It was a dark and rainy day when we met for portraits. We still managed to create some romantic portraits using Victorian photography methods. The plate above was taken on glass. The glass is treated with collodion and silver and inserted into my camera to produce the image. Moody, dreamy, romantic are all good descriptions of the style. A photo on the internet does not come close to showing the depth and almost three dimensional quality of the image.

Our second glass plate is much more dreamy and moody from the loss of light as a storm cloud passed. Yet, there is a timeless quality to the image that shines through.

Our last portrait is again a 10×12 inch photo on glass. I love this picture the best because is has such an element of mystery to it. Her expression and the unique characteristics of the antique lens combine to make it timeless and beautiful! The entire image is hand crafted – I salvage glass from old windows and clean and cut it to size. I prepare the chemicals and do all the coating and developing by hand. I make the varnish from Frankincense and use hand crafted frames. All of the imperfections are very human and a part of the time we spend together creating the image.

It is that timelessness that makes Victorian wet plate collodion photography so compelling. These plates could have been created 150 years ago or yesterday, there is no way to tell. And because the image is created in pure silver it could last for generations – 150 year old plates are just as beautiful now as when they were new.

This last photo is a behind the scenes (BTS) during our session. It features my beautiful Primer Camera – handmade in Slovakia, and my favorite portrait lens a 110 year old Wollensak Vitax Petzval.

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