I have been looking for this historical artwork for some years – a useable Dallmeyer 3B Portrait Petzval 290mm f/3 lens made during the 70s — the1870s. Finally, I got it (with some help). The lens is at the heart of my project, “Inspired”, which will be published in a book — you can register […]
Category: Wet Plate
Find all EMULSIVE articles dedicated to wet plate / collidon photography right here.
Posted inOpinion
Seasonal Reflections of an Analogue Photographer
“It’s Christmas Theo, it’s the time of miracles”Hans Gruber, Beloved Christmas Terrorist Christmas is a piece of family-orientated theatre, rich with idiosyncratic traditions that only exist within our own eccentric little bubbles, along with the shared, large scale infectious hysteria of a nation psyching itself up for some overly indulgent festive respite. The glittery extravagances […]
Posted inWet Plate
Introducing MentalCollodion: Shining light on mental health struggles by Simon Riddell
In the Summer of 2021 something special is coming to the Scottish Highlands (and hopefully elsewhere), courtesy of Simon Riddell, a van, a large camera, and a lot of chemicals! No, it’s not a sequel to Human Traffic, it’s a bold and exciting project from the man who helped bring us One Shot: Inchindown, the film […]
Posted inWet Plate
Visualising the Unspeakable: Exploring Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with wet plate photography
Even when the camera is focused on a single subject, photographic portraiture rarely, if ever, speaks with just one voice. It is this multifaceted layering, be it intentional or otherwise, that generates intrigue and keeps us coming back for another look, drawn to some inexplicable detail that refuses to sit quietly on the page. Historical […]
Posted inWet Plate
A world-first? Creating a traditional wet plate portrait over the internet from 4,000 miles away
With half the world under lockdown and the rest being advised to implement physical distancing and other measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, a traditional approach to studio portraiture and other relatively close-quarters photography needs a rethink…
Posted inWet Plate
Making “VIRUS”: A tintype stop motion animation
“You know me, if something bothers my mind, I have to make art out of it. Sadly at this moment, it’s the virus — COVID-19 — so I put my thoughts and feelings onto seven wet plates to make a stop motion animation.” Regular readers will no doubt be familiar with Markus Hofstaetter through my […]
Posted inArticles
Behind the scenes with Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet and the cast of Little Women on 1860s wet plate photography + photographer Q&A
Going against the grain, the on-set photographer of 2019’s Little Women included the use of traditional wet plate photography – also known as tintypes – to capture Saoirse Ronan, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Watson, James Norton and the rest of the production’s cast. It’s not very often that a unit still photographer gets to […]
Posted inWet Plate
Bringing a 160 year old giant Petzval lens back to life
It was a normal Saturday afternoon in November when I walked into a flea market. I met some friends there and looked around a little bit. In the end, I bought this Gasc and Charconnet 500mm petzval lens. If you are as old as I am and have seen the movie “Big trouble in little […]
Posted inWet Plate
Greta Thunberg: capturing the voice of the 21st century using 150-year-old wet plate photography
The call came in on the afternoon of Monday 7th October. Shane Balkowitsch would have little under 24 hours to plan a 15-minute wet plate photoshoot with Greta Thunberg at Standing Rock. Naturally, the first thing he did after getting off the phone was to start packing his studio up into the back of his truck — including his portable darkroom.
Posted inWet Plate
Not for legal use: Polaroid passport photos on wet plate collodion
Wet plate collodion doesn’t spring to mind as either the most practical or in fact, legal approach to creating passport photographs but that didn’t stop EMULSIVE interviewee #196 Markus Hofstaetter from giving it a shot.
Markus isn’t a stranger
Posted inArticles, Darkroom, Experiments, Guides, Wet Plate
How to: An introduction to wet plate collodion
You might remember that we featured an interview with Robert Marsters some months ago.
