Hello and Welcome to Out of the Darkroom
on AdoramaTV.
I'm Ruth Medjber and today
I'm joined by Monica Fabijanczyk
who specializes in Wet Plate
Collodion photography.
Monika thank you so much
for joining me on the show today.
I love what you do and none of it is
very new digital techniques, is that right?
I started to take photographs when I was
in primary school and it was
present in my life for a long time as a hobby.
I studied architecture and
during that studying I wasn't very
involved in photography but then
in my first job, architectural job,
when I got my first salary the first
thing I did was I got myself a camera.
Then after doing research on the Internet
I discovered these old historical
techniques and among them Wet Plate
Collodion technique from the 19th
century, invented in 1851, and I just fell
in love. I just wanted to know how
you can create this type of an image.
I was amazed by John Culver, an American
photographer who, he's running a farm,
he lives in a log cabin
without electricity and he's creating
works with Wet Plate and he's providing
workshops to young people.
This is a present day photographer?
Yes it is.
Wow! Without electricity in a log cabin.
I just thought, wow,
in this crazy life that we have
today, in this rush and in this digital
photography and millions of shops,
I just thought that this is,
this is amazing.
I was like, "Wow,
I would like to try that."
So I did the workshop and I just fell
in love. It's a very addictive
process, it's very time-consuming,
it's absolutely beautiful.
You have to have patience, you have to
be the right person for this and the
process because it takes time to create
one photograph.
You need at least
half an hour,
assuming that you've got
everything ready and set up.
So it's absolutely amazing,
it's like rediscovering
photography again.
It's always this uncertainty
of if the shots going to work,
if the chemicals work together.
I can't imagine that it's very practical
really is it, to apply as a
profession as a job?
It has to be a hobby.
I mean I don't think I could say to some
of my clients,
"Oh yeah, I'll come and shoot
your advertising campaign
on Wet Plate."
It's too uncertain.
It will suit some of the chops,
basically, you know?
Like, I took portraits on Wet Plate,
commissioned portraits.
I would shoot
wedding portraits but it would be a
separate session.
It's not a wedding shot on the wedding day.
OK, I was trying to figure that out from
your website.
I was wondering how you set up a Wet Plate,
a large format camera to shoot a wedding.
That would be a bit difficult.
When you're doing wedding photography,
which is such a unique way
of having your wedding
portrait captured because they're
one-of-a-kind prints,
do you invite the couple to come back
on another day?
Yes, that's how it would work.
That's fantastic, it's so original.
Also, you know, I do have a lot of
equipment that is just DIY equipment and
I've got a very helpful and
skillful husband who can make different
boxes and things that are used in these
processes.
So we also would do some nice
cases, wooden cases, for this type of photograph.
So you would get an image in
a wooden case that you can open and hide.
It's all very tactile.
It's very bespoke, one-of-a-kind,
tactile pieces. It's not just the
Wet Plate that you do though, is it?
You do lots of various types of printing.
Yes, I'm in love with all these historical
processes. I'm very interested
in primitive photography.
As I said, at some stage I was thinking
that I need to get better gear,
a better digital camera and then
when I discovered that you can really
create photographs and prints by
using just ordinary kitchen stock,
like baking soda or coffee, you can you
can develop films with coffee and Vitamin C.
Sorry, what?
It's called Caffenol developer,
made with just freshly brewed coffee.
OK, you might have to explain that one
another time because that sounds mad!
When you realize that you really can use
your own camera, not necessarily just a
pinhole and it's not that difficult
really and you don't really have to
worry that, for example, these days
some films are becoming discontinued
because they stopped producing them.
I'm talking about Kodak etc.
With Wet Plate there is no risk like this.
You will always have
these chemicals and glass available.
The chemicals,
that's what I was just about to ask you.
So you obviously know what particular chemicals
to use. Then do you just buy
them as individual components?
There are shops that stock the chemicals
and are dedicated to this technique.
So you can buy a kit.
You can buy equipment.
You can buy kits and stuff?
Yeah because you can actually use any
type of camera for this process.
I took photographs
with 35mm
and Wet Plate.
Oh?
With my 35mm camera they're very tiny.
They're very tiny.
It's a bit tricky to work with such a small plate,
that's true,
but medium format,
like you could use Holga
for example,
because you work
with quite a corrosive chemicals,
so I wouldn't really use
your favorite camera.
I would go for something
that you can spare.
Okay.
Okay so.
Good tip.
These chemicals
basically cause corrosion,
they are quite nasty.
So Holga would be perfect because
its plastic so you can just wipe it off.
You can go and get yourself
a very fancy,
well-maintained,
19th century camera
that can cost a lot,
or you can experiment
with Holga for example.
You don't really need any
professional darkroom
because the process is very slow.
When you shoot with Collodion,
the ISO of Collodion
would be around one.
One?
Maybe three if you're lucky
and you have
a fresh mix.
One?
Yes.
So they are not very sensitive.
They're not very absorbent, are they?
No.
One. Okay.
So if you've just got a room
that you can pull the blinds.
You can have it out anywhere you want?
Yes.
It's not really,
as long as you're not under
blistering sunshine.
No.
It's not going to get that affected.
Then you can use normal trays,
like a few trays,
darkroom trays.
I suppose then there
is the other obvious expense,
like the glass.
The glass yes.
Do you have a glazier
or someone that
does bits like this?
Well these are just framing clear glass.
You can also work with metal plates.
Okay, cool.
For example aluminum and things like that.
Clear glass is my favorite
material because
you are creating something
like a negative really.
So in the 19th Century these
images would be considered as
one-of-a-kind image but today,
with modern photographic paper,
you can get a decent print
from a negative like this.
So you're literally putting that
down on the photographic paper.
You can make a contact print,
you can make an enlargement,
if it's got
an enlarger like this.
So if you had a big enlarger
you slot it in
and you can print from that,
or you do a contact print
by putting it directly down
onto the photographic paper?
Yes.
Or you could just have
it like that because that's really cool.
That's fantastic!
So as well as portraits
and then some fantastic still-life,
what else is it that you do?
I saw on your website that you
really try your hand at everything,
don't you? There is some landscapes.
I do work with Cyanotypes
and Van Dyke Brown printing.
I also work with a little bit
more modern technique that is called
Lith printing and it's very close
to regular black and white
darkroom printing,
it's just that there are different chemicals
involved and it's a bit more exciting.
Again, it's a little bit less repeatable,
so you don't have
two prints exactly the same.
Okay.
You know.
With Lith printing
you use all the same steps
as in black and white printing
but there is a very
exciting moment of development when you
have to decide by visual inspection
if that's the moment where you can
snatch the print from it.
So you're stopping it as you develop it?
What happens if you leave it for
too long, does it just go over?
You're watching the blacks basically
when you're developing the print.
You are watching your image
and you go as far
as you want your
darkest parts of the image.
To be as dark as they are.
Yes and I also print landscapes
taken on film with a Holga camera.
I print them with Lith
It gives me a very special
moody characteristics
of these landscapes
because that's what I like.
I don't like a crispy,
well-lit,
sunny landscape.
Do you find when you're out shooting
landscapes that you're almost seeing
it as it is,
but then applying
all those techniques
on top of it in your head
before you shoot?
Yes.
That's a great way
to be looking at things.
Monika I've had such a great time
listening about why you do what you do.
It makes sense as to why you love
it so much but if you don't mind
sticking with me,
I'd love to chat to you
more about the technical side of stuff,
about your camera and about the
real in-depth process about all your
printing and your Wet Plate techniques.
Sure.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Well that's all we have time for in this
episode.
Join me again in the next episode
as Monika's going to be chatting
to us about all the processes involved
in Wet Plate photography.
If you want to brush up on your own
photography skills check out
the Adorama Learning Center
and if you want to watch more videos
then subscribe to our channel.
Thanks and I'll see you again soon.