Recently I was chatting with another wet plate artist and we started talking about a strange phenomenon in the world of modern wet plate; the fascination with the face.
A google image search for "wet plate collodion" will reveal a disproportionate amount of close ups of peoples faces if the plates are contemporary, with virtually none of that subject being apparent in images from the time of the techniques invention. The reason for this I believe is the process itself. Wet plate is intensely procedural, requires steps to be taken in a certain amount of time in order to come out at the end with a finished image. There are chemical balances to consider, timing and techniques to master before a good image can be made. With this in mind, I think the reason is that too many WP artists focus so much on the process itself that what their camera is actually focused on ends up being less important to them; the end result is endless stacks of stoic mugs in close up.
It's sad really; the photographers a century and a half ago were the complete opposite of this. They were so happy that such a technology was developed to capture an image that what they captured was their chief concern, not how they captured it. One only need to look through a history book about the latter half off the 19th Century to see that photographers were busy shuffling their equipment out into the field to capture amazing moments of their time. The rising cities, the fall of the Native Americans, the meeting of the transcontinental railroad and the building of America. Imagine how interesting those history books would have been had all of these wet plate artists and early process photographers just shot close ups of peoples faces. We would have missed the telling images of the Civil War, the sheer majesty of the great plains, untouched wilderness and the beauty of a harbor filled with sailing ships.
This is a great process and it deserves more from its revival than just countless images of nose pores in extreme detail. Get creative and innovative. Be the first to capture a blurred pit crew at a Formula One race with wet plate; or pack your gear into Yosemite and get some amazing scenic shots. Get the hell out of your studio and quit nit-picking the process. No more excuses, no more fiddling... you've got the technique down, now go out and do what they did 150 years ago. Be excited about the image, not how you made it.
Well said.
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