Smiling was rare in antique photographs for a few reasons but mostly because the subjects couldn’t hold the expression long enough to be captured. Tintype photograph by Adrian Cook.
Smiling was rare in antique photographs for a few reasons but mostly because the subjects couldn’t hold the expression long enough to be captured. Tintype photograph by Adrian Cook.
Alyce Charlesworth is the curator at Whangārei Museum
OPINION
Not often do we get opportunities for heritage concepts to roll through Whangārei leaving contemporary treasures behind, but with Tintype Central – New Zealand’s premier wet plate portrait studio – we achieve just that.
The mobile darkroom is a 1950s’ Bondwood Caravan and towing it is award-winning portrait and documentary photographer Adrian Cook.
Tintype Central is a portrait studio specialising in the wet plate collodion process, a 19th century method of development that predates film photography. Each image is handcrafted, producing an original direct positive image on a sheet of glass or aluminium plate. Tintypes, also known as ferrotypes, became popular around 1856. They were cheap to make and especially popular with street and itinerant photographers during the Civil War in the United States.
Tiny examples of tintype were called “gems” and were the size of a postage stamp – perfect to slip into a card or into jewellery. Tintypes are the smallest portrait to be commercially produced and were popular at fairs and carnivals.
Image 1 of 4: Tintype photograph by Adrian Cook
What made this technique mobile-friendly was that all chemical operations take place inside a specially designed camera. At their simplest, tintypes can be recognised from the fact they are on a thin, sharp-edged piece of metal but this may be disguised by a frame or mount, for tintypes, like other portraits were often encased for presenting. Some tintypes only survive by being pinched between a glass and iron sandwich creating durability along with affordability.
Tintype photographs are not particularly valuable apart from their subject matter. Perhaps the most highly-prized tintype to have been acquired was one bought for a few dollars in a Californian thrift shop in 2010.
The image turned out to be one of only two known images of the infamous Western outlaw “Billy the Kid” and dated from 1878. As an indication of its value, the other photograph of Billy the Kid fetched $2.3 million at an auction in 2011. In Britain, the status of tintype was reflected by its cost and the art form remained humble until film made its way onto the scene.
Maureen the Bondwood Caravan photographic studio on the streets of Hastings
The Tintype Central studio will soon make its way to Heritage Park in time for the Whangārei District Council’s annual Silver Festival. Over this weekend, sessions can be booked to capture you or a loved one to create a one-off heirloom that can be treasured for generations.
However, building on this historic practice, the photographer now also includes a digital file as we move through the digital age. Participating in a tintype session and seeing the alchemical process as images appear on the plate is a captivating opportunity to marvel at a technique that is somewhat gone but not forgotten.
Cook was uninspired by the predictability and monotony of digital photography and began experimenting with the wet plate collodion process in an effort to recreate the aesthetic qualities and characteristics lost with the demise of film.
Our local community can learn more from Cook about his photographic processes and travelling studio on Saturday, September 21, with his Artist Talk at Whangārei Museum at 10am.
