Why the resurgence in wet-plate photography?

[Sylvester Graham]

Hello, this is along the lines of my earlier post about vintage lenses, I suppose.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about why wet-plate has exploded recently. It's my understanding that although wet-plate has been in various states of renewal over the past few decades, the past couple of months and years it has really started to take off.

So, do we think it has to do with artistic types jumping ship from one hot trend to the next? Is there a certain age that's more inclined to photograph wet plates than others? Was there an exhibit, website, or article that may have generated publicity that started a landslide?

And, for those who've been keeping track, when did the bubble really start to rise?

[ic-racer]

These things go in cycles. As interest in Platinum wanes, Wet Plate increases in popularity. Eventually people will get bored with that and everyone will be doing giant Daguerreotypes. Then the NY times will run a piece on someone 'still' using 120 rollfilm and that will be the rage...

[Jay DeFehr]

This is not meant as an authoritative analysis, but just idle speculation, so take it for what it's worth. WPC has been around forever, and there have always been practitioners, workshops, occasional press coverage, gallery shows, etc. What's new is social media which makes image sharing/ blogging ridiculously easy. Post a few WPC images on Flickr, or Facebook, and within a few hours they've been seen by thousands of people, within a few days, potentially by millions. That raises awareness. For some percentage awareness becomes curiosity, some smaller percentage are curious enough to give it a go, and the whole thing snowballs. This scenario explains a staggering number of social trends, and maybe the rise in popularity of WPC, too.

[Mark Sawyer]

It's received quite a bit of notice in the popular media and in fine arts circles, and there are many workshops available. It's not terribly expensive or hard to learn, and you don't have to worry about it being discontinued. And as a hand-done alternative process, there's a certain status in saying "I did it myself from scratch..." It has variations, from tintypes to ambrotypes to glass negatives that you can print any way you want. And as each plate is processed immeditely, the gratification is also nearly immediate. (Of course, so is the disappointment...) And it's fun!

But the best reason of all... pixies like it! ♥♥♥

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I don't know about pixies, but would estimate that collodion bubble started to rise about 10 years ago, which was when knowledge about collodion--teaching workshops and hosting webforums--started moving away from being in the hands of the civil war reenactors to the Sally Mann crowd.

[cosmicexplosion]

if you look at a good tintype there is incredibly fine detail, finer than paper as it is on a smooth surface and made of silver nitrate, i am amazed at how smooth and sharp it is. in images of glass cups or metal tea pots for example, things with curves. i dont bother with glass plates as i like the unique quality of tin type, as well as its durability. very hard to break a piece of tin in the field.

they are somewhat like painting in the sense that there is often a random element and you can play with that.

i think they can look amazing. they often have a sparkly silver glitter effect where the nitrate has built up in the thick collidion at the bottom.

they are very hands on as well as fairly instant, as you have to develop strait away, you have an image in under 15 min. so a certain gratification.

i love watching the images appear in the water, especially of portraits as the face goes black and then out of the blackness a face appears, as the neg turns pos.

it has a surface texture that is unique to wet plate, as well as a certain depth, and hey, a certain look!

[Jay DeFehr]

I agree with all the descriptions of the unique qualities and charms of the process, but those have existed as long as the process has, and don't explain the sudden surge in interest. Jason's timeline of ten years ago coincides fairly well with the rise of social networking.

[cosmicexplosion]

yeah fair call... i stumbled across it on the web and fell in love with the look. i think it was mainly the deep blacks and blurr, as well as the grungy gothic tom waits ancient potal to other lost worlds thing, otherwise known as the computer..i think you might be right Jay.

[jcoldslabs]

I would add an addendum to Jay's observation: the rise of wet plate, as well as other "alternative" processes, also has to do with push-back against the ascendancy of digital image making. A wet plate photograph is integral to the physical, hand-made object itself, not separate from it, and therefore is the antithesis of digital. To paraphrase Wendell Berry, "If it's a new idea to make a digital photograph, it's a newer idea not to."

There are many analog processes, from vinyl albums to vintage synthesizers, that are seeing a resurgence in the face of the digital revolution. Add that to the social media phenomena and I think you have the bulk of your answer. I myself became aware of WPC as something that I could actually do at home--as opposed to an antique process practiced only by a handful of expert craftsmen--because of its exposure (no pun intended) on the Web.

Jonathan

[cosmicexplosion]

yeah i think your right jonathan, the more humans get pushed into homogenisation, the more they will push back and be unique, at least thats what i hope.

Ironically, i think its the social media, blogs, etc that expose people to these new old things and why its cool or rebellious or better or more unique or____ to do them, thus given them momentum.

if computers were not around, and flicker, and even website are social media, then i would not have picked up an 8x10 or wet plate.

originally i bought a medium format because i thought they were the best image makers, then cruising round cyber space, i came across 8x10, sold my medium format, and the rest is history!