Wet-Plate Tintypes

There were tintype portraits of long-deceased relatives hanging in my childhood home. The image of my great grandparents in Central Park, bundled up in a horse-drawn sleigh, made quite an impression. I remember the joy and intimacy of taking this image off the wall, holding it in my hand, and rocking it back and forth to catch varied angles of light. Although I loved the historic look and feel of tintypes, I never mustered the curiosity to investigate further.

When I took a survey course on image making using historic processes, I was hooked on the challenge of making tintypes. Today I have an ice-fishing tent in my barn that doubles as a darkroom. Here I use digital negatives to create images on collodion-covered tin plates.

My tintypes reflect the historical tradition of portrait making, and my ongoing interest in photographing children.