St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, North Dakota, April 24th, 2019 Wet Plate CollodionSt. Mary's Church by Shane Balkowitsch St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, North Dakota, April 24th, 2019 Wet Plate CollodionSt. Mary's Church by Shane Balkowitsch

Saint Mary's Church, Bismarck, North Dakota with Father Jared Johnson and both 3rd grade classes standing out front. This may be the first time the Church has ever been captured in the historic process I hold so dear. Orlando Scott Goff had already established his wet plate studio by 1875 in Bismarck. I am not sure if he ever pointed his lens at this structure. An original plate is going to be auctioned off next week for charity. Bonnie Balkowitsch was my wet plate assistant today and she helped me considerably on site. I love you.

The idea I had for the extreme angle shot was thinking about what it was like when I was young boy and I stood in front of this Church. How tall the steeple seemed to me. It felt like it reached into the heavens. I am calling the plate "A Child's View of the Steeple at St. Mary's".  My grandparents, and my parents and my wife and I have all been married in this Church. I was an alter boy when I was ten years old and I helped with mass under Monsignor Feehan nearly 40 years ago. I remember that he would always reach into his little coin purse after ever mass and give us alter boys a dime for our services. I still have some of them to this day. I have fond memories of this place.

1875 - The Church of the Immaculate Conception, later known as the Church of St. Mary, is built at the corner of Main Avenue and Mandan Street in Bismarck. Fr. John Baptiste Marie Genin was the builder of the original St. Mary's Church.

Carl Zeiss Tessar 250mm lens, f11, 2 seconds of exposure, 7x7" square black glass ambrotypes in the historic wet plate collodion process of pure silver on glass. I used my original 5x7” camera, my first camera to capture these plates.

https://stmarysbismarck.org/

Behind the Scene Images of the Capturing of St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, ND in Wet PlateShane Balkowitsch, Wet Plate Collodion, captures St. Mary's Church Behind the Scene Images of the Capturing of St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, ND in Wet PlateShane Balkowitsch, Wet Plate Collodion, captures St. Mary's Church Behind the Scene Images of the Capturing of St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, ND in Wet PlateShane Balkowitsch, Wet Plate Collodion, captures St. Mary's Church Behind the Scene Images of the Capturing of St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, ND in Wet PlateShane Balkowitsch, Wet Plate Collodion, captures St. Mary's Church Behind the Scene Images of the Capturing of St. Mary's Church, Bismarck, ND in Wet PlateShane Balkowitsch, Wet Plate Collodion, captures St. Mary's Church