Victorian Era Portrait Photography in the Fox Valley of Wisconsin
Historic photography techniques with a modern twist. Tintype and Ambrotype (glass) portraits made with sun and silver.
Contact me to create your portrait!
I am based in Neenah, Wisconsin, and have a mobile darkroom for work all around Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Interested in learning more? You can Book a Portrait Session, Purchase a plate or print, or come to one of our Pop Ups or events this Summer!
Check out my Portfolio
Learn more about the Wet Plate Collodion Process, Salt Printing, and the Cyanotype Process
An image from our most recent portrait session. This portrait was inspired by the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia is one of my inspirational artists. She came to photography late in life and created art for less than 10 years. She ignored contemporary photographic “rules” and made images in her vision and using her own style.
This 8×10 tintype portrait of Nataly was created in natural light using a Victorian Era lens. I made a negative from the tintype and then created a full sized silver salt print. I hope Julia would approve!
I plan on more images in this style so contact me if you are interested in posing!
Here are some recent portraits – click on picture to view full size
Recent Blog Posts
- Pop Up – Heritage Makers Market
As the weather finally turns colder my time opens up and I can catch up on posting. There were hundreds of traveling tintype photographers back in the Victorian era. They would travel around the country and would “pop up” at events like Fairs and Festivals. That tradition is still alive, although now there are maybe only a dozen or two tintype photographers actively traveling and doing tintype pop ups or events. I love doing tintype pop ups because I get the chance to meet and create images with so many… Read more: Pop Up – Heritage Makers Market - Vintage or Modern Lens for Wet Plate?
One of the advantages of doing historic Victorian photography is there are so many great lenses around to choose from. I can choose a vintage or modern lens for wet plate photographs. By “vintage” I mean something 100 years old or older – a lens that could have been used for wet plate photography when it was new. “Modern” means something from the early to mid 1900’s (so only 50 to around 100 years old). The choice of a vintage or modern lens for wet plate is for me more… Read more: Vintage or Modern Lens for Wet Plate? - Tuesday in The Park
It was Tintype Tuesday in the Park. The weather, and the light, was variable. Cloudy to sunny to partly sunny and back to clouds! Rain all morning but we managed to get a window of dryness. They say “the show must go on” so we worked through the continuously variable light. Smith Park, Menasha, was the location and Victorian era costumes were the order of the day – a perfect fit with Victorian era photography! After the more formal portraits we switched it up. You know the party is starting… Read more: Tuesday in The Park - Waterfall Tintype Adventure Portraits
Waterfall adventure tintype portraits featuring the lovely AM Model. Life is an adventure and all too short. So why not have as many fun adventures as you can. Here are a few 8×10 tintypes from our session at a waterfall north of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Our first plate (an 8x10in) turned out almost exactly as planned. It was very dark in the little gorge of the waterfall so we had to use a almost 20 seconds of exposure time. That is a long time to hold still, especially with the… Read more: Waterfall Tintype Adventure Portraits - January Tintype Portrait Session
Rachel (@racheljulianxo) and I met in Neenah for a January tintype portrait session. January is not usually the best time to capture outdoor tintypes. I don’t know that very many people enjoy standing outside in the cold and holding still for a wet plate collodion portrait. I think shivering will definitely blur your portrait. The cold is hard on collodion chemicals too. Everything slows down, light sensitivity drops and development takes longer. Below freezing the collodion will freeze and not work at all. But after a very cold two weeks… Read more: January Tintype Portrait Session - Riverside Tintypes with NatalyWonderful session Riverside tintypes with Nataly. The 1st of February and almost 50 degrees temperature is an excellent opportunity for making some tintypes. We met at Riverside Park in Neenah and had fun around the fountain and by the river. The fountain is “Playing in The Rain” by Dallas J. Anderson. And is fun and whimsical. Someone dresses the children in knit hats for the Winter! Nataly came in a stunning red dress and had a lot of fun with the children in the fountain – almost as if Summer… Read more: Riverside Tintypes with Nataly
- Classic Tintype Portrait on a Winter DaySome times it is fun to capture some classic tintype portraits on a Winter day. Cameron and I met by the Fox River in Neenah for some cold weather tintypes. It was a day that started with heavy fog, giving way to sunshine and finally dark clouds. But, we also saw temperatures in the 40’s which is really nice for February in Wisconsin. Wet plate collodion can be a difficult process because of the way it reacts to changing light. Light meters work really well for film and digital photography… Read more: Classic Tintype Portrait on a Winter Day
- Victorian Photo Safari
Out on safari in Fond du Lac yesterday. Making 8×10 tintypes and having the time of my life. The mobile darkroom is working well and close to being set up the way I want. It is so nice to have a good work space that I can take around wherever my travels take me. Check out more on my Mobile Darkroom So, you might ask, why do I use the terms “Victorian” and “safari”? Well Victorian is pretty easy. It refers to the Victorian Era the years 1837 to 1901… Read more: Victorian Photo Safari - Is it live or is it…
There was a series of commercials from back when my age was a single digital. They were for Memorex cassette tape and my favorite featured Ella Fitzgerald breaking a wine glass with her voice. They showed Ella doing the glass break live and then they broke another glass with a tape recording of her voice. So the message was you don’t need Ella Fitzgerald, all you need is a tape recording of Ella Fitzgerald. Fast forward to today and we see computers making pictures using algorithms deceptively called “AI”. The… Read more: Is it live or is it…
