Tintype Portfolio 2017 - 2019

Black and white photograph of a young man with short, slicked-back hair, wearing a polka-dotted shirt.

A large format camera with bellows mounted on a tripod, with a silver bucket and a small stool in the background, against a gray textured backdrop.

Inside a plastic bag containing various laboratory items including a water bottle, a cassette tape, a small bottle, and a cardboard box, with some visible text and a newspaper labeled "GRA..." in the background.

First Portrait, 20 sec. exposure • 2017

First Tintype • 2017

Wet Plate Beginnings

MISTAKES WERE MADE • 2017

Wet Plate as a medium is a relatively simple process but the quality of the image is highly dependent on countless techniques and workflows. It is surprisingly difficult to capture a flawless image. Each attempt to make a portrait is a performance. The final image will show every detail of that performance — flaws and all. Each plate tells a story, and each one is an opportunity to improve.

Composition Study • 2017

The Wet Plate Tintype is the first historic photographic process that was commercial available to the masses across the globe. This technique transformed societies similar to the smartphone revolution. Having your portrait made went from a high class luxury privilege to an accessible curiosity available to the masses. It was the perfect medium to capture strikingly different portraits in a timeless way.

MONUMENT VALLEY Dust storm • 2018

YOSEMITE Wildfire • 2018

Making a wet plate photograph requires a lot of specialized equipment, chemistry, and ideal temperature conditions. It also requires that you have a darkroom on site when shooting. I seem to have an incredible ability to bring epic weather events when I travel with my equipment.

HIGH-KEY & Low-key STUDies • 2017-2019

Wet Plate Tintypes have a beautiful look about them, made from photosensitive silver on a black metal plate, they capture the near visible world of ultraviolet light. This ”instant” print making process renders a large positive image in 20 minutes time. It is an exceptional process for portraits if you’re willing to work with the many difficult constraints.

Concentration • 2019

In my journey to master the medium, I had to become comfortable in a variety of environments. In the studio, I have quite a bit of control with the lighting and chemistry. And on the road, I have to improvise a small dark box to work inside, and use whatever lighting is available. This shot was taken on the road. I took advantage of tilt-shift — a feature of large format cameras — to focus on the pool balls as well as the player’s face.

Students • 2018-2019

When the lighting strikes just right in an abandoned storage closet, what do you do? Spend the afternoon making portraits of some of your students. 4 sec. exposure times require some creative poses.

Strobe, Continuous, & Outside Light study • 2018

Throughout the years one thing remained constant. Wet plate requires a TON of light. The sun makes for a great light source… when the weather is good… during the daytime. I scrounged the used camera store for anything that put out as much light as possible. With intense UV continuous lights I could make portraits with a 1-2 second shutter speed. I was eventually able to find strobes that are powerful enough to make a near instantaneous shutter speed. Learning how to shape that lighting is one of the most difficult and ever evolving parts of my process.

Eye Contact • 2019

Eyes will tell a story if you know where to look. I’m always trying to find that through the lens of my extremely large camera. Lighting, camera position, composition, pose, emotion, and eye contact all blend together to tell a story if you know where to look.

Tintype Portfolio 2020

The Pandemic Lockdown Era

In a world where toilet paper shortages nearly brought society to its knees, and everyone was trying to avoid the spread of a novel virus, I was blessed and cursed to have ample time in the studio without anyone to photograph. As the year progressed and we learned how to find methods to safely interact I was able to really push my desires for conceptual execution and storytelling in my portraits.

Self Portrait Series • 2017-2021

While this series began long before the pandemic the bulk of my self portraits happened during lockdown. It doesn’t get any more difficult than taking a self portrait on a large format camera. If I’m lucky I have an assistant to help with the focus and triggering the shutter, but often I have to pre-focus the scene and perfectly hit my mark. In this series you can see my journey of making increasingly cleaner plates with more meaningful and expressive scenes that develop over time.

Form Studies • 2020

Using chiaroscuro, rim lighting, and other techniques — in addition to a black and white medium — it gives you a beautiful playground to explore the curves and contours of the human body. Given the limited amount of light and the limited size of my studio I am very confined with the compositions I am able to build with a body. Creative positioning, collaborative communication, and lots of lighting tricks are all necessary when making still-life from a body in motion.

Strobe on wet plate study • 2020

Strobes are fantastic addition to the toolkit. They put out a ton of light but the properties not always very flattering. Traditionally you would soften the light through large modifiers such as light boxes, umbrellas, and passed through multiple layers of diffusion. Unfortunately those modifiers drastically reduce the amount of available light on a very insensitive wet plate. Instead I’m reliant on precise placement and harmonization of harsh lighting to create flattering portraits, or to position things in a way that tells a story and sets a tone.

Diptych On Duplicity • 2020

I will often shoot with as many as four lights in a scene. One at high power on the subject to create the highlights. One at a low power, on the subject to gently fill in the shadows. One or two from behind to create foreground/background separation and to add a touch of drama. And sometimes another one to gently or intensely illuminate the background. When this arrangement doesn’t synchronize as intended, you get some very fantastic results. This sequence illustrates the duality of the character.

Tintype Portfolio 2021

Big Transitions

At the end of 2020 I built a bigger darkroom and a larger more light tight, portable dark box. The goal in this two month build was to upgrade my plates from four by five inches to the much larger eight by ten inch size.

A Study of Body Language & emotion • 2021

These plates pushed me to improve my technique along every step of the process. My efforts during this phase are focused on using the experience gained over the past five years to more clearly tell a person‘s story and convey their personality.

Directing Young Talent • 2021-2022

An ongoing series

Tintype Portfolio 2022

Latest work

So the good news is that they make some really great portrait lenses specifically for this purpose. The bad news is that they dont make them anymore. After years of scouring auction sites, secondhand stores and antique shops I found a lease that would suit my current needs. A Wollensak Vitax 16” f3.7. After some very precise work at a machine shop, I was finally able to mount up my 405mm Petzval lens from the 1890s. This is my 4th large format lens. It allows me to create greater separation between the subject and background, tighten the field of view to improve my lighting and composition options.

Black and white photo of a person lying on a surface, with their head resting on their arm and long hair falling over their face, in a dimly lit setting.

Form Studies II • 2021-2022

I have been overwhelmed and humbled at the number of people that have taken an interest, reached out with questions, or to collaborate on a vision. I have also worked on expanding my connections with the photo and artist communities. I have been able to collaborate with so many lovely humans with creative minds. As I refine my eye and improve upon my techniques I’m working to broaden my scope of visual storytelling and better controlling the details of the scene.

Difficult Models In the Studio • 2021-2022

In this ongoing series, I am learning to work with some of the more challenging subjects I’ve had in my studio. Making these portraits are more like a live figure drawing session. A very different experience compared to your more traditional photo shoots. Holding still, frozen in a deliberate look and pose is a challenging task for even the most focused model. It’s a near impossible task for these four-legged athletes.

Shibari Collaboration Series • 2021-2022

My most ambitious portrait project involves collaborating with models, hair and makeup artists, stylists, and rope artists. Exploring the fragility of gender roles and the resilience of individuals, this ongoing series seeks to utilize as many different talents onto a limited series of plates.

Contrast & Latitude Study • 2022

Exposure is an art and a science. Empowered with modern tools and visible light it is still a challenge to predict how much light will be needed to capture on the plate what you have envisioned in your head. As I have become more confident in my exposures, I have been able to play with the more artistic side. This series explores the tonality and complexity found in skin tone and how different exposure and development times can change the aesthetic of the portrait.

A Study in Nuance • 2022

A tintype is first and foremost a final print that comes straight out of the camera, highlights etched in silver offset the pitch black metal underneath to create a mysterious looking artifact that lasts for centuries. Throughout my six years of making wet plates I have aimed to make brighter and brighter plates. Recently I have begun focusing on capturing more subtle portraits that remain just as bright as my high-key counterparts.

Tintype Portfolio 2023

Black and white photograph of a woman sitting on the ground, wearing a loose sweater off her shoulders, with short hair, looking at the camera.

Detach • 2023

Black and white close-up portrait of a woman with long hair, looking directly at the camera with intense eyes, with a serious expression.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long hair and a nose ring, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long hair and light-colored eyes, looking directly at the camera.

Subtlety • 2023

A person wearing glasses, a hooded coat, and a bird skull hat, holding a small bird-shaped paper or sculpture in hands.

Black and white portrait of a woman with shoulder-length hair, looking upwards with a serious expression, wearing a top with lace details and a rope tied around the neck.

Black and white portrait of a tattooed woman holding a cigarette in front of a glass surface, with a confident expression and piercings on her nose and earrings.

A woman in elaborate costume with horns, floral headpiece, and detailed jewelry, posing with a confident expression in a black and white photograph.

Shibari • 2022-2023

Black and white portrait of a woman with short, tousled hair and a warm expression.

Black and white photograph of an elderly woman with short, tousled hair, wearing a sweater with a patterned collar.

Pose • 2023

Black and white portrait of a woman sitting on a chair, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a floral vest over a long-sleeve shirt, and a skirt, with crossed legs and hands resting on the armrests, smiling softly.

Black and white photo of a woman with long dark hair, sitting cross-legged on a couch, wearing ripped jeans and boots, with tattoos and piercings, looking at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long dark hair, sitting with her legs crossed, wearing a patterned dress, looking at the camera with a neutral expression.

Black and white portrait of a woman sitting on a vintage sofa, wearing a dress with intricate lace details at the neckline, with wavy hair and a serious expression.

Black and white portrait of a man wearing a cowboy hat and a collared shirt, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

“The Chair” • 2023

Black and white portrait of a woman with vintage 1950s style hair, makeup, pearl earrings, a pearl necklace, and a light-colored textured jacket, with a large fluffy dog behind her.

Black and white portrait photograph of a woman with long hair, wearing a shirt with lace details and earrings, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man with a beard and mustache wearing a flat cap and a buttoned jacket, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long hair holding a chicken.

Black and white portrait of a man with a serious expression, short hair, wearing a checkered shirt.

A black-and-white portrait of a woman with curly hair, wearing a necklace with a prominent pendant.

Storied • 2023

Black and white portrait of a young man and woman standing close together, both wearing striped sweaters, with neutral expressions, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white photo of a young man and woman posing together, both smiling slightly and looking at the camera. The woman has long wavy hair and is wearing a light-colored top, while the man has short dark hair and is wearing a dark button-up shirt.

Black-and-white portrait of a man and woman standing close together, looking at the camera. The woman has long wavy hair, and the man has short curly hair and a beard. The woman is wearing a jacket, and the man is wearing a plaid shirt.

Black and white photograph of a woman with curly hair and a man with a beard and wearing a beanie. The woman has her hand on the man's chest, displaying a ring on her finger.

A black and white portrait of a woman with wavy hair and freckles, and a man with a beard wearing a beanie, standing close together with the woman resting her hand on the man's chest, both looking at the camera.

Couples • 2022 - 2023

Black and white photograph of a man in 19th-century attire holding a cane with a pocket watch attached, looking at the camera in a studio setting.

A black and white photo of a man peering out from behind a wooden structure, with a distressed or concerned expression, gripping the wood with his hand.

Black and white portrait of a woman with wavy hair, wearing a vintage-style blouse and necklace, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression. The image has an aged, distressed frame.

Black and white portrait of a young woman with wavy hair, wearing a ruffled blouse and a brooch, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white photo of a person with decayed, zombie-like face peering through a gap in wooden planks, staring intensely at the camera.

A black-and-white photograph of a woman with posessed-looking makeup, including dark, smeared paint on her face, wearing a veil and a light-colored coat, staring intense and hauntingly.

“tilL Death Do Us Part” Movie Props & PROMOS • 2023

Black and white portrait of a young man wearing a baseball cap, collared shirt, and knitted sweater, looking at the camera with a serious expression.

Black and white photograph of a woman with long hair, looking at the camera with a serious expression, behind a textured glass or window.

Black and white portrait of a woman with curly hair, wearing a hat, with freckles on her face, looking at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman wearing a knit beanie, earrings, a necklace, and a shirt with partially visible text, against a plain background.

Black and white portrait of a man with messy hair, a beard, and a serious expression.

Black and white portrait photograph of a man with shoulder-length hair, a beard, and a mustache, smiling slightly, wearing a checkered shirt and a chain necklace.

Black and white portrait of a shirtless man with a necklace, facing the camera with a neutral expression.

Black and white portrait of a man with long hair, wearing a collared shirt, looking directly at the camera with a slight smile.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long wavy hair, wearing a necklace, looking directly at the camera.

5x7” Composition Study • 2023

Black and white photograph of a woman with piercing eyes, wearing a tank top, viewed from above water with a serious expression.

Black and white portrait of a bearded man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a button-up shirt, sitting with arms crossed and looking to the right.

Black and white portrait of a man with dark hair, beard, and mustache, wearing a patterned shirt, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with intense expression, wearing a dark top with embellishments.

Black and white photo of a woman with long hair, hands on hips, looking confidently at the camera, wearing a light-colored top and pants.

Black and white portrait of a man with curly hair, wearing a white shirt, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

Lighting Evolution • 2023

Black and white photograph of two young girls with braided hair, standing outdoors. The girl on the left has a serious expression, while the girl on the right is smiling. Both are wearing sleeveless dresses with scalloped collars.

Black and white portrait of a woman with glasses and two young girls, all looking at the camera, with a vintage, damaged photo frame.

Black and white portrait of a young person wearing a beanie and floral shirt next to an older woman with short hair, hat, and sleeveless top, both looking serious.

Black and white photo of a family with a woman, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and a young child.

Black and white photograph of a young girl with long hair and a smile, wearing a denim jacket.

Black and white portrait of a young boy with short hair wearing a striped shirt, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a young boy and girl embracing each other, with the boy smiling and the girl looking serious, both looking at the camera, against a dark background.

Black and white portrait of a girl with shoulder-length hair, wearing a light-colored sweater, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

Family • 2023

Black and white portrait of a young man with long hair, wearing a knit beanie and a shiny jacket, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a young man with short, dark hair, wearing a turtleneck sweater, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

Black and white portrait of a man with a beard and short hair, looking directly at the camera, with a serious expression, wearing a dark shirt.

Masculinity • 2022-2023

Black and white portrait of a woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, looking directly at the camera with a slight smile.

Black and white portrait of an older woman with wavy hair, wearing a lace top and a necklace, looking into the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long wavy hair, looking directly at the camera, wearing an off-the-shoulder floral top.

Black and white portrait of a woman with long, curly hair, wearing a cross necklace and a dark top with lace-up details.

Black and white portrait of a woman with short, wavy hair, looking at the camera with a slight smile, her shoulder and upper chest visible, with a textured background.

Femininity • 2023

Black and white portrait of a man wearing a baseball cap backward, with a serious expression and intense gaze.

Black and white portrait of a woman with short dark hair, wearing a striped hat, earrings, and a black high-neck top, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a woman with medium-length dark hair, freckles, and a septum piercing, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a young person with short curly hair and freckles, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression, wearing a light-colored t-shirt.

Black and white portrait of a young man with curly hair wearing a collared shirt, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man with long, wavy hair and a beard, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man with messy dark hair and a scruffy beard, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man with a beard wearing a backward cap, looking slightly upward.

Black-and-white portrait of a man wearing a knit beanie, with one side of his face in shadow and a serious expression.

Three Triptychs • 2023

Black and white portrait of a young man and woman posing together, with serious expressions, against a dark background.

Black and white portrait of two women with long, wavy dark hair, with serious expressions, facing the camera against a dark background.

Black and white portrait of a woman with curly hair and a man with a mustache, both looking at the camera against a dark background.

A black-and-white portrait of a woman and a man, both looking at the camera with serious expressions, against a dark background.

A black and white photo of a man with a beard and curly hair and a woman with short, dark hair, both looking at the camera.

Black and white photo of a woman with shoulder-length hair, light skin, freckles, and a man with light skin, long hair, and a full beard, both looking at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man wearing a cap and a woman with wavy hair standing close together and looking at the camera.

Black and white portrait of a man with a mustache and a woman with curly hair, both looking at the camera, against a dark background.

Black and white photo of two people and a dog, with the woman holding the dog. The man has glasses, a beanie, and a mustache, while the woman has glasses, tattoos on her hand, and short hair. The dog is curly-haired and wears a bandana.

Black and white photo of two women, one with long wavy hair and a nose piercing, the other wearing a backward baseball cap, both looking at the camera.

Black and white photo of a woman and a man sitting together, smiling, against a plain dark background.

Black and white portrait of an elderly man with a beard wearing a beret, and an elderly woman with earrings and a floral blouse, both looking at the camera.

Open Studio Sessions • 2023

Black and white photograph of a woman with short hair, wearing three pearl necklaces and earrings, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

Black and white photo of a woman holding books, smiling softly, with long hair and wearing a V-neck top.

Deliberate • 2023

Shooting tintypes is a really difficult process. Chemicals have to be made fresh and exact. Technique has to be dialed along a number of steps. Despite constant maintenance and cleaning, problems arise from time to time. Confidence ebbs and flows along with the clarity and contrast of each image along the journey. This year was full of challenges along the way. Even though my work is often flawed, they represent a moment in time for the subject as well as myself. Growth and reflection can be found in greater abundance in the failures and flaws.

Black-and-white portrait of a woman with long, wavy hair, sitting on a chair with a draped fabric partially covering her shoulders, looking directly at the camera. The background is plain and dark.

Black and white photo of a topless woman with long hair, looking at the camera, one hand on her chest and the other on her stomach.

Black and white photograph of a topless woman standing beside a ladder, looking directly at the camera with one hand on her chest and the other holding the ladder, with a dark background.

Bodies • 2023

Our bodies evoke a lot of feelings, good and bad. Looking at yourself bare and holding space for what you see without judgment can be a liberating experience.

Black and white portrait of a young man with short hair, wearing a dark turtleneck and a jacket, with a watch on his wrist, looking at the camera with a serious expression.

Black and white photo of a woman with dirt on her face, wearing a dark Carhartt work apron, looking down with a somber expression, surrounded by a damaged or textured border.

Black and white portrait of a man with long curly hair, a beard, and wearing a striped shirt, looking directly at the camera with a halo effect around his head.

Off to a good start • 2024

As we head into the second full year in the full-time tintype portrait studio things are going well. Come get your portrait made, see the process, or learn how to make your own tintypes!