The other reactor.
Many of you may actually be searching for the California based art reactor project! If so, you can find them here: www.theartreactor.com . They offer Digital Art enrichment classes for middle and high school students, and ADULTS.
For those who know the DC project, this closed a while back. We’d love nothing more to re-start it, so if you want to develop a new studio project, have access to a location, or a desire to manage a project, and best yet, a budget, drop us a line.
FotoWeek DC – Platinum/Palladium printing Demo Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at Photoworks Glen Echo
I will be doing a live demonstration of the platinum/palladium printing process at Photoworks in Glen Echo, Maryland as part of the FotoWeek festival. The date and time has been finalized – Wednesday, November 9, from 7-9 PM. Topics to be covered include: tools, paper, chemistry, coating techniques, processing, contrast control and altering image color. The session fee is $40. The session will be held in the upstairs classroom in the Photoworks facility.
<a href=”http://www.glenechophotoworks.org/location-hours/” title=”Photoworks location and directions” target=”_blank”>Photoworks location and directions</a>
Moving forward! – FotoWeekDC 2011 participation
Photoworks in Glen Echo, Maryland (just outside Washington DC) will be putting on a slate of events as part of FotoWeek DC from November 5-12, 2011. I will be participating in the alternative process show-and-tell on Sunday, November 6, from 11AM to 4PM. I will be showing my nighttime DC platinum/palladium prints, all shot on large format film. I may even be bringing along some of the cameras I use, including the Canham 14×17.
I will also be giving a platinum/palladium printing demo later that week (date/time to be determined) – admission is $40 plus a $10 materials fee. Here is the slate of presenters and schedule for November 6. I encourage everyone to come out and see the show, and if you’ve never been out to Photoworks before, please come check it out, it’s a lovely facility in a terrific (and photographically ripe) setting!
11:00 11:30 Barbara Maloney Intro/Temperaprint/Photoetching/Cyanotype
11:30 12:00 Scott McMahon Gum bichromate
12:00 12:30 Scott Davis Platinum/palladium
12:30 13:00 Sheila Galagan Lith Printing
13:00 13:30 Andrew Currie Tintype
13:30 14:00 break
14:00 14:30 Grace Taylor Vandyke brown
14:30 15:00 George Smyth Bromoil
15:00 15:30 Keith Williams Monobath/IR/UV
15:30 16:00 Richard Pippin Lith Printing
New Wet Plate Collodion Workshops for the Spring!
Making Ambrotypes at Art Reactor
After our winter hiatus (and moving out of our old studio location), I’ll be offering new Wet Plate Collodion Workshops in the Washington DC area. The first 2011 workshop will be in late April (likely either the 22nd-23rd or the 29-30th). If the weather cooperates, we’ll be making plates in the field as well as in the studio. There will be a evening session on friday night to go over the wet plate collodion process, its history, equipment, materials, chemistry and last but not least–safety. Then on Saturday, we’ll have an intensive hands-on workshop where you’ll get a chance to make as many plates as possible, while learning studio portrait, still life, and field techniques of the practicing wet plate collodion artist.
We’ve had great success with getting students up and running very quickly with the process and most students are able to make very high quality plates right away. Once you’ve taken the workshop, I provide free consultation and assistance to students wishing to begin independent wet plate photography. The fee for small group workshops is $250 including all materials and $450 for a private session. In order to ensure you get plenty of hands on practice and individual guidance, I limit the workshops to a maximum of three students.
If you’re interested in taking a spring workshop, please email me at dcwetplate@gmail.com or use the contact button on the menu bar. Thanks and hope to see you soon!
And the work continues…
Even though the space is gone, the people behind it remain while we search for a new location. If you are interested in learning platinum/palladium, gum bichromate, or gum over platinum and are in the DC metro area, please don’t hesitate to reach out here or through the Art Reactor website to make a request – I will be glad to schedule 1 on 1 tutoring sessions in my personal darkroom. A two-day intro to Platinum/Palladium printing runs $250 plus materials, which includes shooting and processing large format negatives tailored to the process. A one-day class using existing negatives runs $150 plus materials.
Homeless but not Jobless
Although Art Reactor is no more as a space, the participants are still very much alive and well and continuing to do our work. If you have any interest in taking a one-on-one gum bichromate, platinum/palladium printing, or the figure in the studio/in the landscape class, please feel free to contact me to set up a session. I can be reached at dcphotoartist at gmail dot com.
Looking for a new home
Art Reactor, true to its name, is re-formulating its atomic makeup and transmuting its ions. We are losing our lease as of the end of November, and are actively searching for a new home. If anyone knows of a good space, please pass on the tips! We will be eternally grateful. Anything on the schedule through November 30 is still a go, so please do come out and support our ongoing activities!
Wet Plate Collodion Workshops Scheduled for Oct 1-2 and Nov 19-20
Introduction to Wet Plate Collodion Photography Workshop
$100 plus $100 materials fee
October 1-2: Register at http://oct2010wetplate.eventbrite.com/
November 19-20: Register at http://nov2010wetplate.eventbrite.com/
This is an intensive hands-on workshop for learning the wet plate collodion process. We’ll cover everything from mixing your own chemicals to creating beautiful tintypes and ambrotypes. This historic photographic process was developed in 1850 and popularized photography around the world. Today, wet plate is undergoing a renaissance in the fine art world.
We’ll be using an 11×14 Century Studio Camera to shoot our plates. Students will gain an understanding and appreciation of the process and a solid basis for doing wet plate on their own. All students will create tintypes or ambrotypes to bring home.
Note: Completion of this class will allow students to enroll in regular Wet Plate Studio Sessions where they’ll be able to use the Art Reactor Studio, Century Studio Camera, and wet plate chemicals to create their own portraits or still life work.
Day 1 – Friday October 1, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
History, Materials, Safety, Choosing Cameras and Lenses, Suppliers, Literature and Online Resources, Demonstration, Studio and Field Practice of Wet Plate Photography
Day 2 – Saturday October 2 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Intensive hands-on session, all students will perform the complete wet plate process and learn camera and lens operation for wet plate, coating, sensitizing, exposing, developing, fixing, washing, and varnishing of plates. We’ll have a one hour break for lunch from 12-1. Students will learn about and create portraits and still life plates.
Free Parking: There is ample free street parking close to the Art Reactor Studio.
Instructor: Barry Schmetter is a Washington DC based photographer and artist using historic photographic processes as a means to explore memory, forgetting, and other human cognitive processes. His work is in private and public collections and was recently seen in the ABC Television series, Happy Town.
October 1-2: Register at http://oct2010wetplate.eventbrite.com/
November 19-20: Register at http://nov2010wetplate.eventbrite.com/
Upcoming October Classes
Scott Davis will be offering three classes in October. October has Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing, Introduction to Studio Lighting, and Studio Portraiture Basics.
Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing:
This class is an intensive, two-day immersion. Students will be able to walk away from the class with a solid foundation for doing their own pt/pd printing. On day one, I will cover
History of the technique
Historic/contemporary practitioners
Technical basics – chemistry, equipment, paper
Major controls – negatives, exposure, processing
Fine controls – contrast control, process variations
in the classroom. The discussion will be supported by extensive hands-on learning opportunities. Students will learn to choose subject matter, expose and process film to produce negatives suited for platinum/palladium printing. We will produce negatives for use the following day in the printing session.
On day two, we will walk through the entire process: we will set up the work area, choose materials, prepare chemical solutions, coat paper, expose and process prints, and discuss basic troubleshooting. Advanced topics to include variations on the standard platinum/palladium process will be touched on. We will also discuss the future of this beautiful process, and how it can be combined with new media, with some examples provided. Students will have several finished prints each to take home. Information will be provided on inexpensive options for making a home UV exposure unit.
A substantial discount can be arranged for buying materials at Bostick & Sullivan for students following the class if they wish to continue working in the process.
To register for Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing - http://palladiumintro.eventbrite.com
Introduction to Studio Lighting:
This half-day class will cover studio lighting basics:
- Both continuous and strobe lights will be demonstrated.
- Practical understanding of how to use and modify light, and how to measure light.
- When to use your in-camera meter and when to use a hand-held light meter.
- Tips and tricks for how to get pro-studio lighting on a budget.
All camera formats are welcome, but as a prerequisite, they must be capable of synchronizing with electronic flash units. If you have any questions, please contact the instructor prior to registering.
Tuition : $75
To register for Introduction to Studio Lighting - http://studiolighting1030.eventbrite.com
Studio Portraiture Basics:
Studio Portraiture Basics will serve as a follow-on to Introduction to Studio Lighting. This course will cover simple portrait lighting and posing techniques to help you get more impressive portraits. We will cover how to create various portrait lighting styles, proper use of your light meter for maximum accuracy, and how to choose and use light modifiers to get the look you want. We will be using studio flash (strobe) lighting, but we will cover how you can do many of these techniques with continuous (hot ) lights. Students should have a basic understanding of studio lights and how to use a light meter before taking this class. All camera formats are welcome, but as a prerequisite, they must be capable of synchronizing with electronic flash units. If you have any questions, please contact the instructor prior to registering.
To register for Studio Portraiture Basics – http://portraitbasics1030.eventbrite.com
Show over!
Today was a bittersweet day, as I took down the Whole Plate show. The show was a lot of fun, we met a lot of neat new people, and it definitely put the gallery on the map. A huge thanks to all our participating artists!