Fractious Light and Fortuitous Scratches

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 It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I would post an image from my most recent shoot.  I had trouble with exposures, it looked like a beautiful sunny day, and all the digital images I shot were perfectly bright. However the Ambrotypes were all terribly long exposures. The patient sitter was there for nearly a minute trying not to blink, and the images were still underexposed.

The UV index must have been low. This was the best I could get and although it is still a little under, I have to admit I love the way the emulsion has scratched off on the bottom of the dress of the sitter. This happened when the plate got stuck in the camera. This is usually disastrous if I don’t notice in time. It can happen quite easily if the camera is on a slope, as the glass plate can tip forward with gravity. I never have to make the same mistake twice, there are so many to be made with this type of process. I am looking forward to seeing what will go awry on the next shoot.

On  a side note, I am excited to be travelling to America and England for a month and will be checking out George Eastman House and the Fox Talbot Museum to get some inspiration for my glass plate photography.

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