“Standing for Us All” by Shane Balkowitsch

“Each and every day the world is filled with millions and millions of digital photographs that have no value, character, significance or physical form. That is not the case with a wet plate collodion” says Shane Balkowitsch. Shane is a wet plate photographer who began his photographic journey just recently, in 2012, after seeing a single plate shot by another photographer. Perhaps inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit, it only took him 45 days from the time he decided to pursue this art form to the time he captured his first wet plate photograph. To the general public, this seems like an adequate amount of time to prepare; however, this specific photographic process isn’t one you just “pick up”. Most individuals who pursue wet plate collodion have been photographers for decades who wish to expand their work into alternative processes and who have already studied and absorbed a wide range of photographic techniques and experience. Not Shane though, he spent 45 days diving headfirst into the medium with absolutely zero artist background. He shot his first plate of his brother on October 4, 2012, the rest is history.

Fast forward to 2019, Shane has now created 3397 wet plates, of which, 500+ are now held in over 20 institutes, museums, and private collections including the United States The Library of Congress, Minnesota Historical Society, and The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Most of his work being preserved is apart of his ongoing series Northern Plains Native Americans: A Wet Plate Perspective, which he began in 2016 with the assistance of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Following in the footsteps of Edward Curtis (1868-1952) who “took over 40,000 photographic images of members of over 80 tribes” [1], Shane has set out to capture the later generations of the same indigenous people that Edward Curtis captured in the 20th century. Shane explained to us his motivation for this series: “I pretend to take portraits of historic people when there are real historic people around me every day. That history is not always about the past, but it is about the present day”. His goal isn’t just to capture but to preserve. He shared that, “Documenting the people of today [via wet pate photography] for future generations to enjoy will result in a richer understanding of life among Native Americans form from the great State of North Dakota, and beyond”. To date, Shane has captured 376 plates of Native Americans and has no plans to stop soon. His goal is to produce 1000 plates, which will then complete his project, and ultimately result in a 4 volume set of books that will preserve and show these images to the world. At his current rate, this task will take him another 10-15 years to achieve.

Due to the relationships Shane has formed with the indigenous people of North Dakota over the last few years, he recently had the opportunity to photograph Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist on climate change whose campaigning has gained international recognition. If you weren't aware of Greta before, we are sure you are now. She was just featured as Time Magazine’s person of the year for 2019 and was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Shane’s unique photograph of Greta has rocketed his wet plate work into the socialmedia-sphere and has gone viral with over 2,000,000 combined shares and “likes”. Shane’s work was already well known in photographic circles; however the general public wasn’t aware of the work he was doing. Due to his wet plates of Greta, he now has an international audience which highlights both his own views on climate change and environmental preservation, but also the medium of wet plate photography. His photograph, Standing for Us All, is a unique approach to capturing a now historical figure that also parallels Shane’s own journey to preserve the history of lands and people that have been displaced and destroyed by corporate and industrial organizations and businesses.

With the international attention that Shane has received from his portrait of Greta, we felt it was the perfect time to interview him here at Analog Forever Magazine. Though he has been featured and interviewed by 75+ magazines and publications in the last few months, few have dove in and examined Shane’s work in the depth that we desired. It’s with this that we thank Shane for his time in detailing his artistic past and hopeful future in the photographic process of wet plate photography. After you are done reading his interview please head over to Amazon where you can pick up Northern Plains Native Americans: A Wet Plate Perspective on sale for the holidays. You can always get a sneak peek at the documentary, Balkowitsch, which was just accepted into the Fargo Film Festival! You can also connect with Shane Balkowitsch on his Website and on Instagram!

Interview

Michael Behlen: Without having a proper creative outlet for the first 44 years of your life, why did you choose to dive into wet plate photography? Especially just after 45 days of discovering it? Can you describe to us the "I have to do this" moment?

Shane Balkowitsch: I have been asked this question many times and I really do not have a good answer. I have always been a student of history and the past. There was something magical and romantic about these images [wet plate photography] and though I have seen them many times in my life, I did not understand what they were and why they were so special. At that point in my life, I had already become a successful businessman and chasing the bottom line was falling short for me. The moment you are able to create something, that all changes, it is not about the money, it is about the history that is captured. Once I was able to find this creative outlet, I have been haunted ever since. I truly feel that I do not have enough time left on this Earth to do all that I want to do with this process, but I will surely try.

“Troy Fox Keahna Morsette” by Shane Balkowitsch

MB: I know photography is often seen as a creative outlet; however, you consistently mention legacy and history when speaking about the work you do. Is photography more than just something creative for you? It feels like it's more of a documentation process for you than an artistic one. Can you help us understand your complex set of motivations for continuing to use the wet place process and for pursuing photography at all?

SB: Ever since I began making photographs in wet plate, I really never considered myself a photographer. I have no formal training, I never took a class, never had a hands-on mentor or never read a book. I was very reluctant to call myself a photographer because I felt that I was not worthy of the title in some silly way. I knew photographers, I knew what they knew, I did not have this knowledge, so I settled on the title of “image maker”. To answer your question, for me it is all about the image. It does not matter how you get to that image, none of that is important. What is most important is: does the image speak to you? Does it move you? Does it give you a message? When you get a yes to any or all of these questions, you know you have something.

What is so very special about the wet plate process is their permanence. These images will outlast any other image ever taken of my subjects. When you create something that will be here long after you are gone, you cannot help but think about how to properly document and protect the works. Who knows if my work is good enough to be protected? I will leave that up to others to decide. I can honestly say that if I lost the ability to make wet plates, I would immediately abandon photography all together. I simply have no desire or will to create in any other process. Nothing compares with the 1851 process invented by Frederick Scott Archer. We abandoned it in the mid-1880’s for photographic process that were easier and quicker. That is not a good enough reason. I want my work to prove that this is a viable process and that it needs to be practiced in the modern-day for all the reasons I have described.

MB: You have mentioned that William Mortensen is one of your inspirations. He shot many of the leading stars of his day and unashamedly explored the topics of sex and violence, as well as created surreal composites. What about his work inspires you?

SB: What is amazing to me is his manipulation of the images that he created. Remember, the computer would not be invented for another 50 years after he died. There was no photoshop [back then]. He could only manipulate his negatives and prints in the real analog world and that is astounding. How he was able to show us a witch flying over a house on a broomstick, or a giant scary creature? Everything was in camera. He was a pioneer. I also feel that many people were very jealous of his work, specifically Ansel Adams, who called Mortensen “The Anti-Christ of Photography”. It only takes a minute of reviewing some of his images that were made in the early 20th Century for one to say “how the hell did he do that?”. He is my hero and I think his style really speaks to me and I feel it shows in some of my work.

“Alexandria Marie Nelson-Knudson and Rachael Sophia TreeTop” by Shane Balkowitsch

MB: You now have a large amount of work that is preserved in Archives and Institutes around the US and internationally, including a plate of the Boxer Evander Holyfield, which was your first-ever "collected" plate. How did it feel when the Smithsonian reached out to you to obtain this original plate for their archives? Is it surreal that your work has been quickly looked to as historical in nature even though you have only been practicing photography since 2012?

SB: Today, I just sent my plate #3327 “Greta” of Greta Thunberg to the Nodiska Museet in Stockholm Sweden, just an hour ago. The other plate “Standing For Us All”, #3328, is already at the US Library of Congress. So as of today, there are 19 different archives from around the world that are curating my original glass plates, and it is a huge honor. When I sent the plate to the Smithsonian in 2015 it really did not seem real. I had only been making images for less than 3 years and here I was sending an original plate to them. It never falls short on me how much of an opportunity or blessing it is to be able to place works in these prestigious archives. For me, it is about finding a safe home for my plates. I say it all the time. If I keep my own work, surely my kids will get them upon my death, and they will covet them because they are “Dad’s works”. Then they will be handed down to their children and then their children and so on. At some point you get so far removed from Shane’s work, you never know what might happen to them. They may be sold at a garage sale, online or simply tossed in the garbage. Glass plates are not easy to store and take care of because they are fragile and take up too much room. So for me, the only plates of mine that will survive are the hundreds of plates placed at these archives and I suppose that is why I am always trying to place as much of my work as possible. I will never take this for granted.

MB: At what point did you begin working on your series and now book: Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective? What inspired you to start this project and what motivates you to keep doing it? How did it change or evolve while you were shooting and completing it? Have you always had an interest in the local history of North Dakota and its ingenious people?

SB: That series all started with my image “Eternal Field” of Ernie LaPointe, the Great Grandson of Sitting Bull, taken on September 6th, 2014. Up to that point, I had been taking most anyone’s portrait. I even took some fun reenactment shots over at Fort Abraham Lincoln. But that all stopped when I met Ernie and we made this portrait together. I realized that “why would I pretend to take portraits of historic people where there are real historic people around me every day?” History is not always about the past, but it is about the present day. The image of Ernie will someday be a piece of history, just as Orlando Scott Goff’s first ever portrait of Sitting Bull taken here in Bismarck is now. I produced a research article about Goff with my good friend Lou Hafermehl, it is peer-reviewed and you can see it here.

As for continuing, I feel I have no choice and that I must see this through. I have made 376 plates for this series as of today. Tomorrow during my studio time I will add more. My goal is 1000 plates and at the present rate, it will take me another 10-15 years to achieve. I wanted my goal to seem out of reach, a challenge, and something to aim for. I really feel this is my life’s work. I can do all kinds of other works, but my Native American series is where I find the most satisfaction. These are my friends. When Calvin Grinnell, the elder from the Hidatsa Nation, gave me my name “Shadow Catcher”, the dedication and commitment was put in stone. I have no choice about this. Receiving my own Native American name was the largest single honor of my life. They are no longer my friends, but they now come into my studio as my brothers and sisters. I will be damned if I will let them down. With the 1000 images, there will be 4 books available.

MB: How has the project changed you? What have you learned in the process of creating it? Were there any surprises along the way?

SB: The process has taught me that it is all about the human connection that makes this series so very special to me. I feel I am learning all of the time to improve the way that I depict my Native American subjects. I ask many questions about their culture, their regalia, and their heritage and I think the more I learn the more I can bring that knowledge into the series. The biggest surprise in all of this is that there was no big game plan, this is all very unexpected. I was just creating works in the back of my warehouse and I had no idea that other people would find what I was doing fascinating or important.

“Delvin Luke Rabbit Head, Sr.” by Shane Balkowitsch

MB: I have read that you brought out your portable wet plate studio during the Standing Rock Keystone Pipeline Protests in 2016. Were you there to protest or just document the activity? Did your work with the ingenious people of ND spark your interest in this or have you always been an environmentalist and/or grassroots movement supporter? Can you expand on your history and opinions on this?

SB: I had already been working on my series when the disputes at DAPL that took place. I saw the news and my friends were messaging me about the strife that was occurring. I knew that if I could get my camera down there that at least I could show some sort of support and capture my friends’ point of view. Again, something that I did not feel I had a choice about. When a friend needs your help, you lend it. Was I not to go down there? Was I to turn my back on the people that were coming into my studio every week to have their portraits taken, the answer is a resounding NO. I needed to show support just as they have shown support for me and my work over the years.

MB: You said in a video interview that you used to chase money and that you were "naive". How did you come to this conclusion, and how did wet-plate photography help you get there?

SB: I am not sure when it occurred to me but it is just a feeling I have. What I do with my camera is the most important thing I have ever done. You can have all the money in the world, or you could be the poorest person in the world, what we need to do is support each other, look out for others, and most of all: try to make a difference. I sometimes feel very guilty for having found this process when I know there are many people on this Earth that will never find something as important to them. We go to our jobs day in and day out, eventually retire, and that is it. I understand the necessity for that: we all need to make a living, feed our families, and do our best to get by, but there must be something more. For me, this is the wet plate process.

MB: Would 30 year old Shane be at the Keystone Pipeline Protests, what changed?

SB: Without a doubt. Again these are my friends and they have trusted me. It did not take much to see that my friends were being horribly mistreated by law enforcement and the government of this state, nothing new right? We have been doing this forever. That is the point, nothing has changed. We want to think we are an accepting and compassionate state, but are we? Why would a state choose the financial gain of an out of state oil company over its own residents? Water cannons shot at people below freezing, tear gas, rubber bullets. What I can tell you is that not ONE police officer in the year long struggle received any sort of injury, not even a paper cut. But hundreds of Native Americans were sent to the hospital and were permanently damaged by these attacks upon them. Is this right, the answer is NO. Will I stand with my friends? The answer is ALWAYS.

MB: You heard that Greta Thunberg would be in Standing Rock to visit the tribes there and to accept honors for her work to fight climate change. Was your initial reaction to an attempt to capture wet plates of her?

SB: I wanted to get her to my studio but that was simply impossible with her schedule, so I told, Jen Jewett, my contact at Standing Rock, give me 15 minutes and sure enough, I got my 15 minutes with her and the rest is history.

MB: How much have you known about her before this shoot, what was your opinion, and how, if at all, has your opinion been updated since you had the pleasure of meeting her?

SB: I had been following Greta and her journey for months before I got to meet her. I have 4 children on this planet and climate change has been a concern of mine for the last decade or so. To think that I would get my opportunity, I could never have imagined.

MB: 20 Minutes isn’t a lot of time to capture two wet plates; normally you shoot 3-4 over 3-4 hours. How was this environment difficult and challenging and how did you overcome these obstacles to capture the plates you did?

SB: Yeah, I was only promised 15 minute and ONE portrait only. When Greta and her Father Svante saw the first plate “Greta” come to life in the fixer, I asked: “Can I do another?” The answer was “Absolutely”. It takes about an hour in my studio to do one portrait with composition and I did not have that. So I shot from the hip. I did not even have time to do a test exposure. I dialed in to f/8 with my Carl Zeiss Tessar 300mm lens and captured a 3 second of exposure in the shade of a pine tree. It was a shot in the dark and there was a good chance I was not going to be able to get an image with that amount of time. However, I now have 2 plates to show for it. I feel blessed.

MB: How did you come up with the name "Standing For Us All" for your portrait of Greta Thunberg?

SB: I knew that if I only had the chance to make one plate that I was going to do an intimate close-up like I did with the first plate “Greta”. I knew that I did not want to play with her likeness too much and that I did not want to get too far away from her so that you could really tell it was her. But once I had the opportunity for a 2nd plate, I recreated a scene from a dream about this situation from the night before. I knew I would put her with the landscape of Standing Rock behind her and that I would have her off to the side of the plate, giving the environment its fair spot on the plate. I am not sure how I came up with the name and all I knew was “Standing For US All” worked. The fact that she is standing for many people that do not even believe in climate change is also very important. So she is standing for us who know the real science but she is also standing for the ignorant people that are denying the 97% of worldwide scientists.

MB: You decided to shoot, share, and allow everyone to see these plates of Greta on a non-commercial basis. Can you share with us what lead you to this decision?

SB: I simply do not feel that the work is mine. I could not do it without the trust of Greta. She has so many millions of people that appreciate what she is doing, so it was nothing really to decide. I have sold some limited edition prints to raise money for Standing Rock and I have plans for some larger more significant prints to be sold at art galleries, but there will always be funds going back to Standing Rock because if it was not for them, this would not have been made possible.

“Samuel Louis Seaboy” by Shane Balkowitsch

MB: You said that your plates of Greta are your most important works to date. Why is that? What these plates more important than the plates you have done to preserve ND ingenuous people's heritage? Is it important in equally but in different ways?

SB: They are not the most important works too date, they are my most famous works to date. With over 100,000 shares and 2,000,000 likes on social media, when will that ever happen again for me? Are these not the most viewed and celebrated wet plate portraits of the modern era? 75 news articles and magazines have covered these images. I must pinch myself. It was a couple of months after the making of the plates that this all became a realization: that I now have a duty to these images. I feel that it does not matter if a person is famous or not for the work to have importance. The important questions are once again: Does the image speak to you? Does it send a message? Do you feel something when you look at it? So a plate that has those important elements will always be important. Not all plates are created equal and you cannot feel the same about every work. In fact, the more works I make, the less I like my work. I have said this many times, but I feel that is reassuring.

MB: How has your photographic life changed since you shot and shared these images with the world? How does it feel to be in the middle of a couple weeks of internet fame? Do you hope it lasts? Or is it simply not important to you?

SB: I feel that Greta has brought attention to my work in a way that would not be possible otherwise. In doing that, these plates opened the door for my life’s work for my Native American series. As far as fame: I feel it is in the same category as money. It is not really important and I surely cannot control it so, why worry about such things? Is it great to get the recognition and validation, absolutely. I would not be honest if I told you differently. I cannot believe how far I have come in just seven years and who knows what the next seven years holds for me.

MB: Have you spoken to Greta since you shot the plates? Any plans to photograph her again or another figure like her in the coming future?

SB: I have been in contact with Greta’s father and her mother numerous times via messaging. Her mother just sent me a message a couple of weeks back thanking me for doing what I did for her daughter and told me that she was so very happy with the traction that the images have received. She was very thankful and it made me feel good. I have no idea if I will ever see Greta again. My heart tells me I had my 20 minutes with her and what I was able to achieve and do with that little amount of time, I need to be happy with. Anything more would be selfish. I do have another very important person that is potentially arriving, but I cannot share at this time. There will be private jets involved, contracts signed, and security sweeps of my studio if this takes place. But as with Greta, I cannot get too excited until the person actually makes it in front of my camera. Then it is go time!

MB: Lastly, what does the next year, five years, and decade look like for you? What do you hope to achieve during these time frames, with who, and for what purpose?

SB: Now that I have my natural light studio built, the epicenter for my work, the sky is the limit. I have photographers who have traveled in from all over the country to spend a weekend with me learning and seeing the process first hand. Who really knows what is next? I never thought I would have my moment to photograph any of the following individuals: Evander Holyfield, Ernie LaPointe (the Great Grandson of Sitting Bull), Deb Haaland (the first Native American Congress woman), and Greta Thunberg. I will take it as it comes but as I write these words to you, if I never make another plate, what a ride it has been.

Gallery

“Rachael Sophia TreeTop”

“Megan Marie Isaak - To Uphold Nature”

“Megan Marie Isaak - The Tarot Reader”

“Jackson David Ripley” by Shane Balkowitsch

“Eve Marie Lancaster” by Shane Balkowitsch

“Eve Marie Lancaster - The Duality of Eve”

“Eve Marie Lancaster - Eve's Dilemma”

“Cipriano Joseph White Bull” by Shane Balkowitsch

“Britta Marie Anderson - The Mirror and Easel”

“Alexandria Marie Nelson-Knudson and Rachael Sophia TreeTop”

“Aiyana Rayne Burnstick”

“Tokeya Maci U Richardson”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Behlen is a photography enthusiast from Fresno, CA. He works in finance and spends his free time shooting instant film and backpacking in the California wilderness, usually a combination of the two. He has been published, been interviewed, and been reviewed in a quantity of magazines and online publications, from F-Stop and Blur magazine to the Analog Talk Podcast. He loves the magic sensuality of instant film: its saturated, surreal colors; the unpredictability of the medium; it’s addictive qualities as you watch it develop. He is the founder of Analog Forever Magazine. Connect with Michael Behlen on his Website and on Instagram!