Artisan Tuition - The Wet Plate Collodion Ambrotype and the Tintype

Workshop Overview - So what is a wet plate ?

A photographic image made with a layer of silver exposed onto a medium such as glass or aluminium. The alchemy involved is poured onto the medium before exposing the plate in a rather awesome old camera. The whole thing only works whilst the chemicals are still wet, hence the term ‘wet plate’. .. its that easy !

Creating a wet plate takes a lot of preparation, skill and above all patience as once we are setup each individual image, or plate, will take 15-20 mins to create. If things do not go to plan, no worries, we just do it all again. We are talking frames per hour not second !!

Working with either portrait or fine art subjects at the end of each session you will have a set of finished images on glass or metal, and probably very messy hands, but that’s all part of the experience.

Sessions suitable for individuals and groups of 2-5, arranged on request at a level that suits the individuals.

Whilst there will be a rough format I tailor every workshop session to the skill level and interests of the individual. To highlight this I have offered tuition to seasoned analog photographers as well as individuals with no real photographic experience, think of the process and artistic creation rather than a specialist photographic skill.

And finally you do not need an analog camera or even experience of analog photography for these sessions, but you may need to be prepared to forget most of what you know about digital photography for the day !

Demonstration Portraits

For those more interested in having their own portrait than in learning how to make their own plates this session will take you through the process from camera setup to finishing the plate .. but with yourself as the subject !

You will not only have the experience of working in a wet plate studio but also your own personal vintage portrait ready for framing, which we can offer as well.