From silver mine to wet plate

[limr]

"For the first 150 years or so, silver was an essential ingredient to photography, those little particles that reacted to light to create an image. Photographer Sean Hawkey decided to take his camera to the source and photograph the miners who extract the silver from the earth."

BBC News - From silver mine to wet plate

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

That's a serious undertaking that Hawkey committed to

 

[limr]

That's a serious undertaking that Hawkey committed to

Especially since, according to the article, he just learned how to do the wet plate collodion process for this project.

 

[cgw]

Nice article. Planning on trying antique processes over the winter. Surprising amount of interest in wet plate work born of boredom with the usual sterility of digital.

Took much inspiration from this:



vimeo,com/53077087

 

[Derrel]

Admirable curiosity Mr. Hawkey showed! It's kind of neat to find out more about the things you really,really love.

Now, just as an aside, I know a lot of you here on TPF profess a love for photography that is second only to your love for bacon. And so, for those who love bacon, and I know you are many in number, take it from this former farm boy: you do NOT want to go and find out how the bacon is actually "mined".

Uh-uhhh,no,no way,Earl. You.Do.Not.Want.To.See.Hog.Scalding.And.Hair.Scraping. Orrrr,anything else related to the mining of the bacon.

 

[limr]

Now, just as an aside, I know a lot of you here on TPF profess a love for photography that is second only to your love for bacon. And so, for those who love bacon, and I know you are many in number, take it from this former farm boy: you do NOT want to go and find out how the bacon is actually "mined".

I'm ignoring the rest of that post because it makes me sad I already don't eat bacon partly because of this.

 

[hamlet]

You can do that in post:

Zoo 2 by miranfoto, on Flickr

Poof by miranfoto, on Flickr

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Im really surprised they allowed him to travel with the chemicals. I thought there was a restriction on the amount of liquid you can have at 3oz or something. I guess if its checked in, you can have more?

 

[pjaye]

Admirable curiosity Mr. Hawkey showed! It's kind of neat to find out more about the things you really,really love.

Now, just as an aside, I know a lot of you here on TPF profess a love for photography that is second only to your love for bacon. And so, for those who love bacon, and I know you are many in number, take it from this former farm boy: you do NOT want to go and find out how the bacon is actually "mined".

Uh-uhhh,no,no way,Earl. You.Do.Not.Want.To.See.Hog.Scalding.And.Hair.Scraping. Orrrr,anything else related to the mining of the bacon.

 

[gsgary]

The shots look brilliant I don't think any miners would have turned up to be shot if someone turnrd up with a pro digital camera

 

[Raj_55555]

Really interesting! I've started photography as Digital, and always wonder what I'm missing out on..there are so many things happening in the making of a single image.

 

[gsgary]

Really interesting! I've started photography as Digital, and always wonder what I'm missing out on..there are so many things happening in the making of a single image.

I made 2 prints last night much more fun than sitting at a computer

 

[gsgary]

They are in the b+w gallery

 

[hamlet]

Really interesting! I've started photography as Digital, and always wonder what I'm missing out on..there are so many things happening in the making of a single image.

I've wondered too about that. I mean before digital, people could also change the images. There should be decades worth of knowledge about film editing; kind of like analog photoshop.

 

[Forkie]

Wow, I loved those photos. So beautifully lit and the silver plates make them so unique. Great little article.