Wetplate Workshop, Mesa, Arizona - February 5, 2025
This was my second venture into wet plate photography. My first experience, a studio workshop back in 2023, had me completely hooked — but I wanted to find out what it would take to shoot landscapes with this process. We were supposed to do a landscape workshop in 2024, but it was canceled. I had the bug and couldn't wait any longer, so I started pulling together a new camera kit. I was hoping for an 8x10 setup but couldn't find one, so when a nice 5x7 came up I grabbed it. Of course, a great 8x10 showed up shortly after!
I started building out a set of lenses to go with the cameras, but none of them came on lens boards, so I had no way to mount them. I reached out to S.K. Grimes for help — they're specialists in this kind of work — and shipped all the lenses to them so they could build custom flanges and boards.
Everything came together just a week or two before the workshop, so this was my first real chance to get the camera out and see how it all worked together — and the first time I made plates with my own gear. In the photos you'll spot a large tent and a box sitting on one of the tables; those were our makeshift darkrooms for the workshop. The tent is actually an ice fishing tent, which is probably not something you come across every day in California or Arizona!
