Modern Portraits created with Victorian Era Methods
I am a Silver Collodion Portrait Photographer in Wisconsin and create authentic vintage style portraits with silver and glass, wood and metal and a lot of sunlight!
Based in Neenah, Wisconsin, and have a mobile darkroom for work all around the Midwest.
The first step is to Contact me to get more information and start working together on your portrait session!
The Maker’s Market popup in Manitowoc is finished and we had a wonderful time. Visit again for news on more popups to come this Summer! You can also fill out my Contact Form to get on my mailing list for future events.
New in 2025 – Wedding Tintype Portraits! Create an heirloom handmade photograph on your special day – see more at Weddings
Check out my Portfolio to see some of my favorite images
Learn more about the Wet Plate Collodion Process, Salt Printing, and the Cyanotype Process
I also produce a limited number of fine art photographs and handcrafted prints and offer them for sale at Sunandsilver.art
“The gift from those I loved so tenderly added more and more impulse to my deeply seated love of the beautiful and from the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour, and it has become to be as a living thing, with voice and memory and creative vigor.”
Julia Margaret Cameron
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
Tintype Adventures – Recent Blog Posts
- Ambrotypes with Nataly
July is a perfect time to do Ambrotypes with Nataly. This was the first time I fully utilized the real estate of my 12×12 Primer camera and made 12 inch by 12 inch glass plate. Silver collodion on glass is also know as an Ambrotype. It doesn’t sound like a big change going from an 8×10 inch image to a 12×12 inch image but the 12×12 is actually 80% bigger. That means 80% more chemical and 80% more area to cover evenly with collodion. It also means 80% more to… Read more: Ambrotypes with Nataly - 2025 Pinecrest Village Makers Market
We did a super fun tintype popup at the 2025 Makers Market – Pinecrest Village, Manitowoc. The Makers Market features dozens of historical artists and creators and is sponsored by the Manitowoc County Historical Society. Makers practice handmade craft from the 18th and 19th centuries and include pottery, blacksmithing, wooden shoes, sewing, cloth making & weaving, wood working and (of course) tintype photography invented in 1851. We had so much fun over the weekend. Met a lot of old friends and made some new ones. I only wish I had… Read more: 2025 Pinecrest Village Makers Market - Tintype Portrait of an Artist
We spent a wonderful weekend doing a Tintype Popup at Pinecrest Historical Village in Manitowoc. The event was the Manitowoc Historical Society’s annual Makers Market. While there we did portraits of both visitors and as many of the Makers as we had time for. Here is an 8×10 tintype portrait of Emma, an historical pottery artist and creator. What is a “Maker” and why do they need a Market? A Maker is someone who creates handcrafted items using historical methods and processes. Maker’s specialize in products that are heritage-inspired, well… Read more: Tintype Portrait of an Artist - Cloud Nine Tintypes
One of the joys of being a roving Alchemist is all the interesting people you meet! I started working with Cloud Nine Fire Show this year and are working on a set of wet plate images of all the artists in the group. Could Nine performs all around Wisconsin and is based in the Fox Valley area. These 5×7 inch tintypes were made at a practice session to test out how fire captures on tintypes. Madeline and Tia use fire hoops in this first image. “Wait” you say, “where is… Read more: Cloud Nine Tintypes - Vintage Tia
We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon creating test tintypes with artists of Cloud Nine Fire Show After the light faded we switched to digital photos and had some fun! Tia (also know as TLKonfire) posed for some amazing captures with two of my vintage lenses. The picture above was taken with my SMC Takumar 135mm f/2.5 lens. The Takumar is around 60 years old and still takes wonderful portraits. Next is another Takumar portrait taken stopped at f/3.5 to highlight Tia’s beautiful eyes and her body art. The colors and… Read more: Vintage Tia - Watching Me
Some tintype fun with double exposures. It was not long after photography was a thing that people realized you could have some fun by manipulating images. Ghosts, twins, ectoplasm, spirits – all became common in the tintype era. My friend Danielle and I spent a dreary afternoon in the “studio” making some fun tintypes using double exposures. We hope you like them! Back to my Blog
