Page 4 - APH Sep 2020 Mono Award

PEOPLE
BRENCE COGHILL
WENDY
Melbourne-based commercial and portrait photographer Brence Coghill has been working in the large format wet plate collodion process, a 19th century analogue alt-photog- raphy technique, since 2018.
He captured this image of Wendy, an apparel designer from Atlanta, through a shared interest in analogue photography.
“We had both travelled to a remote off-grid farm in upstate New York seeking mentorship from John Coffer, the man who resurrected the wet plate collodion process from the brink of ob- scurity in the early 1980s by piecing it together from historic ar- chives and 19th century photographers’ notebooks,” he explains.
“I shot Wendy’s portrait in the dying light at the end of
Winner
the day on the farm, with only enough time to make a single exposure (in which she had to hold still for six seconds). Shot with a wooden sliding box camera (a large format camera without bellows, in which nested boxes slide within each other to achieve focus) using the wet plate collodion process. A 6.5” x 8.5” aluminium plate is hand coated in liquid chemistry, sensitised in silver nitrate, and loaded into the camera while still wet. After exposure the plate must be developed and rinsed immediately, which I did using John Coffer’s makeshift outdoor darkroom, with chickens scratching around nearby.”
brencecoghill.com
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
JACKIE RANKEN
There is an authenticity to this portrait that transcends the paper it is printed on. I feel her personality, her calm inner strength looking right back at me encouraging me to slow down and take a deep breath.
The inherent characteristics produced by the early wet plate collodion look and technique are a perfect match to the expression and mood conveyed by the sitter. Its strength lies in its simplicity.
ALEX CEARNS
This portrait packs a punch. You are immediately drawn to the subject’s direct eye contact as she looks at the lens, but isn’t entirely focused on it. She’s somewhere else.
As you delve further into the image, you notice the beautifully handled fall away
of focus, the texture and patterns in her three layers of clothing, the deliberate imperfections of dots and scratches in the background, and the burnt edges around the frame.
This image feels nostalgic and menalcholic and leaves the viewer wanting to know more about the subject. It is expertly handled in black and white and shows a high level of skill in its execution.
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