A problem with taking portraits used to be keeping focus while taking the lens cap on and off. A problem no longer – having access to a good engineer who doesn’t mind small jobs is priceless. The extra piece of turned brass, when tightened, keeps precise focus. I have also no mounted the lens with the controls on top which also makes for better operating.

Another title for this post was almost the impossible project.. but it is done – the darkroom trailer now has a new water supply and waste system. The previous tap and distilled water tanks were only 10 litres each with a 20 litre tank for waste water which was also inside the darkroom space. All the new water tanks are 20 litres each with two mounted to the underside of the trailer for waste water. The main new feature is that the tap water tank no longer has to be removed to refile it – a hose attachment on the side of the trailer fills the tank and also can be used directly in the sink. These plumbing shenanigans must seem trivial but in the long hours spent in the darkroom, life will now be a bit easier

A stack of cases for a client stateside, deeper than my normal cases, not for ambrotypes but another glass based process – orotones.

A pair of passe partout for a client and fellow daguerriean, white line with a black border and gold pigment line on a white border

I have housed and cased the Angel plate which is now in my online store. All of the portraits in the current Reflecting mana exhibit are available through my dealer gallery.

My portraiture work now has a helpful addition – a sturdy headstand for the long exposures. I did have a replica headstand (the top shown here) but it was without the base and relied on a chair I had to fitted it to. This stand, which is from the early part of the 20th century, allows me to take standing portraits. It was traded for a daguerreotype of mine with a photo dealer out the back of a Tampa airport shuttle after this years daguerreian society meeting.

My first national exhibit has opened at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery and on on till February 12th 2012. I have added the ten portraits in the exhibit to the Daguerreotypes section of this website.