Posted on August 28th, 2010 in Art & Theory | Leave A Comment
It’s almost September! Let’s start with the most obvious change; the weather. The weather here has taken a turn for the cool. We must be entering Autumn (fall and winter are very mild here). Highs are 16-18 degrees Celsius (60s F) and lows are 8-10 degrees Celsius (40s F). It’s nice, I like it. It’s still raining a lot, but then again, when isn’t it raining here?
We’re thinking a lot about the big change coming for us and have our eyes and minds set on the northwest. I think that’s where we belong -but who knows? Right now, it looks like we should be leaving Europe around the first of the year. However, I always say everything, and I mean everything, is subject to change.
The 39-89 Project & Exhibition: Generating Ideas
I can’t really work on the Wet Collodion part of my project here (I can research and write but I can’t make photographs for it), so I’m experimenting with some paper negatives and setting up to do some Daguerreotype work. I’ve got the Daguerreotype stuff ready to go, but that will have to wait until I’m back in the States. It’s way too much to do here – too much as in expensive/hassle, too much. The Calotypes on the other hand, are very doable here.
My goal is to setup (individual studio/darkroom space) for all three processes in the States; I call it “The 39-89 Project: The First 50 Years of Photography”. 1839 – 1889, the first fifty years of photography; Daguerreotypes, Calotypes and Wet Plate Collodion. Each process has its own aesthetic and special place in history; I’ll offer workshops in each process when I return to America.
I want to write a piece at some point about why Collodion is so popular today and why the other two processes will never gain that kind of popularity. It’s written in history, however, I want to write a contemporary piece about it. I’ve found some interesting correlations to the digital movement and would like to share those ideas in an essay.
My exhibition in 2012 (in Paris at Centre Iris) will be large Wet Plate Collodion pieces, but I’m going to do an ancillary project (technical and historical) about this period in the history of photography. I’ll include Calotypes and Daguerreotypes. It will give context to the main exhibit and it will be educational and interesting (I hope). And, it will be relevant to anyone interested in photography today (that’s kind of the point, yes?). In a way, you could say I’m doing the technical and academic work while I wait to return to the States. This “break” has been a great time to generate ideas and experiment with some things. I needed this.
Across The Pond… And Back Again
We made a trip to the States this month and really enjoyed it. We didn’t enjoy leaving our daughter, Summer, behind (for college), but we enjoyed seeing our family. It was good to see everyone and we’re really happy for Summer. She’s all settled in at Weber State University, my Alma mater, and is doing great. Europe will always be a part of us and we will return often, but I’m ready to go home.
Coming Up: Daguerreotypes & Wet Plate Collodion Performative Lecture
We’ll be going to Belgium for some Daguerreotype work the first weekend in September and then the second week, we’ll be in Dresden for a Wet Plate Collodion Performative Lecture at the City Museum. I’ll be doing some commissioned portrait work there, too.
Posted on August 9th, 2010 in Art & Theory | Leave A Comment
I’ve been experimenting with different concepts in the form of props. Every time I do this, I find myself going back to the beginning and photographing people - particularly faces – raw and pure. That’s all I’m interested in.
In the end, what I find most interesting is “less”. Less as in fewer props, fewer distractions. I’m not very good at creating an atmosphere anyway. What I can do is show the depth of a person and sometimes, I can reveal something interesting in their face or spirit.
I enjoy this the most but I question if it’s because I’m “comfortable” and I’m getting lazy or if it’s still valid to work what you feel most strongly about decade after decade. For now, I’ll continue doing what drives me; the human face.
Posted on May 22nd, 2010 in Art & Theory, Collodion Images, Collodion Workshops, Europe | Leave A Comment
France 3 TV’s piece about Quinn’s exhibition in Paris at Centre Iris Gallery.
France 3 TV just aired this piece this week. The spot is about my work and the Wet Plate Collodion process. They also show a lot of images from my exhibition in Paris at the Centre Iris Gallery. The video is a copy from a monitor, but hopefully I’ll get a DVD next month and I’ll put it on my site (high res). It’s a really good piece - very “top shelf”. I’m very pleased. Enjoy!
Posted on April 15th, 2010 in Art & Theory, Education, Europe, travel | Leave A Comment
Next month, on May 1, the exhibition, “In Honour of Archer” will open in London. There will be close to thirty 
pieces of artwork in the show. All of the work is Collodion or Collodion-based from artists all over the world working in the Collodion process. I can’t over emphasize the importance of this exhibit and event. Not only for today, moreover, for posterity.
Every once in a while, there’s an opportunity to contribute and be involved in something that will be far more important in the future than it is today. The problem is being able to recognize those opportunities and then having the chutzpah to make the sacrifices to get “some skin in the game”.
“In Honour of Archer”, is one of those opportunities that I can say with great confidence, will take its place in history. It’s bigger than all of us. It’s its own thing, like a mountain so high that it generates its own weather system. It has its own energy, we’re just trying to keep up.
The work presented in the show will have a certain gravitas, too. A provenance, if you will. In this case, the context of the work is much greater than the work itself. I don’t mean that in the pejorative, I really like the work that has been submitted, I mean that in the way that this isn’t “just another exhibition”. I mean that the photographs in this exhibition are forever connected to this event. It’s the connection that gives this purpose – that’s what makes this so important. I wonder if people get that.
A hundred years from now, no one will know or care what you or I did today. We may see what we’re doing in our daily lives as important, but no one will remember. No one will care. John Popper, from the Blues Traveler band, has a great lyric in a song called, “100 Years”. It sums up the ephemeral nature of our day-to-day existence. He says,
“Big angry man in the doorway there
Just keep on walking like I don’t care
Why you giving such an evil eye
Could it be you were ignored by every passerby
And it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years
No, it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years”
Our death denial illusions are exposed and open for G-d and the world to see them when we talk about our achievements for future generations. However, in my opinion, this event transcends those illusions. This is one of those things that we all know is the right thing to do. So why has it taken 157 years?
I feel neither allegiance nor indebtedness to anyone except Archer when it comes to the Wet Plate Collodion process. Without Archer, and some others in the 19th Century, Collodion would have been a shelved process, at least as far as we know it today. He’s never received the recognition or the proper acknowledgments from his country, the big photography museums or the academic establishments. They should be embarrassed and ashamed. I’m glad, however, that like people us, the Collodion Collective, were able to come together and make his commemoration what it should be.
Unfortunately, as Parker and Stone said, “Sometimes what’s right isn’t as important as what’s profitable.” In that context, this is not, “just another exhibition”.
Thank you to everyone that participated in any way – you’ve done a great thing!
Tags: frederick scott archer, In Honour of Archer, photography, Quinn Jacobson, wet plate collodion
