another good documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, called Rivers and Tides.

A good documentary called Visual Acoustics about california modernist architecture photographer Julius Shulman is a good watch for any photographer or architect.

we're renting this really small apartment right now that needed some more counter space. my solution was to build a free standing unit that had some storage space and usable counter space, and that could be taken with us when we move and be used for drafting in an office.

i used beach wood from the local lumber yard that cost 300 bucks. i think it was like 15 pieces of 3/4 inch thick 6 inches wide by 8 feet long boards. and there was one sheet of 1/4 birch ply for the sides and back and one sheet of 1/2 ply for the bottom and shelf.

for the construction i basically cut 2 inch strips for the frame and glued and screwed those the 3x3 inch legs that i glued together from the beach wood. i cut the legs so the side ply would have a lip to sit behind instead of just butting up to the legs. the photo of the rough plans that i drew up show how that need to work in the bottom left. i glued that toe screwed all the joints on the top and bottom, unless the top one would be visible, then i just screwed the bottom.

for the counter top i made a butcher block top...well its like a half butcher block cuz i really just ripped strips and then turned them on end and glued them together. the top is an inch thick and i put some strips in the ends to cover the end grain, for no real reason. i also had to make sure that i didnt install the top until it was in the house as the top was wider than the doorway. for that i put four long screws through the top into the legs and filled the holes with some dowel.

collodion camera

woo now. looks like its been a couple of years since ive been on this bitch. but i had a thought the other day... and that thought was... i should blog some more, since in done with school and all. so i thought id give it another go, but this time im thinking that ill blog about the crap that i make. im constantly making stuff, if i need something ill always consider making it before i buy it, and that ranges form cameras to furniture. ill prolly start out with some stuff that i have made at school over the last couple of years, as i dont want to deprive anyone of the real gems.

ill start off with a bang with my wet plate collodion camera.

i started off with a normal 4x5 camera and rail. i needed the bellows, rail and lens, but the rest was going to made out of wood. i should have some sketches around here some where, hold on...

well i cant find them, but i do have photos of the final project so ill rock those for you.

i figerd that i would basically need to make a wood 4x5 film holder, like the ones that are used in normal film work, but instead i would be using glass instead of film. oh ya, i should prolly explain what wet plat collodion is.
the collodion photo process is basically the first negative process, invented in the late 1800s. there was a paper negative before that, but i think it didnt last long because this collodion neg came into being soon after. the process consists of poring collodion (cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) onto a piece of glass, then placing the glass in silver nitrate for a number of minutes, then place the glass in a holder (the holder i made), then taking the exposure, then developing the negative, all with in 20 minutes. ill post a pic of what the negatives look like.
so, i acquired some black walnut and spent three days very carefully cutting and gluing, and poof, the camera emerged form the sawdust.
as you can see form the photos, there is a fraim for the glass in the back of the holder and a dark slide in the front of the holder. the knob on the back threads into a nut to tighten the holder to the back of the camera. to take a photo you pull the dark slide up and expose for around three minutes at f16.
after three tries i got my first usable negative from the process and the camera.