ABOUT ME

Hello! My name is Duffy. I have been a photographer for 10 years. Through the years, I ave always experimented with my photography. Discovering different ways to manipulate my camera. Back then I was shooting digital. I switched to film because I wanted a way to slow down. Shooting 35mm film itched a part of my brain I couldn’t get with digital. Slowing down to look at my composition, adjusting my manually focused lens and praying that the meter on my Olympus OM-10 wasn’t broken. Shooting, developing, and scanning my film made me feel like I was making photos and not just taking them.

My obsession steam rolled into me getting a medium format camera. Analog medium formats are much cheaper to get your hands on versus their digital counterparts. It seemed the bigger the camera, the slower the process was. And I loved it!

I started researching tintypes and ambrotypes. I was fascinated by the detail you could achieve on such an abstract vessel. So I ordered a 4×5 camera, bought all the gear and the chemistry. I felt that itch in my brain again as I was prepping my first ever plate. The process was so concise yet had lots of variables that could ruin the plate. I finally had something back in my life I could learn to perfect.

Photography is an extension of my mind, my heart, my soul. I love making photographs of the people I hold dear in my life. Helping to capture memories that would potentially be lost to time. I hold you, reader, dear to my heart also. Just by clicking on my website and reading this section means the world to me. I would love to make some memories with you!

Overview of Tintypes

Tintypes were invented by Frenchmen Adolphe-Alexandre Martin in 1853, but was later patented in the United States in 1856 by Hamilton Smith. Tintypes are a wet plate collodion process. This means they must be shot while still wet or the plate will lose sensitivity to light if allowed to dry.

The general process goes something like—

  • Pour collodion on your plate to create a base for your emulsion.

  • You sensitize the plate in a silver nitrate tank (Hence the name “The Tank”!).

  • You then expose the plate with either a super long shutter speed (in broad daylight could still be 5-10 seconds) or a massive burst of light.

  • Once exposed, you bring the plate back to your darkroom to develop. Developing brings the plate to a stable negative image.

  • The final step is to put your plate into a fixing bath to convert it into a positive.

Between 1860 through the 1870s, tintypes ruled the photographic world. It was the cheapest and easiest way to take photos. The process slowly faded as the rise of different printing methods hit the market along side Kodak manufacturing the first film emulsions. Making mass production of photographs much quicker and inexpensive.

And that’s the history of photography… smart people figuring out how to make the process quicker and quicker.