The Photo Palace: Tintype and Ambrotype - Wet Plate Collodion Work

I have already written quite a bit about this process, but here's a very quick synopsis. Wet plate photography was practiced between 1851 and mid 1880s, though in some aspects it survived well into the 20th century. Each image is made by hand on aluminum or glass plate, which must be coated, sensitized, exposed and processed before collodion layer dries. Final image is unique and is comprised of particles of pure silver. After varnishing to protect it from oxidation the plate will last hundreds of years.

I learned plate process in 2013, and since then have dedicated my time to almost no other medium (with exception of daguerreotype). Be it at studio or while driving across country, I enjoy materializing bits of memory and history, by crafting timeless impressions of silver. I've taught numerous private and group workshops, and gladly offer those both on location and in my San Diego studio. Wet plate is also a great medium for a genuinely different photo booth experience for any occasion, and doing that work connects me deeper to the traveling photographers of the past, who immortalized our ancestors in tintypes in our family albums.
Here are but a few examples of my work.

PORTRAITS