We recently had the chance to spend some time with David Edwards, founder of Le Laboratoire, an unassuming space in Paris which houses a very modern center for art, science and design. Edwards, a Harvard…
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While in the audience at last week’s TED conference we kept the tweeting to a minimum and instead used the old-school pen and paper to capture some of our favorite moments. After reviewing them all, here are the quotations that hit us the hardest. “‘Smart’ simply means you’re ready to…
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Four years have passed since the first TED Fellows took the stage, and in that time the community has grown to 310 total members representing 75 countries. The current crop of 20 impressed the crowd yesterday as they discussed current and future projects across disciplines. Part of the fun…
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It’s hard to find something cuter than a button. Shiny and simple, the notion serves a single, important purpose—aside from providing fairytale currency—but can be downright infuriating when it chooses to go asunder. Enter Tic, a cheeky little device developed in Sweden by Karolina Rantfors, Mats Gabrielsson and Ljubo…
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For its 14th edition earlier this month, Designers’ Saturdays in Langenthal, Switzerland invited ECAL undergraduate and Masters students in industrial and product design to let their imagination run free while developing a series of machines exploring the manufacturing process of a selected product. The project was overseen by industrial…
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Our interview with the self-taught tintype photographer on the process, struggle and journey behind making the largest wet plate print ever
The 2012 Palm Springs Photo Festival Portfolio Review is the nation’s largest photography review program for both commercial and fine art photographers, and it offers the rare opportunity for photographers to get their work in front of some of the world’s most important curators, publishers, agents and art dealers. It also offers the opportunity for photographers to connect with one another and discuss their work. I was excited to participate in this year’s Festival, and when I arrived on the very first day, I was stopped in my tracks by one of the most spectacular photographs I had seen in a long time. What I was looking at was the largest tintype I had ever seen—in fact, the largest tintype anyone had ever seen—taken by Ian Ruhter.
On the third day of the Festival, Ian posted a video onto his Facebook page called “Silver and Light” documenting the challenging process of making these pictures, which included building what’s essentially a custom camera that fills the entire bed of a small truck. The revelatory video immediately began to speed across the Internet, even making it onto the web pages of celebrities like Justin Timberlake. I spent a lot of the week talking to Ian about his work, and witnessing this humble guy’s reaction to the mounting interest in his journey as a photographer.
As my photography started to become more and more digitized, I began to miss the feeling of being in the darkroom. And then one day, I went to buy film, and I discovered that they weren’t even making the type of film I used to use. I felt I was beginning to lose touch with what it really meant to make a photograph. So I decided to take a step into a time-machine and make pictures the way they were made in the 1800s. I started doing my own research, and basically just ordered everything off the internet and started making plates in my loft in LA. Then I took a class with Will Dunniway, and that helped push me further.
Once I had started to make some nice smaller plates, I began showing them to people. I started scanning them and sharing them as digital files. It was then that I realized I had lost the integrity of the photo again—I had just ended up returning to digital. I realized that if I was going to make pictures in a way I wanted, that I would have to take the process in an entirely different direction.
About a year and a half.
Even though everyone was telling me that it was impossible, I believed I could do it. Besides once I had bought the lens and the truck I needed to make the pictures, I was so heavily invested, that I felt I just couldn’t back out.
I checked around and people were telling me that the lens I was looking for was close to impossible to find. They were coming up for auction every few years or something. I started looking on Ebay and within the first month of searching, I had found and bought the lens. I took it as a sign that this was something I was just meant to do.
One of the most frustrating things about doing something that no one has ever done, is that there was no one to call and ask for help. This really became a process of trial and error. I mean, I barely even graduated high school, and here I was forced to be a scientist. I had to create design and build models and do experiments. I had to build a camera big enough to stand in. I had to figure out how to get these chemicals onto such a huge plate of metal. And to make it even more difficult, I decided that I was going to go out on location and shoot landscapes, so I couldn’t even control the environment. I had to start everything from scratch.
I started with landscapes, and I want to continue to tell the story of the American landscape, but I also want to tell the story of the people who are shaped by the land. Like Richard Avedon‘s pictures taken in the West. I want to drive my truck out into America. Now that I have the camera and figured out the process, it’s time to create.
It’s completely overwhelming to have so many people understand and be inspired by my story. Even if it’s not the actual photo that is inspiring people, even if they’re becoming emotional about the process—connecting with people is still the most exciting part of being an artist.
Modular stuffed animals to satisfy your inner Frankenstein
Kids can let their imaginations run wild playing with the recently released Clump-O-Lump stuffed animals, a zip-and-match menagerie of zany creatures invented by the little ones themselves. Created by an equally youthful and ambitious industrial design student, Max Knecht, the modular design allows for children to unzip each animal—the family includes squids, frogs, bumblebees and more—into three separate pieces to be mixed up with others in a multitude of combinations, from wildly species-bending critters for cuddling to mega-monsters that snake around the playroom.
Jen Bilik, founder of the creatively humorous Knock Knock shop, acquired Knecht’s design after being instantly charmed by his prototype when they met in 2010. Knecht remains involved in the production of the expanding family, which each sell at an affordable $25. For a closer look at the curious creatures check out the Clump-O-Lump website.
A look at the innovation and process behind Columbia Sportswear’s newest electrically heated outerwear
Advertorial content:
Given the opportunity to create a video with Columbia Sportswear we were excited to get a behind-the-scenes look at the innovation at the core of the brand’s philosophy. We took a trip out to Portland, Oregon and spent some time in the innovation lab at the west coast headquarters, watching how their new Omni-Heat Electric line is tested. We spoke with resident innovation guru Woody and got some insight into the past, present and future of apparel, as well as Columbia’s dedication to continue pushing the envelope in outdoor wear and wearable technology.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
