UK Gathering - 22-23 November 2008 - Event Date: 22 November 2008 - 23 November 2008

HI all,

FYI,

Thankyou, that sounds great. Ill keep my eye on the message board

Hi Lucy,

I just sent you an email about a couple I have coming up.

Hello,

I havn't actually used the tent on location yet - I bought it just before the workshop for Quinn to take a look at so its all a bit new to me too. You need to add a zipper pull to close it from the inside and there are some air vent holes that you have to make sure are pulled tight shut with cord to close - to shut out all the light, but this is quite easy to do.

It is quite heavy, but folds into a bag that you could carry on your back over a couple of fields. I'm going to add some guide ropes to make it more sturdy in the wind - at present I would worry it might blow away. It folds up and down in about 10 mins - you need a rubber mallet to knock the ends of the support poles in tight though, or else the canvas frame won't stretch over the support poles. it is around a meter square by 1.8m high (i'm short so this is ok!) I use a small folding table - which was advertised as a TV table! it is about 50cm square, so leaves room for me in there...

But the important thing is - it is affordable and quite usable! I'm not yet using my 10"x12" on location until I am well into a project - to save chemicals, but will start using the tent on location with this camera next year - for now I'm only making 4"x3" plates so I am just using a small box..

Thanks for posting. So with a table inside, how well do you think those tents will hold up in heavy wind? Is it fast to set up?

how bizarre, we just posted at the same time! you read my mind!!

I couldn’t agree more. This was a terrific event. It was very kind of you to invite me Carl, I truly appreciate it.

 

Carl and his wife, Liz (and their dog Lewis), were gracious hosts. They provided the wonderful meals, tea and coffee, and their beautiful home for the gathering. Thank you both! (and Lewis too).

 

I met (finally) John Brewer. He’s another terrific bloke. He’s talented and motivated, and kind and conversant. John and I have had a few conversations over a long period of time and it really was great to final meet. John also did a wonderful (Albumen) negative of Katie there. I was happy to be there for that as well.

 

Some more of the group I met that are here on the board, Jo, Katie, Chevonne (sp?), Craig and Claire (Coffer’s assistant last year and the year before). All super talented and wonderful people, it was truly my pleasure meeting all of you. I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s work (in hand). Physical presence makes all the difference in the world.

 

My goal, or purpose, for attending was to meet some of the UK group and to share some things I have been working on as far as negatives are concerned (technical and conceptual). I brought along a little 26 page document (and excerpt from my negatives publication), I call it a primer, to share about chemistry for negatives and making/intensifying/printing negatives.

 

On Monday we met John and Jo in the center of Glasgow at, “The Social” for an espresso. We visited the GOMA and a gallery called, “Street Level Photography”. They had some nice work from recent photo grads there. We ended up going to a camera shop (found their card in the gallery) near the gallery. We asked if they had any old lenses. They told us that they in fact did have some. They asked us if we would come back in an hour, to give them a chance to dig some lenses out from their basement. We came back an hour later and both John and Jo scored some very nice glass for making plates. Jo scored a nice Petzval and landscape lens and John scored a very fast Dallmeyer. That’s too sweet, isn’t it?

 

I hope to see everyone again soon. I’m looking forward to Paris now. Jo tells me there may be something (to be announced) happening in England next year too. These events are very fun but I think we tend to overlook how important they are for our community as well. They are incredibly enriching because, at the end of the day, it’s more about connecting with human beings than about the art or process. The beautiful thing is that the art and process is the catalyst for those human connections and friendships and we owe both a lot.

 

On a side note; we spent Tuesday in Edinburgh. There are great photo galleries and one photo bookstore that Carl turned us onto called, “Beyond Words”. If you’re ever in Edinburgh, pass on the castle and go the bookstore ;-)

 

We flew out of Glasgow (Prestwick airport) back to Frankfurt. It’s a 1:40 flight. They said something over the loudspeaker about fog. I didn’t hear what they said, nor did Jeanne or Summer. Our plane lands, all is well, or so it seems. We get off, go through passport control and start heading for our car. We parked last week in the P2 area. We see P14 and P15. We think, wait a minute… we’re in a different airport! We ended up in Baden Baden, the Baden Flughafen, which is three hours from our car. The message they announced, said that they weren’t going to Frankfurt, but to Baden Baden. So they load us on a bus and three hours later we’re at the airport where our car is (Frankfurt Hahn). We get our car and 1.5 hours later, we’re home.  

 

One more thing, our internet connection at home is down… may be a day or two before we’re fully back…

Carl's negative printed on POP.

 

Jo in her "tomato tent" - and yes, Rado, these are fine for wet plate..

 

John's negative of Katie printed by Carl...

 

Jo snagging some lenses in the camera shop..

 

John and Katie...