An artist create by huge format Wetplate collodion Process based on Canada, his art bring the viewer to a peaceful place that calms the spirit.
Off grid wetplate photographer. He made a huge Camera and using photography of 1851. He isn’t working in studio, he is working in Fields, Mountains on a off grid darkroom bus.
In today’s era, most photographers get a digital camera and an editing program, can got thousands pictures per day. Can you imagine a guy like Bill Hao, he insisted on using photography of 1851, taking only one picture a day,even take a few days. He believes that photography is an art, a kind of enjoyment, which requires a sense of ritual and respect.
Bill Hao is an off grid landscape wetplate photographer, He built a huge 32X48 inch format camera himself and converted a tour bus into a mobile darkroom so he could take his 170-year-old dream on the road, in the mountains. It should be noted here that he is not creating a typical photo by current standards. These aren’t jpegs, they’re not even negatives on film.
When you come across Bill Hao’s references on the Web it is definitely impossible not to be hit by the amazing, huge, enormous, fascinating camera he uses to take his wet plate collodion shots! Bill Hao’s camera is, obviously, a hand made camera, built with the specific purpose to allow the most large direct exposure on plate that this fascinating technique could permit.
Wetplate collodion Process was invented in the 1850s, It is drect photography by camera, the negative is final works, can’t enlarge or print, so every works is unique, and the bigger negative need bigger camera(same the negative size). This process requires immediate development after exposure, So you need a darkroom that is always with you, whether you are in the studio or in the field.
The huge wetplate landscape positives is very valuable and rare because it is limited by many conditions, for example huge camera(as same size as a picture), movable darkroom, expensive chemicals, weather, temperature, seasons and nature light, so most of wetplate works are portraits and still life.
At least considering the main and characterizing features of wet plate collodion: in first the unicity of the exposed ‘negative’, then, in second, the need to prepare / process the plate in a very short amount of time. Ancient technical literature says about some like half an hour in total. Of course, when you’re on a mission with such a big camera like the 32 x 48 inches format that Bill Hao takes with him, you have only two operative choices to solve this issue. You could shoot only scenes in studio or you can take your mobile darkroom go to anywhere! Bill Hao adopted the second option. As you can imagine a full functioning darkroom to serve the size we’re talking about should be big. Big as a bus. Bill Hao converted a tour line bus into a ‘portable’ darkroom lab to properly develop wet plates on site, water autonomous, fully equipped to transport the oversized camera body, chemicals, gears and so on.
More than this, if you take a look at the footage that he shares on the web you’ll notice that these efforts do not go only towards a sort of evolved DIY activity but they are tightly linked with a solid photographic experience and a sophisticated aesthetic taste. Bill Hao built his own way to perform photography with relevant and amazing results that the unicity of masterpieces can exalt, if possible, more than the technical skills that he masters.
Rocky Mountains is his favourite place, he had been Rocky Mountains almost hundred times because of his work feature. He observed how the landscape changes, how beautiful natural features disappear. His collodion plate may last for two hundred years, but some landscapes may not – they may disappear in the future.
It is very difficult to get details of sky and clouds because of the Wetplate collodion technology characteristic, the snow mountain also, fortunately most of his works with beautiful sky, clouds and mountain.
Thank you for your time.
Bill Hao
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