As long as I can remember I have always wanted to be an artist. I think it’s just something in you: yes, some people do get up one day and say, yeah, I think I’m going to be an artist for a job. I feel like it has to come from a place within you, something we can’t put our finger on. A calling, as it were.
For me, it started when I was very young. The first thing that I wanted to be was a wood-carver – because my grandfather was a woodworker and I wanted to be just like him. He used to carve peach pits. Yup, I said, I can do that. So at 6 years old I sat behind the shed next to the two chicken coops we had and started carving. Predictably, it wasn’t long before I sliced my hand good. That was the end of my wood carving period.
As the years went by and I could see I didn’t fit anywhere – in school, in jobs, etc. – my wanting of my inner artist to come out became much stronger. I went from oil painting to watercolor, on to painted furniture, to fresco painting. I did love the idea of fresco: you use lime and clay pigments and raw earth colors, so it’s very much close to the earth. I like that; very dirty and hands on. In the same vein, I also tried pottery and even bought tools to be a stone cutter. I still kinda like all those things and play with them from time to time, but they just never felt like my art. Something was missing.
I have always loved photography, but didn’t ever think I could do it; it seemed so over my head. I’m not good at learning things, it does not come easy for me. What does come easy is to look at how something is made and kind of reverse engineer it in my mind. Like, I see a barn, and I can build it. I can put a transmission in a truck on the side of the road in the pouring rain if I had to. I can drive a team of horses. I’m very hands on, and I can see a problem and fix it before it happens. But to learn a modern camera? Nope, that’s too much for me to take in. But one day when I had just turned 47 it just hit me, make a camera! And shoot old fashioned style wet plate collodion!
I had loved the series “The Civil War” by Ken Burns, and have always loved history. Photos from that time just stand out to me. I feel who those people are; there is just something about those images that is timeless. I wanted to do it, but could I? I knew nothing about any of it. That was the beginning, that’s the start of my wet plate journey that is just turning out to be the most beautiful ride.
I will contact you this spring for portrait as we discussed…Thanks
So much I can identify with here………that deep love of history and the visual impact of it……..I don’t call myself an artist, but have always drawn, made things with my hands, and been fascinated by cameras………..now I am hopelessly addicted to chemicals and their response to light, and the beauty of that on emulsions, and I have come to see I probably am okay with the term artist………I am like you in that I ma down to earth, sure have some of the temperament ( like you :-))….and at 57 I am okay with that. I would do photography old styles all day if I could. I am looking forward to this summer and getting the whole collodion thing happening……….like you…….I have ideas. I made inroads last summer…but life got in the way thru winter………
I really hope you shoot plates, you will love it its very much fullfilling to ones life. I call myself an artist because as like writing I’m not very good at writting but I can tell a story, just as with photography, I know almost nothing of it, but I can make a beautiful plate that is nice to look at, that to me is the art, its almost like something that is given to me to use if you know what I mean.