Collodion is to photography what watercolor is to painting -- fast, yet requiring exquisite manipulation. Each step of the process requires dexterity and quick decisions based on observation. While this presents certain challenges it also offers a very satisfying experience for the visual artist. The experience is seductive, but results are what matter. Artists are drawn to collodion for the combined effect of long exposure, ultra fine silver particles, limited color sensitivity and unlimited opportunities to celebrate the evidence of a hand-made object. Most practitioners, however, have yet to discover that this process offers even more...
In addition to the tactile and visual qualities inherent in making collodion images, artists and photographers are drawn to the process for two reasons, which appear to be completely opposing sensibilities. Many artists are initially seduced by the streaks, swirls and markings inherent in the process. Whether produced intentionally or by indelicate handling, these honest artifacts can contribute to the image in a way that is often copied, but impossible to achieve by any other means. In rare cases, these artifacts can be found in 19th c. examples, (as seen in previous image, W.M. Rossetti, 1865, by Julia Margaret Cameron); though more often they are visible in contemporary work.
There is a dark side, however; a little goes a long way. Like all visual arts, technique is not the art and the flaws of any processes, no matter how interesting, are usually secondary to the artistic concept. Sometimes they are intentional, in many cases they are the residues left by those who have not yet mastered the process.
There is a dark side, however; a little goes a long way. Like all visual arts, technique is not the art and the flaws of any processes, no matter how interesting, are usually secondary to the artistic concept. Sometimes they are intentional, in many cases they are the residues left by those who have not yet mastered the process.
Less realized today are the more subtle aspects of the collodion process. In the hands of the skillful, collodion is not a primitive product, but a sophisticated film without compromise. It is as primitive or as sophisticated as the skills of the maker. Virtually grainless images can be made on glass, which are finer and far superior to any other negative process, old or new.
Were that not enough, collodion is also extremely versatile. Variants of the wet-plate process can be used to make one-of-a-kind positives on blackened metal, called "tintypes," or on glass, called "ambrotypes." Other collodion positives on glass are transparencies (or slides), milk glass positives and orotones, all of which are second-generation images made from negatives.
A wide variety of supports can be used, such as colored and white glass, gold backings, and even thin sheets of mica. Dry pigments can be applied combined with burnishing or polishing the silver particles, adding yet another dimension to the image. It seems the uses for collodion are only limited by the imagination.
private collection
BEN CAUCHI opening image
"Dead Arm"
2006
Tintype
355 x 275 mm
Private Collection
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