After much anticipation the symposium “Breekbaar Bezit” became present. I travelled to Antwerp on Wednesday afternoon to beat the traffic, the dark and be there in time because it was an early start Thursday. I hooked up with Jeroen de Wijs who was prepping the collodion demo during that symposium and together with Michel Vaerewijck, another collodion-freak, we enjoyed a great dinner at the Fiskebar. I will shortly layout the events, lectures etc. planned on those two days and who presented them. In short: they were a FANTASTIC two days!
Thursday 28 Nov
- Registration and coffee
- The history of glass production, making and composition of glass – Lecture by Olivier Schalm – Chemist
- History of glass in photography – Lecture by Katherine Whitman
- Photographic techniques on glass incl. retouching and coatings – Lecture by Herman Maes
Lunch
- Albumin negatives by Vai van den Heiligenberg
- Wet / Dry Collodion glass negatives by Jeroen de Wijs
Coffee break
- Digitising glass plate negatives: standards, guidelines and targets – Lecture by Hans Meesters
- Handling and packing of photography on glass – Presentation by Andy Smith
- “Red een portret” project of archiving glass negatives from Studio Merkelbach Amsterdam – by Ellen Fleurbaay
By the end of the day our heads were full of interesting information and our poor bellies were empty. Fortunately for us Antwerp is situated in Belgium and they sure now how to properly deal with food (in Maastricht “Burgundian” is merely a marketing strategy whereas in Belgium it is true culture). On recommendation by a colleague I reserved a table at “Gigi Il Bullo”, a pretty loved Italian restaurant; it was a wonderful evening!
Friday 29 Nov
- Registration and coffee
- Case study restoration internegative on glass from Abraham Lincoln in 26 pieces – Lecture by Katherine Whitman
- Instable emulsions, conservation, damages on glass plate negatives – Lecture by Clara von Waldthausen
- Research on silvering and damaging on glass plate negatives – Lecture by Eva Grieten
Lunch
- Case study transportation photographic materials on glass – Lecture by Conrad Willems
- Reeves Photo Studio, Lewes (UK) – Lecture by Brigitte Lardinois
- Digitising photographic collections on glass – Lecture by Henk Vanstappen
Coffee break
- Daguerreotype cover glass reconstruction – Lecture by Matthias Kuhlenkotter & Martin Jurgens
- Glass negative project with volunteers at the Felix Archive in Antwerp – Lecture by Werner Pottier
- Sisters Vlaanderen at thé Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar – Lecture by Thunnis van Oort
The End!
They were a fully packed two days with a lot of interesting information. I hope FoMu will continue to organise such wonderfully hosted events with such a broad content. Kudos to all of you!
P.s. it’s too bad I don’t have more impression photos of these two days but I recently sold my last digital camera (yeayyy!) and the iPhone does a rather poor job 🙂
Photography Contrastique - Alternative Photographic Processes 