Wet-Plate Collodion Process
This is a reproduction of a mid-19th century Anthony Half-Plate Bellows Camera. It was made a few years ago by New Jersey camera maker Ray Morgenweck. His company is called “Star Camera Company,” so technically it’s a Star Bellows Camera.
The lens is a no-brand Petzval lens from about the 1860s. Petzval was a lens design that allowed for faster exposure times for portraits… one of the first technical improvements made in the first decade of photography (1840s). My no brand Petzval was probably a knockoff of a popular lens made by a company like Darlot, Dallmayer or Voightlander.
Here is a shot of my plate holder. It holds a half-plate size aluminum or glass plate. Half-plate is just a bit larger than 4×5″.
And, here is my silver-incrusted developing tray, with a bit of ferrous sulfate developer.
Each plate I expose must be coated with collodion, dipped in silver nitrate, exposed and developed within 15 minutes.
It’s kind of like making your own Polaroids.
Ambrotype on purple glass
Photographer: AJ Barnes; Model: Silly Rabbit
Half-plate tintype
Photographer: AJ Barnes; Model: Rebecca Case
Ambrotype on oval glass
Photographer: AJ Barnes; Model: Alexzandria Jade
8 x 10 ambrotype on ruby glass
Photographer: AJ Barnes; Models: Wenchi & Peggy Duncan
