The Stranger article featuring my Ambrotypes:

The New Guard

Four Up-and-Coming Artists Driven by Boredom, Madness, Hair, and Pop

by Jen Graves

Some Space 2010 Schedule :

March: Joey Bates
April: Rachel Maxi
May: Anna Wetzel
June: Lila Schaffler
July: Gala Bent
August: The Black and White Show: Art Devoid of Color
September: Ellen Ziegler
October: Michael Azzanno
November: Peter Loyd
December: 3rd Biennial Small Works Show

February: Dan Carrillo, Seattle Artists Portrait Project

This project has been just an idea for a few years but only recently came together and consumed me. It all began when I became fascinated with portraiture and the use of a view camera which immense detail and focal plane manipulation. Last year I traded up to an 8 x 10 camera and set out to take pictures of friends and artists and create some silver gelatin contact prints. About the time the 8 x 10 showed up, Jenny Sampson showed me some Tintypes and I was amazed at the delicate beauty of the silvery images. She later gave some one on one instruction and I was completely and utterly addicted.
I set out to create some wet-plate images of my own and the 8 x 10 gave me the ability to create a 7 x 9 inch clear glass ambrotype(wet-plate collodion on plate glass). Fortunately for me, John Jenkins of Decode Publishing, who works upstairs from Some Space, had taken a wet plate class from the incredible John Coffer many years back and had all the beakers and most of the chemistry for wet-plate. He simply gave me everything he had and lent me a couple of lights too! So I say a million thanks to John.
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There will be no opening for this show as it is still in the works but It will be open for viewing until Feb. 19th Tuesday- Sat 9:30- 5:30. Any wet-plate collodion image is best viewed in person and up close to really enjoy the rich silvery goodness.

I will be attending the opening at Davidson Gallery for a mezzotint group show. I consider it an honor to have my work hanging in one of the best galleries in the country so I will be at that opening most of the time on February the 4th.

I will also have a show of prints and wet-plate collodion ambrotypes at Gage Academy.
Coming Soon to the Entry Gallery: Prints and Ambrotypes
by Daniel Carrillo

February 26 - March 22
Artists’ Reception: Friday February 26, 6:00-8:00pm

Jen Graves contacted me about her story for The Stranger on the New Gaurd series in Seattle which features an artist, a chef and a musician.  She noticed my work because some of the New Guard artists were using the pictures for their profiles on Facebook and thought it would be great to illustrate the piece with my portraits.  Everyone except Jason Hirata, whom I had met only briefly, was on my “list” to be photographed.  So I made some quick arrangements and I shot Gala Bent and Amanda Manitach on Saturday after work and I shot Troy Gua and JasonHirata on Sunday.

I had not met Gala Bent until she she sat down for her picture.  We had only communicated through email about a exhibiting  and as it turns out she will be showing her amazing work at Some Space Gallery in July! I shot four plates and I found that the very first plate was the winner.

Amanda Manitach was one of the very first people to inquire about getting her picture taken.  I remember that we talked about her being photographed with a fresh lambs tongue.  The shoot with the lambs tongue will happen in the future but she agreed to come in let me take a simple portrait.   The very last plate I shot was soft due to motion blur but it was my favorite.

Troy Gua had come into Some Space and formerly introduced himself.  He struck me as a very smart, stand-up buy and a great artist.  He was the very next person I was to shoot even before Jen asked.  When he showed up on Sunday I knew he would be a great subject and that his picture would be an interesting one.  I asked him to sit in the entryway  with the doors open and I shot him with the city streets at his back.   The exposure was seven seconds and Troy looks as if he was shot against a white background but it in fact the cityscape was simply blown out by the high levels of ultra-violet light bouncing around outside.  This was the very first shot I took of him-

I had met Jason Hirata  only very briefly, he had come into the frame shop to have some photos mounted.  Also a photographer, he told me that he was curious about the whole process so I showed him the wet-plate process start to finish and he seemed to enjoy having his picture taken in this manner.  The very first shot of him was the winner.   When I was composing the shot I didn’t notice that part of the light reflector was in the frame but it worked out just fine.   Jason will be showing at James Harris Gallery next month in March.

This was my first shoot with a hired model.   I was invited to the Erotic Art Festival by Chris Crites and I felt that I should shoot something fitting.  I wanted to stay on the playful sexuality so I figured a burlesque dancer would be fun to shoot.  Sailor St. Claire dances in a troupe called the Tempting Tarts Burlesque and here are two of the best shots from that night.  For some reason, many of the plates shot that night did not survive because the collodion was not sticking to the glass- it was so goddamn frustrating but I want to thank Sailor for her extreme patience.

Chris Rollins was very curious about the wet-plate process so I invited him to sit and see what it was all about.

Brian Lane showed up half way through the shoot and presented his great big beard for the camera. I loved the shirt he was wearing, it had a very manly cartoon Giraffe.

     The shoot with Emily Pothast was my first attempt at shooting outside in the elements.  It was a partly cloudy day and the sun was in and out of the clouds and there was also a camera shaking.  This was the first and favorite shot of the day with a 4 second exposure.

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Then as I tried the same exposure again but the sun went behind a cloud and underexposed the shot.

Even a slight breeze would make my camera shake and the canvas backdrop flop around.  I quickly abandoned the great outdoors for the safety of the studio and the predictability of  studio lights.

Emily was the first person that had an extreme sensativity to the 600w halogen lights I was using and it made it very difficult to light her and get a reasonably short exposure time.  This shot was 30 seconds with both lights lighting barely pointed in her direction so she would not tense up her brow and make her eyes squint.

Erin Frost typically shoots self portraits but I had the  rare opportunity to photograph her.  The intense lighting was no problem for her and she was an awesome subject.

Tonight I had the honor of photographing a vary talented painter- Mr. Robert Hardgrave.  I shot nine plates but here are my favorite three-

I am surprised at the number of  plates that I can get with 500ml bottle of collodion.  I still have enough for at least 20-30 7×9 glass plates.  I am also impressed at the staying power of the silver bath.  Getting started with wet plate can prove to be be very costly but once you get rolling then it is easy to maintain.  A  1 liter bottle of Collodion can be had from  chemsavers for 73 bucks and that will last a while.  The Ether and Everclear are used very little and  and will last for at least 3 more bottles of collodion.  The only other thing I will need in the near future is more silver nitrate.  It can be had from Artcraft chemicals in New york for 75 bucks per 100gr.  That is more than enough to fill my 700ml silver bath and have some left over to maintain silver levels.

Here is a video of the ambrotype about to be scanned-

Here are some shots of the lovely Miss Sharon Arnold.  She was so full of energy that I was not sure if she could sit still for the 8 or 9 seconds it takes to expose the plates.  As the shoot went on, she became more and more relaxed and we made some very nice images.

Shaun Kardinal is a good friend of mine and a former co-worker and Co-curator of Some Space Gallery as well as  a talented photographer and web designer.  Such a good dude!

Today I used a fresh batch of Collodion and realized that the last batch had thickened from ether and alcohol evaporating out every time it was used.  This caused some thick areas in the corner of the glass plate that was used to pour off the excess collodion. These areas take a long time to clear in the potassium cyanide and turn a dark blue color.  The fresh batch poured very smoothly and left only a little buildup and made for an evenly sensitized plate.

My pouring technique is a work in progress and the slightly thinner collodion makes for nicer plates……. I probably should thin the collodion a bit as I get near the bottom of the bottle.  I shot 6 plates and these these two are my favorites-

Brian Lane and I share a studio space in Georgetown.  My goal was to  highlight his beard but the 600w halogen lights that I am currently using are way to hot and not nearly as bright as I need them to be.  I need to get a  fluorescent light bank over 1000w to get close enough, and bright enough, without burning my subject. I will probably shoot him with some 8 x 10 film to document that hefty beard before he shaves that thing off-

I shot four plates but this one is my favorite.

     Getting Steven Miller to sit for me was such a treat.  He was so excited about the whole process and it made the shoot very rewarding.  I shot 5 plates and I kept three and Steven went home with two.  this one is my favorite-

   This shot was the best out of four ambrotypes of Dennis Raines.  The image is 7 x 9 inches on clear plate glass.  The first shot I took was a complete disaster - the collodion just slipped right off of the glass as I developed it- SHIT!.  I didn’t get the glass as clean as I should have…..  I think that developing in the tray  and the excessive movement seemed to work some collodion loose around the edges.  On the last shot I held the plate waiter style and then poured the developer on. That and cleaning the hell out of the plate seemed to do the trick.  I scanned the plate on an hp4890 flatbed scanner with the lid up.  This gave me the black background necessary for the image to read as a positive.

First ambrotype ever!……..well the only that survived anyway. The first was well exposed but the collodion lifted of while being washed. This one suffers from underexposure and whiting residue ’cause i just didn’t clean it right.  The last  plate was so underexposed that it just didn’t develop. 1 out of 3 but this is just the beginning!

Shot it with my Burke and James 8 X 10 with a modified 8 x 10 film holder that takes a 7 x 9 inch glass plate. Lens was a Bausch and Lomb 11 x 14 (400mm) f/4.5 lens. Exposure was 5 seconds  just as the sun went down.

This is what the lens looked like after I stripped off all the flaking black paint-

 Daniel Carrillo

“Supernatural”

October 6 - November 2, 2009

Opening Reception: Wednesday, October 7 from 6 – 8pm

Working mostly in Mezzotint, Daniel Carrillo explores the concept of mythology and religion by concocting his own figures and idols that posess supernatural qualities. By referencing everyday observation of human nature and simple mechanical devices,  his anthropomorphic figures become visual metaphors for specific human attributes.

Joe Bar

810 E Roy St

206.324.0407 (across from the Harvard Exit Theater).

Contact: Chris Crites

chris@bagpainter.com

206.568.7419

Prints for sale: Mulitiple impressions available unless specified.

“Beacon”, 9 x 12 inches, Aquatint and engraving.  $225 Framed- $125 unframed

“Concentric”, 5 x 7 inches, Woodcut.  $150 framed- $75 unframed

“Couple”, 9 x 12 inches, Mezzotint and Engraving.  $400 framed- $275 unframed

“Delusion”, 9 x 12 inches, Mezzotint and Engraving.  $375 framed-$250 unframed

“Disintegrator “4 x 6 inches, Etching with Aquatint and Engraving.  $175 framed-$75 unframed

“Dispenser”, 9 x 12 inches, Mezzotint and Engraving.  $425 framed-$295 unframed

“Gravity”, 12 x 9 inches, Mezzotint. $400 framed- $250 unframed

“Mr.Kardinal”, 6 x 9 inches, Color Etching.  $375 framed- $275 Framed

“Plunger” 9 x 12 inches,  Sugarlift Color Etching .  $200 Framed-$100 unframed (* last impression left*)

“Self Portrait #1″ 4 x 6 inches,  Mezzotint.  $200 framed- $125 unframed

“Radiation” 4 x 6 inches, Drypoint.  $150 framed- $60 Unframed

“The Saint”, 9 x 12 inches, Mezzotint with Etching and Engraving.  $250 Framed- $125 Unframed

“Self Portrait #2″ 6 x 9 inches, Mezzotint and Engraving.  $350 Framed- $250 Unframed

“Stuck”, 12 x 9 inches, Mezzotint and Drypoint.  $350 framed- $250 unframed

“Supernatural”, 6 x 4 inches,  Sugarlift Color Etching. $150 framed- $75unframed (*only impression left*)

“Tenderizer” 4 x 6 inches, Aquatint and Engraving.  $200 framed- $100 unframed