west coast winter wet plate portraits

Leah
4x5 ambrotype

So after fall's home renovations and then the holiday season, I now get to spend some time in the dark...ahhh...the darkness. I was unsure whether I would have any satisfaction from my old reddened collodion or my wayyy too old developer, but even with the dark rainy Canadian west coast day, I managed to make some shoe portraits. Since no one was home and the dog can't manage to sit still for a whole 90 seconds, it had to be shoes...

taken with a 4x5 speed graphic with a petzval type lens, for 90 seconds, on a very dark and rainy day.

Church of Tintype

I just spent 5 glorious days in upstate NY with tintype master, John Coffer. I am now an initiate of the Church of Tintype where collodion is holy, and chickens run free. We managed to sneak in some time to get to a garage sale where we picked up some dresses and bonnets worn by the Mennonite women. In the Mennonite community, once you are of age to enter the church, you cannot pose for photos, nor take photos. The image is me in my newly acquired dress and bonnet using a reproduction wetplate camera to set up a shot with John's assistant Nick. The countryside was breathtaking. I fall asleep with collodion visions.