View on the River Huon

[alexgard]

View on the River Huon
Franklin, Tasmania

5.5" x 14" black glass ambrotype

[Maris]

I don't know it for a fact but it seems that slower photography delivers better pictorial compositions. With the present price of large format sheet film I imagine very few exposures end up on the cutting room floor. Now ambrotypes are even slower than film and demand even more of the photographer.
I see View on the River Huon as an example of landscape composition in excellent balance and repose. Those weeds along the bottom are just enough to stop the water running out of the frame but no more obtrusive than that. The boats have their bows pointing right, a more dynamic orientation in my culture that reads and writes from left to right. But the ambrotype warns that right looking and left going are not guaranteed.
As if it matters, when it matters?

[alexgard]

Thanks for your thoughts Maris. I actually shot quite a few plates of the same scene, this is the one I initially liked better. But going back there is another one of the same composition that might be more aesthetically pleasing. I will try post the scan later and would love to know your thoughts.

The main problem I keep running into is on the right hand end of the plate always drops off in luminosity as that I pour the developer from left to right. and I must tip the plate back towards the left before the developer flows and really 'soaks' the right hand side. You'll notice a lot of my plates have this darkness on the right hand side. Now you wont be able to unsee it and it will probably drive you nuts. I've been studying a lot of classic landscapes and portraits from 19th century photographers and want to try and emulate a similar aesthetic without trying to copy it. You might also notice most of my images I try to avoid hinting human activity, and those that do I try and avoid any modern things like power lines, more modern agricultural fencing, modern buildings, cars etc. Purely because I want to try and keep my images looking as timeless as possible without trying too hard to look 'old' if that makes sense. (I really hate the whole 'vintage' thing, and find the oversaturation of stuff like vintage cars, bikes, handlebar moustaches and steampunk cosplay/vintage dressup shoots a little... cheap?)

As Luther Gerlach stated "I'm not trying to make old work, I'm trying to make new work in an old way"