are visiting the studio. We will be running the sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. You are also more than welcome to come by to see how the process is done.

More Exciting Projects

We are working on a couple of other exciting projects right now. They have something to do with the use of our gallery space both physically and online. We hope to be able to make an announcement by the end of summer, so stay tuned with our latest development at Project Basho.

For more information and updates, please feel contact us or visit our website.

Project Basho
1305 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
US
215-238-0928
www.projectbasho.org

"Before It’s Gone" group show, NM, US

The Santa Fe Downtown Public Library is proud to announce the opening of the photography show:

"Before It’s Gone"
Photographs of the Albuquerque Rail Yard

Silver gelatin, platinum palladium and gum bichromate photographs of the Albuquerque Rail Yard by David Bram, Joshua Spees and Todd Stewart.

The show runs through July 31, 2007, at the Santa Fe Public Library, 145 Washington St, Santa Fe, NM, US.

Wet plate collodion workshops with Will Dunniway

Students will learn the making of ambrotypes (glass direct positives) and tintypes. (Ferrotypes, tin plate direct positives) Students are guided through the process step-by-step from the mixing, pouring, exposing and development of plates poured with wet collodion. The newest edition now is 4 color of the manual, Making the Wet Collodion Plate in 16 Steps manual by Will Dunniway is included along with all materials in the course fee. Students will use a period 1860 field camera with 1860-70 lenses. Workshop features 2 days of intensive hands-on training in the making of ambrotypes, ferrotypes (tintypes), and glass plate negatives. Each student will make and take home a self-portrait/still life tintype/ambrotypes. All materials and equipment provided.

The 4 day workshops include a day shooting with a Brownie type box camera that you keep. Intensifying glass negatives and printing from these negatives with salt paper.

SPRING Wet Plate collodion Workshop
April 14–15, 2007, Corona, California
write: silverandsun@mac.com

Photographer Formulary Workshop on Collodion Photography
July 22–27, 2007, Condon, Montana
See photoformulary.com to register

Historic Eastfield Village, N.Y. Wet Plate Collodion Workshop
August 13–16, 2007, Nassau, New York (near Albany, NY)

with Claude Levet assisting. (Tentative, see here to register)

FALL Wet Plate Collodion Workshop
October 6-7, Corona, California
write: silverandsun@mac.com

Henrieke I. Strecker’s "Light in the Forest" show, Frankfurt, DE

Henrieke I. Strecker's Light in the Forest show flyer

"Light in the Forest" is a show of solar plate prints and cyanotypes by [insanely talented] pinhole/zone plate/alternative process photographer Henrieke I. Strecker. It runs 14 May – 9 June, 2007, at Gallery Gallus Theater, Frankfurt am Main, DE.

You can see some of Strecker’s work at www.photogravure.de, pinhole-photography.de, www.zoneplate.de, and two photoblogs on Flickr.

First look at Matthew Larkin’s "Suspended In Time" wet plate collodion book

Cover of collodion photography Suspended in Time by Matthew Larkin (Black Barn Editions)

I recently stopped by wet plate collodion photographer Matthew Larkin’s studio and got a look at an advance copy of his just-published book, Suspended in Time, which is the end result of a two year collaboration between Larkin and body suspension group Rites of Passage.

I’m a bit of a hard sell when it comes to photography books. Not only had the images better be damn good, but it had better be printed well, form a coherent body of work, and the pictures mustn’t give everything up at once, they’ve got to be engaging and give me something to explore over time. A book I can flip through once and say, "that was good, but I got it, and I don’t necessarily need to see it again," isn’t getting my money or sustained attention. Suspended in Time delivers on all fronts, which is why it gets my vote and my cash. The photography—the subject of which will undoubtedly be truly challenging for some—is compelling and well edited, and the book itself is gorgeously designed by Binocular and impeccably printed by top-of-the-heap fine art printers Studley Press.

In the 15 or so years I’ve been doing print design professionally, I’ve developed an annoyingly critical eye that sees the slightest printing defect coming a mile away. Usually, offset printing is a frustrating guessing game, where getting the expected result is difficult, expensive, and rare, because it’s an analog, mechanical process where a lot can go wrong. Larkin and the designers were on press for a week working with the printers to get the duotone inks and varnish balanced just right. The result is nothing short of phenomenal; this is one of the best- and most interestingly-printed things I’ve ever seen.

What does this mean for the photos? They managed to get much, much closer to the look of the original black glass ambrotypes than I thought was possible with offset printing. Due to the colored varnish, the page surfaces are half-way between matte and high-gloss. It’s a look that I ordinarily wouldn’t care for, but it happens to work perfectly for the material: some of the otherworldliness of the glass originals is of course lost on paper, but the finish makes up for it, albeit in a slightly different, though no less effective, direction.

There are few cues about when the photos were made, which makes them difficult to nail down. They’re equally believable at 1 or 150 years old. The printing makes them look both immediate and anachronistic, with none of the sense of temporal distance that usually comes with old photos. Time-wise, they pick you up and throw you, but don’t let you see where you landed. It’s a neat trick that sets the stage for beginning the real work of digesting the content.

I think you should really have your own experience of the photos, so I’m not going to say anything more about the subjects. I do suggest going for the ride, though, and looking at and thinking about what comes up for you when you look at them. It’s probably going to be a challenge, but I think it’s a worthy one. There are a lot of interesting questions to be found here if you let them in. If you’d like to get a peek, there are several plates from the book here at the publisher’s site and in this previous post here on Photon Detector.

Given the material, the photographic process, and the fact that this is the first book of its kind, Larkin had an opportunity to write a Weston daybook-style flowery and self-congratulatory bit of wankery for the introduction. I’m quite pleased to report that he didn’t take it. Instead, he provides enough background to help you understand what you’re looking at, but stops before boring you or turning it into a public masturbation session, and lets the work speak for itself. A successful artist statement is a rare treat. Thanks for that.

Don’t let the fact that I know Larkin detract from this statement in any way: this book is incredible. It’s a unique piece that I know I’ll get a lot of exploration out of for a long time to come. I almost tried to come up with something bad to say so this seems more balanced, but I’ve got nothing. (For the record, I don’t accept free or discounted stuff from anyone I write about here. I saw the book, I like it, and I’m paying full price.)

You can order direct from the publisher, Black Barn Editions. The book is US $70 plus shipping, and express and international shipping are available.

Look for interviews with Larkin and several of the subjects in the coming weeks.

 

Clothbound with jacket, 9.25 × 11.5 inches
70 duotone illustrations in 144 pages

Edition limited to 2000, of which 100 are signed and numbered by the artist.

ISBN 978-0-9793352-0-4
US $70.00

 

More coverage
Review by NYC.com

Review by Phil Nesmith

 

Cover image © copyright 2007 Black Barn Editions. Used with permission.

Diana Hooper Bloomfield lecture: "Pinhole and Alternative Photographic Processes", NC, US

Preeminent photographer Diana Bloomfield will discuss her craft at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 31 [2007] at UNC Asheville’s Rhoades-Robinson Hall, room 125 [Asheville, NC, US]. A question-and-answer session will follow the talk, which is free and open to the public.

Bloomfield specializes in pinhole and 19th century printing techniques, including platinum and palladium, cyanotype and hand-tinting. She received a New Jersey State Visual Art Fellowship, several United Arts of Raleigh Regional Artist Project Grants and the Maine Photographic Workshop’s Golden Light Award.

Via Pinhole Visions

Wet plate collodion workshop with Kerik Kouklis, Philadelphia, US

Here’s a very interesting-looking workshop with Kerik Kouklis (I have it on good authority that his workshops are excellent):

Wet plate collodion, one of the earliest photographic processes, has been experiencing a resurgence of interest in recent years. This resurgence is primarily because of the beauty and uniqueness of the images created. In this workshop, you will learn how to create wet plate positive images (Tintype and Ambrotype) as well as wet plate negatives. Through a combination of discussions, shooting sessions and darkroom time, participants will learn how to incorporate this process in their own photography.

Cameras and wet plate holders ranging from 4×5 to 8×10 will be available for students to use. Students are also encouraged to bring your own view camera as well. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in 19th century techniques.

The one-weekend workshop runs 9 am – 6 pm, May 5–6, 2007, at Project Basho, 1305 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA, US.

Check out the complete workshop schedule at ProjectBasho.org, including a two-weekend pinhole workshop with Scott McMahon for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.