Wet Plate Collodion

I make these images from scratch. It all starts with a trip to Home Depot to buy replacement glass. I cut it to size, sand the edges, clean the plate and smear a thin layer of albumin around the edges. All the chemicals i use are made from scratch. I then pour collodion on the glass plate, dip it in a silver nitrate bath, place the glass plate in a light tight film holder and take a picture. Exposure times take several seconds. Then, I go to a dark tent/box and develop and fix the image.

These image are also referred to as "glass plate negatives". Once i have the negative i can either make beautiful contact prints (carbon, albumin, oil, collodion and salt and others, or make an ambrotype (this is just that glass plate negative that has a black backing}. I can also scan the negative and produce a digital file.

Wet Plate Collodion was the type of photography used during the civil war. The most common cause of death among civil war era photographers was due to explosions. Some of the the chemicals I use have grain alcohol and ether in them.

Wet Plate Collodion photography is not better than digital. Digital is not better than traditional film photography. And etc...etc... They are just different. The reason I have chosen Collodion photography is because I could produce images that were made from scratch. Hand Made images that have a different look. And I have to tell you, it's a lot of fun.