I like to work with visual ideas and concepts, my approach to individual work is slow as I like to ask questions and think about the subject before taking a photograph. It is an organic process making it important that there is a connection between the subject and the final piece. It isn’t about perfection, but about identity and persona. There is always room for interpretation and development.
Showing personal beauty within our lives is a key driver for my work, it is about us not losing our individuality in a world of chaos and to not get buried underneath a blanket of ambiguity. There is beauty within personal battle and acceptance, even if the conversation is hard with oneself.
View these images as memory of oneself left to time. To be shared with generations to come.
This is my challenge. This is my challenge to you.
Thought to consider:
I am planning on transitioning from my corporate photography career to my love of historical photographic processes. So, to be honest, commissioned work will be a slow production at this point, but one that I am committed to creating.
Materials:
Images may be on glass (ambrotype) or a historical process print (from a glass negative) if the interpretation falls in line with the process. These processes are handmade requiring time and patience, but it is an experience not to be missed. Perfection, as in the modern photographic sense, is absent from this organic historical process where a bit of uncertainty is poured onto the glass.
Ambrotypes are one of a kind image on glass, but historical prints can be reproduced as many times as needed with a variance with every print.
The wet plate collodion process is my main photographic process. I make ambrotypes on glass or alternately glass negatives for historical prints. A session, depending on how many images are to be taken, may require a few plates. Glass negatives and ambrotypes, although similar in process, are not interchangeable. Please bring your curiosity, creative ideas and patience to the session.
Pricing:
Creating work like this is very involved and the price varies depending on time spent producing the images and the final products. I must bring my darkroom, large format camera and chemicals as this is a wet process. Think of it as the original instant photo, albeit a bit slower. With all that said, prices start at $450 (local travel) for a 5x5 plate and go up depending on size, time, materials and final presentation.
Please send me a note if you are in the Washington DC area and are interested in having images made.