This year’s World Wet Plate Day was all about “looking the other way.” With the help of makeup artist Denise and my amazing partner Masha, we crafted a truly magical experience together.
It’s magical and mystical, not exactly “looking the other way”, but it is. I feel like this topic really resonates with what’s happening right now around the world.
As a photographer, I have a vision and a story in mind. It all begins with an idea that gradually evolves into a mental image. Achieving this Eureka moment can be quite a process, but when it happens, it’s always a wonderful experience. Even though my vision is my own, it often requires the collaboration of other individuals, such as a makeup artist and a model, to bring it to life. Without their expertise, I would only have a vision, not a tangible outcome.
In conclusion, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside these talented artists.
I will create an updated video for my Patreon supporters (http://patreon.mhaustria.com) where I get deeper into the making of that portrait. As you may have seen in my video, I used a Hensel 14″ reflector to make the portrait pop outside. My main idea was to only create the portrait outside. But after I saw the work of the makeup artist, I was truly inspired and took two portraits in the studio as well. For that I used a soft box and calculated the needed power with my wet plate strobe calculator that is available for workshop attendees and patreon supporters. My tool allows you to select different light modifiers, see how they affect your portrait and it also tells you how much power you need. Beside choosing the light modifier, you also can change the f-stop, collodion age and bellow extension.
You may ask yourself maybe why I only showed you one portrait that I took in the studio. With the second one, we want to create something new. Maybe even something nobody has done before. I will keep you updated.
One more thing, I started to use 8×10 Black Ambrotypes again.
