Akkurat nå henger min utstilling «26 fotografier» på G i Storgata i Tromsø. Der henger også et av originalnegativene fra «The Giant Mobile Camera».
Utstillingen henger til 23. april 2019.
En digital versjon av utstillinga kan sees her: https://trondkjetilholst.no/?page_id=484
Så er «The Giant Mobile Camera» parkert for godt på HRS sin oppsamlingsplass nord på Tromsøya. Nå er det definitivt slutt på denne epoken i mitt liv. Det har vært et eventyr med turer hit og dit. Mest minneverdig var nok turen til Træna, hvor vi måtte gi på mer enn hva godt var for å rekke ferga. Turen til Kabelvåg og Lofoten International Photo Festival står også høyt på lista. Originalnegativen fra den turen skal stilles ut under Nordkapp Filmfestival i september i år.
Det er vemodig, det skal sies. På hjemturen fra «høggern» tok jeg meg flere ganger i å kikke i speilene etter hvordan vogna oppførte seg, men den var jo ikke der.
Nå er det bare å vente på vrakpanten, det er vel det eneste kameraet i Norge (verden???) som det betales vrakpant for 🙂
Octopusen fikk trekke kameraet inn på plassen
Her ble det nærkontakt.
Snart er det bare flis igjen. Farvel. Det har vært moro de årene vi hadde.
Dette sitatet fra The Doors kan godt passe nå, for nå er det slutt. «The Giant Mobile Camera» har kommet til det punktet der det er på tide å ta farvel.
Etter at jeg flyttet til Tromsø har kameraet måttet overvintre uten strøm og varme, men riktignok under tak, i to lange vintre. Det har ikke gjort godt med vogna. Det var nok en del fukt trukket inn i veggene her og der, men med oppvarming hadde effekten vært holdt i sjakk. Uten varme har vogna bare blitt dårligere, og er nå i en slik stand at det ikke er forsvarlig å frakte den langs veiene.
Så derfor bærer det til «høggern». Håpet er at The Giant Mobile Camera mkII kan bli virkelighet om ikke alt for lang tid. Vi satser på det!
The Giant Mobile Camera er klar for sin siste kjøretur, denne gang til «høggern».
Tilogmed objektivbrettet er fjernet, og snart forsvinner skiltet også.
Film archive «British Pathé» has opened their newsreel archive for the public, and here is «The first hundred years of photography:
April 27, 2014 was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, and this year The Giant Mobile Camera and I were at Torget in Tromsø. People could come and experience a pinhole camera from the inside and maybe learn a little about photography. I also did make a giant paper negative in the camera.
The Giant Mobile Camera at Torget in Tromsø
The projection inside:
The paper negative laid out on the darkroom floor just before developing.
Developing the papernegative with a sponge, almost finished:
Paper negative drying.
And finally the result, a 100x250cm paper negative:
…and a digital positive version of the same picture.
It was great fun, and I will most probably do this again 🙂
Today I made my first test exposure on a test strip 40×100 cm inside The Giant Mobile Camera. Exposure time was 4 minutes with an aperture between f:450 and f:500. It seemed to be pretty close. I developed in standard developing trays, pulling the paper in and out of the liquids.
First test strip from The Giant Mobile Camera.
Next: Expose a full 100x250cm panorama picture.
At last we’re on board the last ferry,in a couple of hours we can drive the car and the cameravan on land at Træna. I really look forward to a good night’s sleep. Clouds are hanging low, and it is rain in the air, but we hope for the best. Trænafestivalen: Here the Giant Mobile Camera comes!
The cameravan is now on tour to the Træna festival. There will be demonstrations of the pinhole camera from the inside, and I will take wet plate portraits of those who wishes.
New photos have been added to the Pinhole Gallery
An old timber house in Sollia, Målselv, Norway. 8×10″ Efke 100 developed in Rodinal 1:50.
Wet plate collodion have always fascinated me, and at last I’ve managed to make a few plates. There was a lot of trial and error with the first plates, a lot of errors, most of them due to vastly overexposing the image. I suggest my head is full of pinhole thinking. I did my first plates on laquered steel, so they are in a way «ferrotypes». I have also tried one plate on glass, what is known as an ambrotype.
One of the first ferrotypes, where it is at least possible to see something.
My first trials was done on May 1, and I use The Giant Mobile Camera as a darkroom for the process. The next morning I managed to make two more images, and (maybe) a little more successful:
The two ferrotypes from the next morning
The saturday after, on May 4, it was World Wetplate Collodion Day, and I had to make a few trials. The first one was a portrait of my dear Mervi, but sadly this too was a bit overexposed.
Mervi, 4×5″ ferrotype
I would not bother Mervi with more trials, so I made a couple of images of my «Door Guardian», a South African mask. The second one of them was quite successful.
My Door Guardian, 4×5″ ferrotype
At last, in the evening, before the sunset, I had to try one on glass, an ambrotype. I wanted to do a self portrait for the World Wet Plate Collodion Day Gallery, and so I did. The exposure seemed to be spot on, but I had some problems with pouring the developer, I think. Therefore you can see the black spots on my face.
Self Portrait Ambrotype, 4×5″, shot on World Wet Plate Collodion Day, May 4, 2013
I will do more ambrotypes and ferrotypes to refine my technique, and in the short future get a bigger camera that can make at least 8×10″ images.