Category Archives: Abby’s Project

I am making collodion dry plates for my two core projects: Pictorial Whispers and America’s Grist Mills. I am making platinum-toned Kallitype contact prints for Pictorial Whispers, and for America’s Grist Mills, I am making Platinum/Palladium contact prints. These projects are very different, but it turns out that wet plate collodion is a perfect fitContinue reading “Explaining My Wet Plate Collodion Negative Emulsion Chemistry in Detail”

The old saying is that when you fix one thing, something else magically breaks. Well, that apparently holds true for me at this moment. Let me explain… I was so excited yesterday when I figured out how to use 8-month-old red collodion. I didn’t expect much, but when my intuition and experience paid off, seeingContinue reading “April 21, 2024 – Typically When You Fix One Thing – Something Else Will Break (and it did)”

This past week, I have been cleaning, subbing, and pouring collodion plates and preparing them using my dry plate process. I have a 245-day-old red collodion, and I wanted to know how far I could push it and still get a high-quality negative. As you can see in the photo to the left, the collodionContinue reading “April 20, 2024, Siloam Springs – Pictorial Whispers Collodion Dry Plate Negative”

I have been reading the new book The Fine Art of Grieving by Jane Edberg. I found the book on Amazon when I was searching for new books that I could read to help me with my Pictorial Whispers memorial project for my daughter Abby. I am eager to share this new book with youContinue reading “Book – The Fine Art of Grieving by Jane Edberg”

I try to make this blog a natural and organic extension of my creative journey. This approach gives you greater insight into the work and tasks that go into making the collodion negatives and platinum-toned Kallitype contact prints for my Pictorial Whispers memorial project and my collodion negatives and platinum-palladium prints for my America’s GristContinue reading “Cleaning and Albumenizing Glass Plates Today for Collodion Dry Plate Negatives”

I spent the day scouting an area near my home called Siloam Springs. I live in a rural area with farmers and beautiful landscapes. I decided to use my Hermagis Eidoscope 275mm and 375mm F4.5 soft focus Pictoralist lenses for this project, so I headed out into the field with the Artisan Viewfinder app onContinue reading “Scouting Trees at Siloam Springs For My Pictorial Whispers Dry Plate Collodion & Kallitype Project”

In the realm of fine art, few subjects carry as profound a symbolic weight as trees—these towering, resilient beings that have long served as metaphors for life, growth, and survival. In my “Pictorial Whispers” series, trees transcend their role as mere elements of the natural landscape to become central characters, each imbued with deep personalContinue reading “The Symbolism of Trees: Guardians of Memory and Emotion”

Since the onset of this year, my journey with the Pictorial Whispers project has been both profound and introspective, marked by the creation of numerous handmade negatives and platinum-toned Kallitype contact prints. In this article, I will unfold the valuable lessons gleaned from this deeply personal endeavor and discuss the pivotal decisions that have shapedContinue reading “Key Things I’ve Learned So Far This Year”

In the wake of the tragic loss of my daughter Abby, I embarked on a deeply personal artistic journey, choosing to photograph trees as a central theme in a project inspired by the emotive and ethereal style of 19th-century Pictorialism.

At the core of my latest artistic endeavor is a deeply personal narrative, one shaped by the profound grief of losing my beloved daughter, Abby, affectionately known as “Peanut.”