"Old Is New" Michael Williams

 Project 1.
This project was a challenge to choose a location; however, I came upon a great location on campus. Hamilton Ward turned out being a perfect subject for the project. He showed up to the set with perfect 19th century attire, which is from his personal collection, and his long fashioned beard. This tied in great with the overall theme. Over 140 shots were taken and this photo turned out to be the one I liked best. We had a great time shooting and every minute was worth shooting.

Old is New Again - Danny Lizano

I tried to represent a moment in the past that had no reference to a certain specific time frame. I tried to allow some of the landscape to show through to give a mood/theme for the concept. The concept relates to a festive-like event in a city and even though the setting is suppose to represent being fast paced, the texture helps define that while still concealing some of the content.

Old Is New Again

Since I chose to do a simple portrait for this project I felt that it was necessary for me to frame is at some point in time. I did this by adding the pipe and having my model put on his glasses.

Old is New by Sayma Waleh

For this project I thought it would be creative to put an eerie twist to the history of Stonewall Jackson. I wanted to portray it as a experimental mental institute covering up as a correctional facility. In this photo I wanted to create a narrative of my model to play the role of a mother who lost her child during his stay at stonewall. I wanted the bed to symbolize all she has left to remember him by as well as how a sense of joy has been taken away leaving her without feeling and emotion.

Old is New by Victoria Byers

For my project I decided to create a portrait focusing on deterioration and decay. I chose a location that had a lot of texture and wear and asked my model to dress in worn clothing. My main objectives were to take a picture with a lot of texture and points of interest and then add a lot of extra layers and brush textures to add age. I also made it a point to change the colors slightly as they appear in collodion pictures (black is lighter than red, etc.)

Old is New - Ana Castaneda

For this project, I wanted to show the Quinceanera, like a sweet sixteen celebration in America only this is sweet fifteen for girls, in my culture and the strong ties to religious belief. I did this by wearing my own Quincearnera dress we had bought when I was fifteen as if it was the day of the celebration, which starts with going to a private mass at the church with family and friends. I'm not fifteen anymore but I know if I had a daughter it would be important to pass on this tradition and faith. Since it is a pretty old tradition the Collodion look helps support that feeling of this important event going on for a while throughout generations.

Old Is New - Andre Powell

For this project, I struggled at first trying to find something that wasn't modern-day. I then decided to drive down back country roads and came across this pasture beside an old abandoned home and fell in love. I liked the thought of capturing something non-man made, for the most part.

Old is New - Elaine Phong

For this project, I thought it would be an interesting idea if I recreated a scene taken place during the Vietnam War. My family has a lot of history with this war and I still have a lot of questions to ask but it's always a touchy subject for my parents and grandparents. I'm just really thankful for all the sacrifices they made in order to come to America in order to provide the next generation with a happier life.

I had a lot of fun messing around with textures, smudging and blurring areas, and layering. My goal is to get the viewer to think it is an original old photograph taken during the war in the 1960s-70s

Old is New- Kelly Magee

Farm House

Old is New- Tiffany Lang

I wanted to create an old-looking image by staging a photographer using a vintage Kodak Duaflex IV Camera. The train tracks play along with the olden times, but then I have Charlotte, a pretty new city, in the background as a subtly showing that this image is in fact new.

Old is new- Chelsea Eklund

I decided to shoot at the Stonewall Jackson Training School for boys. It is over a little over a century old and is now partially abandoned. For my project I wanted to focus on purely on the aged, both the building and the process.

Old is New - Alexandra Lay

For this project, I thought it would be really fun to use a costume I got for Halloween two years ago. I didn't wear any makeup for the photographs I took for this… which originally was supposed to be a good idea, but I'm not sure about it. I had fun working with textures, and there are some more aspects of this project that I would like to explore.

Old is New - Sheridan Starnes

For this assignment, the idea of time played a major role in my image. I wanted to depict something antique, since that would be inline with the wet plate process. Also, the idea of absence was something I thought about. Instead of placing a figure in my image, I wanted to leave the presence of the image open ended. I wanted to prompt viewers with thoughts of, "there's a chair, why is no one there?"

Old is New- Brittany Little

For the old is new again project I decided I wanted to portray the idea of old "freak show" photography, so I photographed a model to mimic a tattooed lady. The vintage claw foot bathtub was the perfect backdrop to emphasize the antique aesthetic.

Collodion Demo

Quinn Strums the Banjo at  Toby Creek

In this image, I was hoping to align Quinn with the mountain music tradition that has existed in North Carolina since European settlers moved into the area. Though Quinn can't actually play a song in a traditional sense, he loves the sound a banjo makes and the simplicity of a simple acoustic strum. The rocky creek-side setting is meant to evoke a simpler, more rural era when entertainment was provided without electronics and YouTube.

Project #1: Old is New Again

Overview
Create an image that evokes the historic wet plate collodion process. Use Photoshop and your editing skills. Do not use plug-ins or alternate photo editing applications (Koloid, LittlePhoto, etc.). Push the visual idea of the wet plate collodion so as to leave no ambiguity in terms of the process you are referencing. Create blemishes, artifacts, blurring, ghosting and wet streaks.

 

Concept Development
Shoot images for this assignment - images that will exploit this technique. You may choose a subject/object that looks very old to recreate an image that evokes the past or deals with the idea of time. Another strategy could be to photograph something very futuristic to create a sense of irony. Whatever your subject, be sure you can explain how the subject is transformed when tied with the collodion look.

Overall, when referencing a historical process, the image-maker is dealing with the ideas of history, time, and antiquity. Therefore, frame a subject that will exploit this referent and concept.

Photographer Richard Barnes uses the original wet plate collodion technique when documenting Civil War Reenactments. Some examples can be seen here on the National Geographic site.