CasedImage

Fixing Focus

Alan — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:04:47 +0000

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.

Trailer upgrade

Alan — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:10:04 +0000

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

Sixth plate moroccans

Alan — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:09:46 +0000

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

White and gold ovals

Alan — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:10:34 +0000

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

Angel in store

Alan — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:09:25 +0000

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.

Headstand

Alan — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:14:41 +0000

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.

Reflecting Mana: Portraits of Tainui

Alan — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:07:03 +0000

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.

Angelic

Alan — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:01:48 +0000

I have made a few of attempts at this scene but a couple of recent conversations with other contemporary daguerreotypists and with a improvement I made to my polishing technique, my proficiency with the process has reached a new level.

2011 USA trip

Alan — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:36:43 +0000

Since I lived in NYC and left in 2002, I have been back 5 times adhering to the same travel formula at this time of the year. Its become something of a ritual, traveling to NYC and staying with my friend Harvey Zucker in Soho. I visit old friends and colleagues – this year it was Jerry Spagnoli (pictured with a recent whole plate of his) and the Photo people at the Metropolitan museum of art where I used to work (pictured holding a case I made for the collection there) .
After New York I head off to the annual Daguerreian Society meeting which is in a different US city each year but follows the same formula. This year was different though, my table at the trade fair was full with my Daguerreotypes in my cases, not just the cases for sale. I sold 6 of mine and sales of contemporary daguerreotypes were well up this year signaling what I think will be a good year ahead for the genre

Fountain

Alan — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:08:54 +0000

Sunday in some formal gardens yielded this 1/3 plate. The 52 second exposure calmed the motion of the water and left passersby unseen.