Ian Ruhter is a Los Angeles based photographer who creates amazing photographs using his van as a giant camera. One of the reasons I like his so much is because he dropped everything; his snowboarding career and his job to pursue his dream of creating his project "Silver and Light". Ruhter does not consider himself a photographer but instead an alchemist because he makes all his supplies himself. He used to shoot digital photography but dropped it because he missed the process of creating photographs and also he didn't like how much editing was completed on digital photographs. He tried to switch back to film photography but couldn't create the pictures he wanted. He then decided to use wet plate photography.
His first wet plate project was taking 8x10 photographs of skateboarder Levi Brown and after a hard day of shooting he became the first person to capture motion with wet plate photography. He created an eerily beautiful picture of Brown doing an ollie as seen below.
After continuing on he couldn't find a big enough camera to produce the picture he wanted and so made his on mobile camera and dark room in the back of his van.
This form of photography is highly risky as one mistake in the developing process of getting the plate into the silver nitrate solution can ruin the entire picture. The plates also cost about $500 so messing it up would be terrible.
After a while he got sick of capturing snowboarding and skateboarding and wanted to move onto something better. This is when he began his "Silver and Light" Project. His goal was to capture the American spirit through his photography and on his travels around America he has inspired many on his goal to try capture a shared vision.
I guess I love his photography so much because the picture isn't always perfect but the small mistakes on the plates make the pictures that much more unique. He wasn't afraid to follow his dream and do something so out of the ordinary that people have never seen anything like it. Everyone told him it would never work and that he should give up but he felt that since he had already started, he couldn't give up.
The fact that he made his truck into the camera, made his own film, his own silver nitrate solution and is essentially the camera because he operates all the mechanics such as the shutter and lever and gears makes him all the more amazing. He had no one to teach him how to make these photos because he was blazing a new trail in photographic history so he had to teach himself how to do everything. He figured he wanted his own signature and own style and to do this he felt he had to make everything himself so he knew how it all worked.
As you can see, his photos are beautiful. The contrast and just the setting of them or what he's taking a picture of is so breathtaking. He captures pictures with a truck and no second chances that are better than some professional photographers who have the equipment to re-take and edit their photos. I think it is partially that his pictures have a certain sepia tone to them that makes them feel as if they have some kind of history or an antique feeling behind it. The plate may have some mistakes on it or some places where it didn't develop properly but each of these elements adds more characters to the photos and shows that end product doesn't always have to be perfect in order to capture the perfect image, spirit and feel.
He is an inspiration to not only me but many other people across the world and I hope everyone loves his photography as much as I do.
Below is a link to a video which first introduced me to Ruhter's work and that for me was probably the deciding factor on who was "My Favourite Photographer".
Short Video on Ian Ruhter
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