A friend of mine that does wet plate photography asked me to build him a photo prop - a large moon that a subject can sit on. The moon prop was fairly popular around the turn of the century.
I'm attaching a drawing of the piece that I have already modified quite a bit. The size of the moon has been reduced to a 5' diameter circle and I still think it might be too large. The stand will be built more like a stool. The top will be made from 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood with poplar spacers. The center will be covered with 1/4" plywood - oddly it will be rustic alder because my local wood supplier had a damaged sheet.
The client is an interesting guy to work with. I met him through a friend and wet plate photography is only his hobby. The process is very tricky and expensive - it utilizes glass plates coated with a sticky goo called collision and silver nitrate. If you ever see a photo of Abe Lincoln, it was shot using a wet plate camera.
He was nice enough to shoot some photos of me one Friday afternoon and this project is a bit of a trade for those photos. He doesn't charge for his photography, he runs a very successful business most of the week. He will cover the materials and told me not to worry about bringing receipts. Initially he was very insistent that I charge for my time too, hard to beat a client like that!
Below the drawing is on of the wet plate scans he shot of me. The clothes come from his rack of props. The scan isn't nearly as interesting as the real image, but it's the best I can do.
I'm attaching a drawing of the piece that I have already modified quite a bit. The size of the moon has been reduced to a 5' diameter circle and I still think it might be too large. The stand will be built more like a stool. The top will be made from 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood with poplar spacers. The center will be covered with 1/4" plywood - oddly it will be rustic alder because my local wood supplier had a damaged sheet.
The client is an interesting guy to work with. I met him through a friend and wet plate photography is only his hobby. The process is very tricky and expensive - it utilizes glass plates coated with a sticky goo called collision and silver nitrate. If you ever see a photo of Abe Lincoln, it was shot using a wet plate camera.
He was nice enough to shoot some photos of me one Friday afternoon and this project is a bit of a trade for those photos. He doesn't charge for his photography, he runs a very successful business most of the week. He will cover the materials and told me not to worry about bringing receipts. Initially he was very insistent that I charge for my time too, hard to beat a client like that!
Below the drawing is on of the wet plate scans he shot of me. The clothes come from his rack of props. The scan isn't nearly as interesting as the real image, but it's the best I can do.
