Collodion Dreams

For my third year of Uni, I wanted to do something different, and I’ve had an interest in the tintype process for some time, but had never attempted it. I had already explored the concept of unique, singular objects, which tintypes certainly are. When I discovered Zebra Dry Plates, I took the plunge, and ordered some plates.

These plates are a modernised equivalent of the original process, which is easier to learn. I say that, as while my first few plates came out fine, I started to have problems. I had little to no experience working in a studio setting, and I also had chemistry issues too. This has led to visually unique and different images. Sometimes this has been for the better.

This uniqueness underlies another part of this project, in that if something is lost, when digitised, how is it displayed? They will be physically shown, at the graduation exhibition, and I will document the exhibition as a whole, I will not attempt to reproduce them singularly. Any that I have scanned, for Uni purposes, will be deleted. The subjects in the plates, will receive them. Then they will be gone, and all I will have of them are these few images, and my memories.