This year I will be teaching the History of Photojournalism
course at Loyalist College’s Photojournalism Program for the fifth straight
year. Much of the course is dedicated to helping students understand how
technical breakthroughs in the photographic medium have lead to today's enhanced
storytelling capabilities and standards. By looking at history and
understanding how visual storytelling has been applied we hope to inform the
work we do today.
The wet plate collodion process was invented in 1851 by Frederick
Scott Archer who was an amateur photographer seeking a less complicated process
than the daguerreotype. By the 1880’s wet plate photography was all but
replaced by the gelatin dry plate as these glass plates were much more stable
and could be carried into the field and returned to the darkroom for
development later. A wet plate must be exposed and developed before it dries
out generally thought to be about ten minutes.
Self Portrait Tintype |
Like many learners I can read all the history books in the
world on the processes but in order to truly appreciate the application of a
photographic process I need to get involved. So I began to research online
tutorials and workshops and I discovered the workshops at the George Eastman
House and Museum.
The Drive down to Rochester was beautiful passing through
the Finger Lakes and Rochester is actually quite a nice small city. The bonus
for me was that there was a wonderful Lewis Hine exhibit on while I was at the
Eastman house. If you ever get the chance I highly recommend a visit.
Self Portrait - Too Close - Tintype |
The workshop itself was lead by Mark Osterman the Process
Historian at the George Eastman House. Mark proved to be a wealth of knowledge
and insisted on teaching us the best technique for not only shooting clean
plates but also troubleshooting the process when we attempt to apply it on our
own. Mark is also half of Scully Osterman and with his wife France Scully they
teach workshops around the world and exhibit their own personal work. Check
their site http://www.collodion.org/.
The original tintype artists were Ferrotypists as the plate was made of iron today we use aluminium trophy plate. Some civil war re-enactors find antique biscuit tins to use.
Still Life with Skull - Tintype |
Overall learning basic tintype was a valuable experience for
my personal development as a photographer and as an educator, I look forward
to the day that I use a historic process in my own photographic work.