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- Unlike modern digital photography, which is instantaneous, the process of creating a tintype (otherwise known as ferrotype) photograph is an art in itself and requires much more time and involvement for both the subject and photographer.
- Ferrotype photography is an antiquated direct positive photographic process whereby the artist creates their own “wet plate” in a portable darkroom by coating a metal plate with light sensitive chemistry and then exposing it to an image in a camera. The image is directly printed on the metal plate, and does not require negative film.
- Each plate is transported from the darkroom to the camera in a light-proof wet plate holder, then quickly inserted into the camera, where it is exposed to the image. Afterwards, the plate is transported back to the portable darkroom in the wet plate holder, and developed before the chemistry dries. The result is a beautiful, often haunting, image that is reminiscent of the past.
- In my artistic practice, I explore and document human connection to the land through wet plate collodion and panoramic film photography by documenting rural farmers and farmscapes. By using historic, archival photographic processes, I create artwork that will last generations.
- I believe it is important to celebrate and preserve lost art forms through their continued practice. It is equally important to document modern agriculture in a tangible, archival format, a format that is not at the mercy of lost memory cards or failed hard drives.
- Modern digital photography is instantaneous, but can easily be made obsolete through advances in technology. Photographs still exist today that were taken at the beginning of wet plate photography in the mid 1800s. By using the wet plate photographic process, I intend for my photographs to be around for at least 150 years, hopefully more.
- I marry modern and antiquated gear for my wet plate photography. I use an antique large format camera: the "Seneca Improved View" camera made in Rochester, NY in the early 1900s.
- My camera takes 5"x7" images using antique wooden plate holders made for dry plate photography that I modified for wet plate use.
- I paired my antique camera with a Rodenstock Sironar-N 240 mm f5.6 lens, a modern lens made around the 1980s. I choose this lens because it is good for environmental portraits, to achieve shorter exposure times for my wet plate photographs, and to give myself the option of shooting large format film (the lens screws into a Copal 3 shutter).
- For self portraits, I use a modern remote shutter release made for manual cameras made by Reveni Labs in Canada.