My adventure with photography started about 15 years ago, in a basement of my parents. We had and old Russian film camera just sitting in a closet. It was Zenit...:) it was more suitable for fighting a crowd, than taking photos, but at that time that’s the only thing that was available to me. I took it out, loaded a negative and off we went, to shoot shoot shoot. I was hooked.
After that I slowly gathered everything I needed to set up a darkroom, learned about different processes, and begin making my own prints. That was really magical years, watching the images appearing before my eyes. Years went by, Digital cameras came, and dominated the market. Film cameras became a relic of the pass… but not for me. I did shoot digital and enjoyed amazingly quick progress that it offered – Photos could be checked right away, therefore mistakes spotted immediately, could be corrected on the spot. I could shoot without thinking about the cost of each photo, but that love for analogue never faded away. With all that advantages and easiness, I was missing something. That spiritual connection to a print made with my own hands, smell of darkroom, all the errors and imperfections associated with analogue photography. I opened my closet again, looked at my mid-size format cameras and I knew I want to shoot negative regardless of hustle and price. The reward and pleasure I was getting from doing it was unparallel. From that point on even my holidays selfies were on film. Instead of 300 photos, I would bring 20 maybe 30 back home – but to me true photos they were!
Some years ago I’ve heard of Wet Plate Collodion photography. The process looked quite complicated, and prone to numerous troubles. Nevertheless I knew I want to try it. Photos I’ve seen taken with old Petzval lenses just blew me away. I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I knew it will be complicated and expensive, but I was determinate. Finding a camera was just a beginning, and probably one of the easiest things. I was in my home country, on holidays – walking around second hand photographic shops looking for chemistry to develop my negatives. In one of the shops I noticed, no name, 18x24cm wooden camera. Bellows had some holes, wood was cracked here and there, but I loved it. Shop owner explained me the camera was build around 1890, that’s why its condition is not the best. After surviving two World Wars I couldn’t expect too much from it. But I was absolutely I love with the story of that wooden box. That’s how it all started. I came back home, built a portable darkroom so I can shoot on location. Gathered chemistry, learned how to mix it and use it, and started to practice. Since there’s dozen things that can go wrong with every single photo, some of them obviously did go terribly wrong. After about 10 “photos “ – overexposed, overdeveloped, with specs of dust and scratches… I nailed it. I got my first photo that looked semi decent. Unfortunately my 125 years camera had its best years behind. It was producing photos, but not with a quality I had in mind. I knew I either have to refurbish my camera or find something in better condition. I found half plate Japanese Konishi field camera in quite good shape, and reasonable price. After that quality of photos was massively improved - Cassette wouldn’t scratch the glass as I loaded it, bellows didn’t leak light, but size of the photos was half the size – only 12x16,5cm. I used that camera for about a year and I still do, but in photography size talks. I wanted more! I decided to build my own camera. I didn’t have any woodworking experience or tools, but we live in era where information are widely available, therefore I was confident I can make my dreams come true. I borrowed some tools and made the rest. After searching for materials for about 4 months I was ready to begin. The project proved more challenging than I initially thought, but truly rewarding. After several months the camera and all other equipment were ready. Photos I will be bale to make with it will be 35x35cm! Now I just need to buy more silver nitrate to test it. I hope I’ll be ready for first large plates early next year. For now I shoot my Japanese half plate both in studio and outdoors. Below you can find some of my wet plate photos.
