Seligenstadt Synagogue in Wet Plate Collodion

Today, I made the image that will appear on the first page of my book (I think). The image shows the original steps of the Seligenstadt synagogue. These steps are the only thing left of the synagogue. It was burned on November 9/10, 1938 during Kristallnacht. If you think about the metaphor of stairs (especially ascending/descending) you'll get where I'm going with this.

The emptiness is what moves me the most when I'm making photographs where the mighty, vibrant synagogues once stood in these small villages. I'm almost trying to photograph what isn't there. It's very difficult to do. It's also very sad.  

A friend from Berlin, Jan, met us in Seligenstadt this morning. His mother lives there and his step-father has done an enormous amount of research on the Jewish community (that was) in Seligenstadt. 

After making a positive image and a negative image of the same scene (the steps), we (Summer, Jan and I) went for coffee and looked at the "stumbling stones" around the village. There was a significant Jewish community that lived in this village until 1938. It's the same story in all of these places. Jan had newspaper clippings from the Seligenstadt newspaper (from 1935) that showed a page of ads for office furniture, shoes and clothes, and in the middle of these "common ads" was another kind of ad that read, "The Jews are our misfortune" ("Die Juden sind unser Unglück"). Mind-blowing and very educational.

The last two images are the positive (8x10 Black Glass Ambrotype) and the negative (8x10). I'll make a POP print this week of of the negative.

Seligenstadt Synagogue Remains 
I wasn't sure about the light, being in a hole and surrounded with "red" and "yellow". 
"Where does the shadow of my hand fall?" 1100 hours, 4 second exposure. 
Pouring Collodion on an 8"x10" piece of black glass.  
Putting the "loaded" plate holder onto the camera.  
Processing the plate.

"Seligenstadt Synagogue Stairs" 8"x10" Black Glass Ambrotype (sold) 
8"x10" negative - Seligenstadt Synagogue Stairs. 
I'm going back to Seligenstadt next week. We're suppose to have a key to get into the Juden Friedhof (Jewish cemetery) - it was vandalized during Kristallnacht as well. Look for those images next week!

Thank you Summer and Jan. It was a great day. This is very important work, thanks for being a part of it.

Ich War Ein Berliner Für Drei Tage

Berlin is redeemed.

The first visit I had to Berlin in April of this year (2008), wasn't very good (if you're real curious, look in April 2008 of this blog). It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, I just didn't "get it".

Berlin is one of those cities that you have to know to enjoy it. I would say it's analogous to wine, it gets better with time. I'm not saying that three days in Berlin gave me the knowledge I needed to enjoy Berlin, I'm saying you can "piggy back" on friends that know the city, and that's what I did.

Jessica and Steven (hosts of the workshop), showed us around the cool, artsy areas of Berlin. And yes, some of them looked like they were hit with an "art bomb" (thanks to Mike Doughty). We visited Kreuzberg, Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and of course, Wedding (where the studio was and our apartment was). These are small (not really small in size, but concept) villages within Berlin. They are distinct in culture, and flavor too. We had dinner at places varied as Indian-Thai, Lebanese, and Italian. Art and "the other" all around us, all of the time.

Berlin Synagogue We were walking down Oranienburger Str. and I look up and see these huge ornate gold balls/domes. I immediately recognize it as the New Synagogue. It's really huge and really beautiful. The Synagogue was burned during Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) but the blaze was put out before much damage was done. The Nazis occupied the building in 1940 and desecrated the Synagogue by using it for storage. The Nazis also destroyed the Jewish cemetery in Berlin. The Synagogue sustained severe damage by Allied bombs during the war and for years it was left as an empty shell. Restoration began in 1988 and the Synagogue was reopened on May 7, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the German surrender. Like many of the Synagogues it is guarded around the clock.

Jessica and Steven were incredibly kind and were great hosts. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sights, flavors and sounds of Berlin. It's an amazing city if you know what you are doing.

Summer and I went to Berlin to do a workshop. Jessica attended one of my workshops in Barcelona and asked if I would do one in Berlin at her studio. Having had a marginal time in Berlin in April, I said, "yes!". She did a lot of work to make it happen. We had four people in the workshop (including Jessica). Claire from London, Jan from Berlin and Steven from Berlin. Jessica and Steven are studio mates and are American. Claire is British and Jan is German. We had a lot of fun. I really enjoy the diversity and the personalities in these workshops.

 

SOME WORKSHOP PHOTOS

The group cleaning glass.

Claire making a portrait of Summer. That's Steven crouching down (on the right). We had to open the windows for every exposure because the glass was UV protected - Collodion needs UV light to make a photograph.
A POP print (from a negative) I did of Jan. This was a 30 second exposure. I fixed in hypo, intensified with a very mild bleach and 15% AGNo3 solution and printed and toned on P.O.P. This was a demonstration on how to make negatives. His eyes in the print are striking!


Steven's boy, Jaden. He was a great little model for Steven. This is a 5x7 Black Glass Ambrotype. It's a beautiful plate, flaws and all.

Claire heats an 8x10 Black Glass Ambrotype to varnish it. This is another portrait of Jan. He was a great subject/sitter. This image was made right on the end of the UV for the day and has a very "dark" feeling - figuratively and literally - a very nice photograph.
  Jessica looking over the day's work.

  Steven finishes the varnishing of his portrait.

Summer plays us out at the end of the workshop as Claire, Jan and Jessica look at, and talk about the photos.
Thank you Jessica, Steven, Jan and Claire. I really enjoyed my time in Berlin. I'm looking forward to a return visit.

Thank you Summer. You're a wonderful wet-head assistant and a talented, intelligent, beautiful and creative human being. I couldn't have done it without you. I love you.

When The Concept Is Bigger Than The Craft

It seems that I've been waiting forever for my portable dark box to arrive (here in Germany). It was shipped on February 5, 2008 from Rochester, New York. You wouldn't think it would take a month, but then again one of the biggest and most annoying things about living here is the APO system and the expense of commercial post (like FedEx and DHL). It's outrageous on both ends.

Quinn's darkbox

In hindsight, it's actually been a very good thing. I've been able to gather my thoughts about my approach to working through my Kristallnacht project. At first, I thought I would approach it a stand alone, no interference, straight forward (almost documentary) project.  I simply wanted to photograph the locations I have pre-selected and making 8x10 Black Glass Ambrotypes (wet plate collodion images). That’s not going to happen and, moreover, I don’t want it to happen. You see, I realize that the concept of this project is bigger than the craft of this project. It other words, the idea is much stronger than the images I would or could make of former synagogue sites. It’s a strange problem to have. It’s usually the other way around for an artist; it’s all craft and no concept. Hit a random “fine art photo” site and you’ll see what I mean.

The Mainz Synagogue

Here's my solution: I'm goign to include my portraiture work, landscape work and object work all under the umbrella of the Kristallnacht project. I’ve decided that even though these objects, people or landscape scenes, weren’t (necessarily) here, they all share a common link to either the victims or the perpetrators both in idea and the physical world. And, after all, my message is about the questions surrounding Kristallnacht and ultimately, the Holocaust.

Workshop in Reus, Spain

Well, I have four days of exciting news to try to fit into one (short) blog entry. I haven’t had time to write because I’ve been busy (non-stop) with workshops in Reus, Espana, or really Catalonia (aka Spain). If you’ve never been to Spain, I can tell you it’s my personal favorite place in Europe (yes, I like it better than Italy). The people are unbelievably friendly, the cities are gorgeous and cultural abounds (not to mention the food, wine and prices here). We left Germany early Saturday morning and drove to Avignon, France, a beautiful old city. We stayed the night there and got up early Sunday morning and drove into Reus, Catalonia (Spain). The Catalonians are wonderful people and are very protective of their culture. They speak both Espanol and Catalan here, however, they prefer Catalan. Reus is south of Barcelona. It takes about an hour to drive to Barcelona from Reus. Reus is a beautiful small Mediterranean city, full of culture. We came here because I was invited to do a three day workshop in Collodion at the Center for Photography, Reus (Mas Inglesias). The workshop went very well and kept me very busy! There were six people that attended. All of them very talented in their own ways (as artists), it was very rewarding and enriching for me. I had a wonderful time. Summer spent two days with me and Jeanne came over to the studio a couple of times too. Tonight, they had a journalist and a photographer there to do a story on the event – they took photos of me and asked questions (they also looked at my work and watch my DVD). Afterward, the city of Reus presented me with gifts and made me an honorary member of the Photography Society of Reus (a very high honor). They also awarded me the Gaudi Medal of Honor. I was beside myself. Finally, they gave me the last set of editioned Gaudi works (photographs and text) the center had. I couldn’t believe it!! Jean, Summer and Lucky was there to see it all! Tomorrow, we are on our way into Barcelona to do one more workshop. Friday we will see the city and Saturday we will head back to Germany.