Ready for some tintype events!

For Mason's upcoming Arts and Wine Fall Fest on October 30, 2021, I rebuilt my portable studio and will use it for first-come, first-served sessions in front of the building that was formerly 320 Bistro, at the west end of the north block of the square. 

Even if you don't have time or dough for a sitting, come watch the historical wet plate collodion process as might have been seen on the square in Mason's early years. As an introduction to my studio's other services, I will be making bon-ton sized tintypes using a wood-and-bellows camera sporting  a lens from the late 1800s, similar to these:

What is a bon-ton image?

My favorite tintype format is undoubtedly the credit-card-sized bon-ton tintype, the kind you see most often in antique stores, usually in an adorned paper frame. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, people flocked to the studio to sit for one or more plates: soldiers, workers sporting their tools and uniforms, people being corny or posing for serious portraits, and children. Because this size was compatible with the paper print-based cartes-de-visite, most family photo albums would be filled with both types of this popular "trading card" of the day.

I will bring an assortment of antique tintypes as a "petting zoo" that you can examine and compare to present day tintypes, the better to appreciate how well this form of photography holds up across the years. It is truly the most archival of all forms of image making, when properly stored.

St Francis close up

St Francis at evening vespers

Halloween test poses

Worldwide "Wet Plates" Day, May 1, 2021