2nd place
silver star award
Christian Klant
germany 
title
SOURCE - Wet Plate Landscaöes
A lot has changed, since I began working with with large format cameras and the collodion wetplate process. Nature is no longer only speaking to me as a person, now I also understand her as a photographer.
It probably is the deceleration that comes with the more than 150 years old technique, which plays a huge role in that shift. Now I give myself the time to really listen. And it requires a lot of handicraft and skillfulness, to mix chemical emulsions by oneself, restore old camers and to build some neccessary equipment.
The collodion wetplate process is, unlike the „modern“ black-and-white film material, sensitive to the blue and ultraviolet spectrum of light – which is invisible to the human eye. Therefore the colors and light flow present themselves differently in wet plates than we usually see them. It took some time until I started seeing like the process itself.
With this new view it is now possible for me to convey the magic, that I perceive when being in nature, with my photographs. With the new wet plate landscape series „SOURCE“ I am inviting the beholder to follow me to the silent oases of our times. Places that nourish. Places that touch something deep inside of us.
For that aim, I travel through all of europe with my wet plate equipment and my mobile darkroom. The photographs are being taken with an old indian wooden camera as 8,5×15“ tintypes.
Moving to Berlin brought major changes and he started working as a photographer. Since then he is using his eye for the essentials behind the camera. Looking for a technique that would allow him to create the most possible depth in his images he found his medium: the wet plate collodion process. To him that process means the rediscovery of slowness, the photographic path to the more subtle realities.
The silence of wet plate photography creates a unique atmosphere, which greatly affects his portraits as well as his landscapes. Portrayed people have the time to really arrive in their inner space, get in touch with themselves and therefore show themselves with everything that is – in that moment.
Places in nature become beings in that silence, with whom Klant enters into some sort of dialogue. He deeply engages with those places, experiences and explores them with all his senses, in search of their magic, their very nature – which he then captures in his photographs. It is important to him that depth does not necessarily need to be gloomy and morbid. He is looking for life in all its facets and therefore also shows the peaceful and luminous aspects of this world.
In the meanwhile Klant started working with numerous historical fine art printing techniques such as platin/palladium and carbon printing. His work is shown internationally and in 2014 his first book „100 Wet Plates – 100 Words“
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entry description
Portraits were my access to photography. People are speaking to me as a person, and when they speak to me as a photographer I almost instantly know what kind of a portrait I want to take.A lot has changed, since I began working with with large format cameras and the collodion wetplate process. Nature is no longer only speaking to me as a person, now I also understand her as a photographer.
It probably is the deceleration that comes with the more than 150 years old technique, which plays a huge role in that shift. Now I give myself the time to really listen. And it requires a lot of handicraft and skillfulness, to mix chemical emulsions by oneself, restore old camers and to build some neccessary equipment.
The collodion wetplate process is, unlike the „modern“ black-and-white film material, sensitive to the blue and ultraviolet spectrum of light – which is invisible to the human eye. Therefore the colors and light flow present themselves differently in wet plates than we usually see them. It took some time until I started seeing like the process itself.
With this new view it is now possible for me to convey the magic, that I perceive when being in nature, with my photographs. With the new wet plate landscape series „SOURCE“ I am inviting the beholder to follow me to the silent oases of our times. Places that nourish. Places that touch something deep inside of us.
For that aim, I travel through all of europe with my wet plate equipment and my mobile darkroom. The photographs are being taken with an old indian wooden camera as 8,5×15“ tintypes.
about the photographer
The Berlin based Photographer Christian Klant held his first own camera at the age of 5. But this interest didn’t lead him straight onto his path as a professional photographer. At first he studied business administration and graduated with honors in business psychology and human resources. Then he started his business as a self-employed specialist for analyzing corporate culture, consulting and coaching.Moving to Berlin brought major changes and he started working as a photographer. Since then he is using his eye for the essentials behind the camera. Looking for a technique that would allow him to create the most possible depth in his images he found his medium: the wet plate collodion process. To him that process means the rediscovery of slowness, the photographic path to the more subtle realities.
The silence of wet plate photography creates a unique atmosphere, which greatly affects his portraits as well as his landscapes. Portrayed people have the time to really arrive in their inner space, get in touch with themselves and therefore show themselves with everything that is – in that moment.
Places in nature become beings in that silence, with whom Klant enters into some sort of dialogue. He deeply engages with those places, experiences and explores them with all his senses, in search of their magic, their very nature – which he then captures in his photographs. It is important to him that depth does not necessarily need to be gloomy and morbid. He is looking for life in all its facets and therefore also shows the peaceful and luminous aspects of this world.
In the meanwhile Klant started working with numerous historical fine art printing techniques such as platin/palladium and carbon printing. His work is shown internationally and in 2014 his first book „100 Wet Plates – 100 Words“
back to gallery
