Wet Plate Collodion Still Lifes, 5x7

Wet plate collodion is one of the oldest photographic processes still practiced today. First practiced by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, it replaced the daguerreotype and changed the course of photography forever. The process involves coating a glass or metal plate with a syrupy chemical solution called collodion (nitrocellulose dissolved in ether and alcohol), sensitizing it in a silver nitrate bath, and then exposing it in the camera, all while the plate remains wet. From start to finish, the photographer has only about 10-15 minutes before the plate dries and loses its sensitivity.

The result is a unique, one of a kind image that no digital process can replicate. On glass, the image is called an ambrotype, and on thin black-coated metal, a tintype. Each plate carries the fingerprints of its making; subtle streaks, oyster swirls, and imperfections that give ambrotypes and tintypes such character. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with this process. Even when shooting the same subject, every plate has its own unique signature, no two are ever exactly the same.

I currently work with a 5x7 Korona Pictorial View Camera and an 8x10 Kodak 2D, both made in Rochester, New York in the early 1900s.