Friday, January 30, 2015 at 8:41 Here is a seven minute video I put together about my trip to China. I was invited there to open a branch of The Collodion Collective. It was a wonderful time! So beautiful and the people were amazing. I hope top return later this year.
Monday, September 8, 2014 at 9:35 A new video on using asphaltum to back clear glass Ambrotypes -
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 13:44 
"Chris Perez" 16" x 20" (40cm x 50cm) Black Glass Ambrotype - Denver, Colorado, USAMaking photographs, for me, is sometimes a painful and difficult ordeal. It creates anxiety in my life. When you want to see what's in your head on glass and metal plates, and can't quite get over the last hurddle, it can be very stressful. I’m in one of those times now, but working through it.
I’ve been making 16” x 20” (40cm x 50cm) Wet Collodion portraits (currently titled, "The American West Portraits"). I started planning this project almost 18 months ago by ordering a 20” x 24” camera, it's been non-stop ever since. And now, I’m struggling to get the look and feel on these large plates that I want. It’s 99% technical mostly a lens issue. I need a lens that will cover the plate and allow me to compose the image in a way that I’m happy with it. It’s more difficult than it sounds.
Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem. I would have plenty of time to resolve any technical or aesthetic issue I might have. However, I’ve got an exhibition opening on March 14, 2012 in Paris, France at Centre-Iris Gallery. I find myself anxious and preoccupied regarding how the images will look for the exhibition. I see them in my mind, I just need to get them on the glass and metal!
Having been in Denver for six months doesn’t help me either. I need time to build connections and find the right people to photograph. And now it’s winter, the days are short. At best, there’s about three hours of good light to work with. I will say that there would be no better place to be than in Denver for light this time of year, when it’s shining, the bright blue sky is amazing. It means that the sitter I want to photograph must come to my studio within a certain window of time (1000 – 1300). That gets complicated and stressful, too.
These issues are forcing me to rethink how I work and what I work with. And how "exact" things have to be. I have a “King’s problem” and I understand that. I keep thinking, maybe in the end, I will make a far better body of work than if I had a year to work on it. We’ll see.
This is a "working idea" - these will collect in my studio and I'll look at them over the next couple of months.
Here's a "taste" of what the show will be made up of - all 16" x 20" (40cm x 50cm) Wet Collodion plates.
Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 4:00 I'm suppose to be editing video for my DVD today. I'm not in the mood. After I get done with this post, I'm going to go make another espresso and sit on the porch and watch the day pass.
It's gorgeous today. It's sunny and almost 26C (~80F) degrees. That's my maximum comfortable temperature. If it gets past 26C I don't like it.
Summer and I had a good time yesterday making photographs. She's got it down. She helped me with the negative work and made several positive images on her own. I'll go out on a limb here and say that she's probably the youngest Collodionista in the world! I'm sure I'll get some email if she's not. I'm trying to encourage her to teach the process when she starts college next year. It would be a great part time gig for an undergraduate student, not to mention what doors it may open for her.
Here are a few plates from yesterday's effort (as always, click to enlarge):
"Summer's Fan" - Whole Plate Alumitype 
"The Three Summers" - Whole Plate Alumitype 
"Westmalle Trappist Beer" - 5"x7" Negative Toned/POP
Sometimes, we run out of room on our mantle for glass and metal!
