A dozen wet-plate collodion photographers gathered at the Osterman's on Saturday September 15.
(from left, back row) Mike Steinle, Bob Szabo, Claude Levet, Chris Morgan.
(seated, middle row) France Scully Osterman, Mark Osterman, John Coffer, Stephen Berkmen, Bill Dunniway.
(front, from left) Kat Lowe, Eric Lowe, Ian Doyle.
It was great seeing all of you!
As most of you all know by now the Collodion Conference was canceled, however, over thirty people came to the George Eastman House anyway. We had refunded all registration money and decided to go ahead with whatever we could do for those people who came free of charge.
Three wet-plate photographers who attended; Will Dunniway, Claude Levet and Stephen Berkman were in New York City the morning of the disaster. Will and Claude saw the entire tragedy from Staten Island and were understandably shaken by the experience. Berkman came to Rochester by train, Will and Claude by car and picked up John Coffer along the way. Ralph London, from Oregon, came early to the East coast before the conference. His mother, who lived in Maryland, died while he was there and he attended the funeral later in the week. He arrived in Rochester late Saturday afternoon.
Those of us who worked on this conference for over a year would like to let you know our impression of what happened as follows: Admission to the George Eastman House and the Ansel Adams exhibit was free to anyone attending the canceled conference. The Adams exhibit also included the work by several well known collodion era photographers On Friday those who came to the museum by 2:30 pm saw the cream of the collodion equipment collection. This included field cameras, sliding box cameras, stereo cameras, a true CdV camera, in-camera processing cameras, a camera owned by Nadar, Globe lenses, several silver baths, collodion pouring bottles, hand made processing trays, plate clamps, a rare magnesium ribbon dispenser, an original and complete portable darkroom and other items pick out just for the conference. After seeing these items up close the group was allowed to enter the equipment vault containing the bulk of the George Eastman House collection including thousands of cameras (including Daguerre's own camera), head stands, posing chairs and hundreds of lenses. No free samples were given on either tour, but people were allowed to take pictures.
On Saturday the group met in the Curtis Theater of the GEH where Sean Corcoran mounted an exhibit of 28 different contemporary collodion photographers and one albumen print by Archer. This was, to our knowledge, the largest number of collodion related images ever assembled in modern times. There were at least ten others who could not get their work here due to the shut down of air traffic. The work of three case makers was also exhibited.
Grant Romer gave a very entertaining talk regarding the obscurity of Frederick Scott Archer. In lieu of John Coffer's wet plate demonstration, (John attended but did not bring his equipment) we showed a wonderful video of Hiroo Ishikawa demonstrating the collodion process for Japanese television. He demonstrated in a white lab coat and made an ambrotype of a talk show host dressed as a samurai! Hiroo's silvery ambrotypes were also represented in the exhibit. There were also images from collodion photographers in England and Canada.
After lunch the group was invited to the secure area of the museum to see a special exhibit of vintage collodion images. This included some of the most famous photographers of the era including, Cameron, Rejlander, Muybridge, Jackson, O'sullivan, Fenton, Gardner and several others. Also on display were rare ambrotypes, ferrotypes, collodion negatives, collodion images on mica, slate, paper, cloth and an example of the collodion microphotographs made during the Franco-Prussian War. At the same time a demonstration of albumen paper coating and printing was offered along with an exhibit of collodion negatives (both old and new) treated with different developers, fixers and after treatments. A vintage print burnisher, as well as one made from a pasta maker, was on display with examples of burnished and unburnished albumen prints.
After the museum presentations, all those present who were from out of town, were invited to a gathering at the Osterman home. France put together some great food and others contributed refreshments. Those who came were also given a tour of the Scully & Osterman skylight studio and darkroom facility. Guests saw some very rare collodion equipment including four original wet-plate field cameras (one of these was stereo) a 24" studio camera, a very rare solar enlarger (the only one of its kind in private hands), a four lens sliding back 8x10 camera and an assortment of other vintage studio equipment such as head stands and posing tables reflectors and diffusers. We played some music on the front porch illuminated by open flame gas lights. The band was made up of Bob Szabo on guitar, Mark Osterman on banjo, John Coffer on wash tub base and Claude Levet on mandolin.
In all, there were twelve wet plate photographers at the evening gathering, thirteen during the day. Only our intern, Kairu Yao couldn't make the dinner.
Bob Szabo left the party with a Century #2 11x14 studio camera which had been advertised in the last issue of the Collodion Journal.
Mark Osterman
Exhibit: "Poured on a Plate" Contemporary Collodion Imagery
Curated by Sean Corcoran, George Eastman House.
This exhibit of new collodion work is on display in the Curtis Theater.28 collodion photographers are represented in this unique show...
We took digital snaps through the windows at the exhibit, and because of reflections and low lighting, we were not able
to show everyone's work. We are hoping to take individual digital shots when the show comes down.
If we do, we will put them on display here. Meanwhile this gives you an idea of how the show looks.
Some of the colors look a bit funky as do the angles (hard to shoot through glass in low lighting!)
...still under construction, "Patience is a Virtue"
FSO - 09-28-01
