Posted inFeatured projects

My new portrait project: “Inspired”, passionate artists and a 145-year-old Dallmeyer 3B 290mm f/3 Portrait Petzval lens

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 […]

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 inArticlesDarkroomDeveloping FilmFeaturedFeatured projectsWet plate collodion

Introducing MentalCollodion: Shining light on mental health struggles

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 collodion

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 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 collodion

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.