We, along with many other farmers in New York State, lost our entire apple crop this spring due to a freeze event after the apples had set fruit. It was the biggest crop loss in every farmer's memory.
Since then, we have thought of a creative way to share our farm offerings with our community in a year without much fruit: tintype photographs of our farm! Shop farm tintypes
Crystal learned tintype, or ferrotype, photography this summer from John Coffer in Dundee, NY, and has set off on her own making photographs.
She has been enthusiastically making tintype photographs around our farm. We are excited to now offer her original farm tintypes on our online shop!
When you purchase a farm tintype, you are supporting our farm, and purchasing a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork that is a direct representation of the scenes of our farm. Each tintype is made by hand, and is a unique record of the techniques and chemistry used to produce it. This makes them so special!
Ferrotype photography was invented in the 1850s, and involves a large format camera and portable darkroom setup. It is a form of alternative process photography that produces unique, truly handmade, one-of-a-kind photographs.
Tintypes are taken on blackened metal plates. Crystal has been working with aluminum, but is starting to blacken her own steel plates. The entire process requires the photograph to be wet with chemistry, referred to as “wet plate”. Crystal pours the collodion onto a blackened sheet of metal, soaks it in a silver nitrate bath for 3 minutes to make it light-sensitive, exposes the plate to the image, and finally develops, rinses, fixes, and rinses the image some more. All of these steps happen before the chemistry on the plate dries.
Once the plate is fully rinsed, it is air dried, then varnished to prevent damage or tarnishing of the image and to make it archival. Tintypes can be matted and framed like any other photograph.
Crystal is also offering outdoor, natural light tintype portraits, either on our farm, or at your home. She will work with you to create the perfect family heirloom! Email Crystal now to schedule a natural light tintype portrait session: amethystcrystal0214@gmail.com
