Hello friend! 👋 

I hope you had a great weekend. Yesterday, it was finally nice and warm out ☀️ which means only one thing…Coney Island. 🌭 More on that later.

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

1. 🤔 What’s bigger than large format?

2. 🌭 Coney Island

3. 🎉 Fun fact

🤔 What’s bigger than large format?

Huge format! You know it’s big when your “mid-size” camera is 20×24 inches. This is what Canadian 🇨🇦 photographer Bill Hao’s work is all about. He specializes in very, very large wet plate collodion photography. He’s custom built three cameras, the biggest one being 32×48 inches. 🤯 It requires 3 tripods!

On top of this, he’s converted a bus into a darkroom. This is necessary because the wet plate collodion process must be developed while still wet. So if you want to do landscapes, you kinda have to bring the darkroom with you.

These massive glass plate landscape photos are gorgeous.

I encourage you to check out his work and his story. Also, his Instagram has a lot of behind-the-scenes videos of his process. It’s truly impressive.

🌭 Coney Island

Next to Bill, my 4×5 camera hardly seems “large format” but I’ve wanted to take it to Coney Island and photograph the boardwalk (when there aren’t really any people) for a while now. Fortunately, the weather was nice yesterday, so I grabbed my camera and went.

Overall, I’m happy with how they turned out. They were all shot on Kodak Portra 400. Portra definitely provided the right “look” for this.

Shooting large format is a slow process, and sometimes during that time, things change. This image is a prime example of that.

Salt & Sizzle was closed when I started setting up the camera. But as I was checking focus, some employees started bringing out the picnic tables. Fortunately, they were out of frame, so I continued. However, as soon as I pulled the dark slide out, the window roll-top opened slightly. The window was closed when I began.

I had a decision to make. Abandon the shot (sheet film isn’t cheap) or take the picture anyway. I’m glad I took it, because this turned out to be my favorite. Often the best photographs are happy accidents. Has this ever happen to you?

🎉 Fun fact

Coney Island 🎡 had a tintype photobooth back in the early 20th century. Right there on the boardwalk you could get your picture taken. Once again, the wet plate collodion process provided quick results. Letting customers walk away with a one-of-a-kind photograph on tin. 🖼️ 

Someone should bring this back! 😀 

Real quick before we wrap up, last week, we talked about the different kinds of B&W developers and their characteristics. The developers I ordered have arrived so as soon as I shoot some rolls, we’ll compare them. Any suggestions on what I should photograph?

Lastly, in case you missed it I’ve put together a little website that shows the strengths and weaknesses of different B&W films 🎞️ and developers. 🧪 It can be pretty handy. You can find it here: https://developerandfilm.com/

That’s going to do it for this week. 🫡 

Get out and take some photos!

Ben Henschel

📷️ Canon A1 / 🎞️ Kodak Ektachrome