Kodak-Browni-No.3a-Oak-Panorama
13 Dec
DARKROOM BUILD, EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, ON THE FIELD

Getting soaked in a Mystical foggy forest with Kodak Brownie No.3A

The last week after all the snow has melted has been extremely foggy and rainy. I live very close to the forest and enjoying its peacefulness by long walks is part of my daily routine. I admire nature and learn something from it every day. It just amazes me how complex and yet genius it is. Everything is connected and working in complete harmony just like the finest swiss clock. Specially trees are the ones that seem so static and not doing much. But remember nature is extremely dynamic, always on the move!

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04 Dec
EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER

How I built myself Affordable UV LED Exposure Box

This week I built myself an affordable UV Exposure box using LEDs and a plastic box that cost me less than 60eur. During short winter days there is not much sun here in Slovenia so it's really hard to work with techniques like cyanotype, salt, albumen, lith & carbon printing… This is why I have decided to build myself a 40x60cm UV LED exposure box. It's not just useful for us photographers that love alternative techniques but can also be used for screen printing, PCB making, Whitening and so on… I designed it in a way that it...

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why-I-love-large-format-photography-and-alternative-processes?
27 Nov
AUTOCHROME, DARKROOM BUILD, EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER, PRINTING PROCESSES

Why I Love Large Format Photography & Alternative Processes?

I am asked this question often, especially being 25 years old. People often don't understand why I would enjoy techniques and cameras made well before my time. The ones who know me can tell you that I am in love with nature and everything connected with it. Besides that it relaxes me completely, learns me every day and makes me happy it also artistically inspires me. When I got my first camera at 16 which was a DSLR Pentax K-m I did not take portraits, I did not shoot street but I went straight into the woods behind...

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FINISHING-TOUCHES-ON-MY-LED-SAFELIGHTS
22 Nov
DARKROOM BUILD

FINISHING TOUCHES TO MY LED SAFELIGHTS / Container Darkroom part 12

Recently I often ask myself when will the container darkroom be finished? To be honest I don't know if you can ever be finished designing your dream working space. In the last few weeks there were many things I fixed or installed. The most important one was for sure finally finishing up the LED safe lights. I started by stripping them off from the shelf completely, cut them to the length and solder them back together. I had quite a bit of troubles with that as I have not soldered in a while and it was hard to...

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Film-holder-for-glass-dry-plates-wet-plates
11 Nov
EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER

Modifying Film Holder to carry Glass or Dry-plates

Glass carrier is one of the key pieces of equipment if you want to get into alternative photographic processes specially Dry-plates or Wet-plates. There are not many ready to use film-holders around so that is why I made mine from a normal 4x5 sheet film holder. After many requests I received I have finally decided to make a tutorial and show you how I do it. List of things you will need: Sheet Film Holder  Metal cutting machine (Rotary tool, Jig or Bandsaw, even handsaw...

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Working-in-container-darkroom
06 Nov
DARKROOM BUILD

FINALLY STARTED TO USE IT! / Container Darkroom part 11

So stoked to inform you that my container darkroom is finally ready to start printing, coating, creating… I was away for two weeks and had many things going on in the last week after I returned back home from a holiday in Greece. First off all I had to develop two plates I shot during the trip and edit everything into a video.  Part one is already uploaded so make sure to check it out and Subscribe to catch the next one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqERkTVxT4g&t=3s

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Cyanotype-tutorial
28 Oct
OTHER, PRINTING PROCESSES

HOW TO MAKE CYANOTYPES – STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

This is a step by step tutorial on how to make Cyanotypes from scratch. We will be mixing the chemicals, coating, exposing and developing until we have a cyanotype in our hands. Cyanotypes are one of the easiest and safest alternative photographic techniques. Cyanotypes were invented a long time ago in 1841 by Sir JohnHerschel just 3 years after the invention of photography. It uses a mixture of two iron compounds, which when mixed together, exposed to UV light and lastly washed in water oxidise to create its unique Prussian Blue coloured images. Cyanotypes are becoming widely popular these days...

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Container-Darkroom-Lights-Update
15 Oct
DARKROOM BUILD

LIGHTS UPDATE + ROOF CLEANING / Container Darkroom part 10

There are more and more of you reading my blogs and watching my videos on YouTube channel and I am beyond grateful if I was able to help you in any way. I am finally starting to form a group of creative individuals who are interested in similar topics like me. We are helping each other and growing together so thank you again Back to the Container Darkroom. There is less and less work that needs to be done until I will be able to say I am finished. At this point there are mostly...

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Large-Format-Lens-Storage-Box
05 Oct
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

3D Printed Large Format Lens Storage Box

I am in large format photography for a few years now and the thing I struggled the most with was how to store my lenses. I often take my camera on backpacking trips which means I have to store them in my backpack somewhere. Most of the time I used soft leather lens pouches that were leftover from my digital Canon lenses. It surely protects the lens from surface damage like scratches but it does not provide a good enough protection of the lens elements (if I bump my backpack in a rock) or moving parts like aperture...

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28 Sep
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

Restoring Vintage Kodak Brownie No. 3A

As a landscape & nature lover I was looking for an appropriate old analog camera that would be able to make panoramic shots and ideally accept glass dry plates with some modifications. After quite a bit of searching and reading I realised I should start looking into old Kodak cameras. Also in terms of my tight budget it seemed the best choice. So I started checking different online resale stores, mostly ebay. Let me say that it is much harder to find second hand analog equipment here in Europe, especially ones produced in the USA. After a few...

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