One of the earliest photographic processes, most popular during the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. It involves sensitizing a blackened metal or glass plate coated in a mixture of collodion and metal salts with silver nitrate. This makes the plate light sensitive. It is then loaded into a light tight holder and exposed using a large format camera. Afterwards, it is developed and fixed to reduce areas exposed to light, with lightest areas rendering as pure silver and the darkest as transparent, through which the dark areas of the plate are revealed.

Head over to my booking page and find an appointment time that works for you! Once you select a time and complete payment, I will confirm details via email, including the address and driving directions, and answer any questions you may have prior to your session.

It is best to reach out with your requirements first. Not all images are suitable. I have a c ontact form here

Yes! I do. Details are on the booking page.

Depending on the number of people in the photograph, 30-60 mins. On average, it’s 45 minutes. This includes setting up the pose and lighting, preparing the plate, taking the image then developing and fixing the plate. It’s then around 1 week to scan, varnish and cure the plate. I offer collection if you are nearby, ground shipping if further out.

You are booking for one plate, so let’s make it a good one! I will reshoot if there are any chemical malfunctions, or if I mess up, which sometimes happens with so many variables in play! If you would like to book for multiple plates in one session, no problem, I have wiggle room in my calendar to extend session times, just let me know in advance.

If your child or pet is able to sit still for the time it takes to load and expose the plate, it’s doable. The reality is most pre-schoolers will struggle with staying motionless unless held (so you would need to be in the photo too) and the youngest ones may not be too keen on the very bright flash required for wet plate exposures. Same goes for pets.

As a purely chemical and handmade process, the hallmarks of wet plate collodion are the swirls and marks that often appear round the edges of the plate. These can sometimes be removed during fixing, but generally are left as they are. I handle them as carefully as possible but if marks do appear on the face in an unflattering manner (such as an unintended moustache?), I will reshoot.

Anything you like, I love seeing folks dressed up! Textures and clothing with natural fibers work beautifully. Contrasting pieces are good. Clothing with motifs and logos are best avoided, they will appear reversed in the image. Spectacles or contacts with UV protection /blue light blocker will affect the light that collodion ‘sees’, appearing black in the image.

Colors will behave as follows;

red, orange, yellow = black (for example, red hair is dark brown/black, gold jewelry will appear darker, red lipstick will appear black)
greens = grays
blues, violets = white (for example, blue eyes and blue jeans are ice white)

This is a GREAT question! One of the quirks of wet plate, as covered in the previous question (it’s rendering of color), is how it renders skin tones. A general rule is that warmer undertones will appear darker (including freckles) and cooler undertones will appear lighter. Collodion is most sensitive to UV, so even the palest skin tone can render darker where there is underlying warmth or UV damage, such as sun spots, tan or freckles. This can be modified by any foundation/bronzer/highlighting cosmetics worn.

Of course you can, unless you really are going for the Victorian death stare look.

With studio flash, probably not. Blink rate is around 1/40 second. Flash lighting is much much faster, so you’d have to try extra hard to catch a blink, but do let me know if you are concerned, I’ll use a method that helps.

Umm, no. I have to pay my bills and reels are poor currency. Why not book a session and we can collab? I’m active on both insta and tiktok!

Actually yes, I am always interested in collabs. I shoot lots of personal projects. Feel free to reach out!

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