Turns out running workshops is an extreeeeemely fun way to pay the rent. Way better than working longer at our cash-money employment. Of course, this is mostly because the Most Interesting and Excitable people keep signing up to learn new things! Which is, naturally, something we want to support as much as possible.
In late September ’13 we ran a workshop in making your own Dry Glass Plate negatives, and then one on making Albumen prints in mid October. Truth be told when I say “we” it’s really Alex that has all the genius knowledge and experience with alternative process photography – I remain a novice alchemist, but he’s the real deal – anyway, I didn’t realise it but Dry Glass Plate negatives go with Albumen prints much like tea and honey. It’s a beautiful thing.
One thing that we take a great deal of pride in is the number of repeat workshop participants we’ve had (must be doing something right!). Taking the medal for Most Workshops Participated in is one of our favourite people Véra Ada. Véra came along to both workshops and produced one of the best Dry Glass Plates of the day, as well as some of the most successful Albumen Prints. How nifty is this little duo:
We have a tidy little collection of Large Format cameras at the lab which we like to bust out for many of the workshops. We offer people who are not familiar with them a bit of hands on instruction on large format photography while they also learn how to, say, coat a glass plate or make a tintype. One thing I do know how to do is work some magic with a large format camera – so helping people compose and take their shots is one of the bits I like most about assisting.
For folks who hadn’t come along to the Dry Glass Plate workshop we were able to create digital negatives which could be turned into Albumen prints. I personally love seeing digital constructions printed using 19th century printing techniques (Oh Platinum Printing, how I love you so!).
Coming up next at the Lab is our Introduction to Lo-Fi Film Photography workshop – a two day introduction to film photography and the darkroom that includes your very own medium-format camera to keep! This is one of my favourite workshops – it’s so exciting watching people progress from knowing next to nothing about analogue photography to having made their own black and white enlargements in the darkroom in only 2 days. So much darkroom ♥