Jody Ake creates portraits, nudes, still lifes and
landscape images using the wet collodion process,
an historic photographic technique which involves using
a large format camera, glass plates, and hand-mixing all of the necessary chemicals for each and every exposure.
Invented in 1851, the method entails coating a glass plate with collodion, sensitizing the plate with silver nitrate and exposing the plate while it is still wet. The end result are ambrotypes, appearing on glass in the form of a negative until backed by black velvet, thus rendering the positive.
Ake says this about this series:
“I believe the portrait discloses more about the subject than what is found on the surface. The subject, either willingly or subconsciously, shows us more then they intends. The camera can see more than the naked eye, moving past our persona and catching a glimpse of who we really are.”
How do the faces of soldiers change — before, during, and then after, war? created enigmatic triptych portraits of Dutch marines before, during and after they were deployed to Uruzgan, Afghanistan in 2009-2010.
’s elegant new book combines high-minded philosophical reveries with beautiful portraits of intriguing characters.
reveals yet another delicate side of flowers by pressing them in glass and projecting them directly onto photographic paper.
Brilliantly calculated long exposures of the sun, made with paper negatives in a custom-made large format camera, force the sun to physically burn a trace of its arc into each photograph by American photographer . His new book is our favorite photobook of 2012.
