wetplatecollodion

A side-by-side comparison of a bald man with a gray beard and extensive face tattoos. The left image is in color, revealing the vivid tattoos, while the right image is a black-and-white rendition of the same person, highlighting facial features in contrast.

Disappearing Ink on a Tattooed Man: A Photographer’s Story

The tattooed man arrived at the photographer’s right on time, a walking gallery of living art in vibrant blues, greens, and reds imprinted all over his face and neck. He sat for a portrait in the studio as scheduled.

Eve Marie Lancaster - Maiden Pouring Milk

Wet Plate Pictorialism in the Modern World: ‘Maiden Pouring Milk’

The Accademia del Disegno (“Academy of Design”), which opened in 1563 Florence, Italy was the world’s first academy of art. Prior to that time, to succeed with a career in the arts, a would-be artist either apprenticed in a respected Master’s atelier or was self-educated.

This Wet Plate Photo Took the Collaboration of 90 People to Produce

For the past five years, I have organized an annual photographic Tableaux Vivant based on classic paintings. I have included anywhere from 15, or in the instance of my 2021 construction, No Vaccine for Death, 90 collaborators.

Wet Plate Collodion Portraits of Burn Victims

Clément Marion, a French photographer in his early twenties, shoots only with analog processes. In his latest project, he decided to use wet plate collodion to capture intimate portraits of burn victims.

Wet Plate Collodion Portraits of Frontline Medical Workers

It hasn’t been easy being a portrait photographer during a pandemic. I opened my tintype portrait studio in February of 2020 with visions of goofy vintage photo remakes and smiling families gracing my lens. By the end of March, it was only still lifes full of skulls and dead flowers, dark and stale tones oddly appropriate for the time.

This Animation Was Made from Seven Wet Plate Collodion Tintypes

Photographer Markus Hofstätter has made a name for himself by pushing wet plate photography to new heights, trying things others have never even thought to do. Today brings yet another example of his creativity, as he sets out to create an animation using, not digital files, but wet plate collodion tintypes.

Behind the Scenes: Shooting Wet Plate Portraits of the Cast of Little Women

Now these are some cast portraits we can really get behind. On-set photographer Wilson Webb recently got the chance to photograph the entire cast of Best Picture nominee Little Women, but instead of shooting glitzy studio portraits, he decided to stay historically accurate and capture wet plate collodion portraits instead.

This Photographer Colorizes His Wet Plate Photos with Striking Results

Fine art photographer Borut Peterlin was recently commissioned to shoot some ambrotypes by costume designer Alan Hranitelj, but he went a few steps beyond your standard wet plate collodion photography. In addition to shooting some beautiful multiple-exposures, he also decided to colorize the scans, creating striking photographs the likes of which we've not seen before.

Light Formulation: Statement of an Artist

I always resisted writing artist statements and bios. In school, that part of every assignment or exhibition was the most agonizing. It felt overly simplistic to just describe what the viewer was about to encounter, or why objects or abstract shapes, making my specific image or groups of images, were presented in this way or another.

A Multi-Plate, Multi-Lens Daguerreotype Panorama

I’ve been experimenting non-stop with a few new daguerreotype techniques lately, and however promising the results are looking so far, those experiments are slow going. But here’s something I thought up and was able to execute in a relatively speedy manner -- something I believe warrants a look. I don’t believe this method of making a panoramic image has ever been utilized before, so I’m dubbing it the "Antorama."

Recreating the Look of 1850s Tintypes in Digital with Math and Science

While I was visiting San Francisco, Kristy Headley, a dear friend and fellow engineer, showed me her studio. There I was lucky enough to sit for her while she did some vintage tintyping. Tintyping was one of the earliest forms of photography, popular in the 1850s.

Ice Crystals Captured in a Wet Plate Portrait

New York photographer Justin Borucki has been documenting his city with a pop-up tintype studio out of the back of his car. While shooting a portrait for a client recently, Borucki unexpectedly captured a beautiful leaf-like pattern across the photo due to the frigid wind chill causing ice crystals to form.