Roarie Yum


What can I say, Roarie Yum is one of the most unique models I've had the pleasure to work with.  She has such passion for what she does and an ability to speak using just her form.  Graceful and soft in one breath, powerful and strong in the next.  It was a wonderful experience.  She travels around the world making beautiful art for a living,  making many a photographers life more interesting.  What better way to see the world is there? :)  Thank you for giving me an evening of your time, Roarie.  It was truly a pleasure.

All wardrobe designs provided by Adrina Dietra Graham

We started off the night shooting a few Tintypes and Ambrotypes.  

This is a photo of the ground glass as I'm focusing.  The image you see here is flipped vertically and horizontally as the light enters the lens.

8"x10" on Black Aluminum

We had enough time for one more plate...a more classic nude.

Photo by Rico Elvina

Photo by Rico Elvina

8"x10" on Black Aluminum


As Wet Plate takes a lot of time, and Roarie only had a limited amount of time that night, we moved on to shoot the figure studies and a few of Adrina's beautiful pieces. 



A fun shot of us at the end of the day. :)

Many thanks to Rico Elvina for helping out with the wet plate images and taking the behind the scenes photos. 

Absurde Magazine - May 2013

I’m very excited to have been included in Absurde Magazine’s May issue with so many talented artists.

Click the link below to see the magazine.http://issuu.com/davidh_psycho/docs/absurde-magazine-may-2013#download Photographer: James WeberStylist/Creative Director: Fredo MontesHair and Makeup: Chuck JensenPhoto Assistant: Rico ElvinaVideo: James SullivanCopyright 2013 James Weber Click on the images to see them larger.

Giant Wet Plate Camera II

Well after a long time of dreaming, thought, planning, and dedication, I've finally got the Giant Wet Plate built and ready for use.   It's been a lot of fun trying to make this project work out.  It all started when I got the first piece of the project...the 6.3 20in. Air Ministry Aerial lens and thought of the possibilities it created. HUGE thanks to Larry Baglio for helping me through the build and working out the details with me.  It took us about an hour and a half to get it built the first time, but now that we've done it once, It might only take 15 minutes to set it up again.

See the beginnings of the idea here:  http://jamesweberstudio.com/blog/?p=1665

I knew the lens had  a huge light spread, so then it was just finding the enclosure that would work the best and go from there.

Christophe from New York Models was kind enough to send Vince(pictured below) over to the studio to make this test a good one. :)

james-weber-wet-plate-camera-13509

Funny enough, the enclosure that worked the best turned out to be a "Grow Room" for weed....lol.  The fun secondary benefits included some very nice openings that were meant for ventilation and lighting, but ended up working out as a great place to put the lens and the light.  It's truly a light tight room and perfect for the shell of the Giant Wet Plate Camera.

big-camera

Here's a shot of the inside with the lens and light.  You can see the P-50 reflector in the shot above.  The great thing about the placement of the light is that it's so close to the lens.  This allows me to light up my subject with my Profoto Bi-Tube and 2 7a 2400 packs.  It's 4800 watt seconds of power per shot.  You can actually feel the air off of the strobe when it fires.  It's pretty crazy the amount of light that it puts out.  Collodion needs a lot of light to work, so this, plus a little extra time after the flash is enough to get a great image. The ISO is around .25 to 1.

james-weber-wet-plate-camera-13510

The inside of the camera is also the darkroom.  Because the plates are so big, they have to be tray sensitized(silver nitrate), developed, fixed, and washed.

The Siver Nitrate and development is done within the camera turned darkroom.

So strangely enough, the focusing and shooting of the camera are done INSIDE the camera. :)  The backplate moves back and forth manually inside the camera to focus.  You see exactly what you get right in front of you.

james-weber-wet-plate-camera-13511

james-weber-wet-plate-camera-13512

When zipped up, it's completely light tight.

Here's the start of the process, where you pour collodion on the plate...

pour from James Weber on Vimeo.

After you shoot the photo and have it developed, you have to then fix it.  Here's the first big plate that I shot with the camera.

Wet-Plate-James-Weber from James Weber on Vimeo.

I'm very excited about the possibilities the camera creates.  I'm planning to continue my portrait series and eventually, take it on the road to do some big landscape Ambrotypes, Glass Negatives, and large Aluminum plates.  The possibilities are endless...

Portrait of Vince Dickson.  © James Weber, 2013

james-weber-wet-plate-camera-13513

Until next time...

Wet Plate - Men's Day 1

Continuing on with the Wet Plate Portrait Project, "Faces". I had two great guys come over from Fusion Models.

This is Caleb from Fusion Models.  I looked at Caleb's book.  I saw the potential for him to be stronger, more visceral in his images.  I told him I wanted to project strength.  That he did!  I wouldn't want to run across this guy at night. :)  He did an amazing job.

8"x10" Black Glass Ambrotype

JAMES-WEBER-PHOTOGRAPHER-PORTRAITS-13475

8"x10" Black Glass Ambrotype Photography by James Weber

We did all of these 5x7's to get the lighting just right and ended with the 8x10's above.

5"x7" on Black Aluminum Photography by James Weber

5"x7" on Black Aluminum Photography by James Weber

5"x7" on Black Aluminum Photography by James Weber

5"x7" on Black Aluminum Photography by James Weber

 

This is Marc @ Fusion Models.  I had shot him a few years ago, so it was nice to see how he had grown in experience.

5"x7" on Black Aluminum Photography by James Weber

These last two were my favorites.  He's got such a great direct connection with the camera in the first, and the second reminds me of one of the gangsters in the movie, "Far and Away" .

8"x10" Black Glass Ambrotype Photography by James Weber

8"x10" Black Glass Ambrotype Photography by James Weber

It was a fantastic day all around.  The chemistry wasn't giving me any trouble and the guys were awesome.  I'm looking forward to some more shoots that go this well.