Opening Reception for Wet Plate Collodion Exhibit on Saturday, October 18th

On Saturday, October 18th, from 4-6PM, the opening reception for Wet Plate Collodion will take place at The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite National Park. Photographer Kerik Kouklis will be present to answer questions and discuss his work.

Kerik Kouklis grew up with photography, helping to build a darkroom in his parent’s basement in his early teens. He moved into large format cameras and sheet film in the late 1980’s, and began working with platinum/palladium in 1990. In recent years, Kerik has been producing a series of wet plate collodion work involving landscapes, flora and portraits.

Frederick Scott Archer introduced the wet plate collodion process in 1851. It became the first widely used photographic process because it was much more economical and accessible than the daguerreotype process that preceeded it. The process involves hand-coating collodion onto either clear glass to create a negative or onto metal or dark glass to create a positive image. The plate is then sensitized by dipping it into silver nitrate, loaded into the camera and exposed.

For collodion positives, many contemporary collodion artists now use aluminum coated with black enamel, known as an alumitype, and black glass for ambrotypes.

In addition to actively producing photographs, Kerik Kouklis also instructs workshops on the wet plate process, in addition to the platinum classes he has been instructing since 1997.

His work is in private and public collections in many countries.