SALT, SILVER, and SUNBEAMS—Exploring the Timeless Art of Wet Plate Collodion Tintype Photography

presented by Daniel Leocadi danielleocadi.com

In this Charles RIver Museum of Industry & Innovation TECH TALK, we'll take a deep dive into the world of the Wet Plate Collodion Tintype process from the 1850’s. To make this talk even more engaging, we will also be including a live demonstration of the Wet Plate Collodion Tintype process. So get ready to witness this fascinating process in action!

We will examine the equipment, materials and chemistry involved in the process, as well as the techniques used to prepare, expose, and develop tintypes. We will also explore Daniel Leocadi’s journey using this photographic medium from capturing North American landscapes to operating a modern day tintype portrait studio.

About Daniel Leocadi
Daniel Leocadi is a photographer who specializes in creating unique portraits and landscape works using historical alternative photographic processes from the 1800s. He has dedicated the past decade to mastering these techniques, studying under notable experts such as Mark and France Osterman, as well as John Coffer. Leocadi's preferred method is wet plate collodion photography, a process discovered in the 1850s by Frederick Scott Archer in the UK, which uses silver and light to create images on glass or metal, also known as the Tintype. This process requires the material to stay wet throughout the process, and can take up to fifteen minutes to produce a single photograph.

Leocadi perceives the labor-intensive process of wet plate collodion photography as a lesson in patience, convinced that the effort required to create each image by hand ensures thoughtful consideration for every photograph. With the conviction that less is more, he believes that photographs created using these traditional techniques are more valuable than the countless digital images stored on our devices.

By learning this method, Leocadi has developed a new level of persistence and perseverance. Each wet plate collodion tintype is a unique creation that cannot be precisely duplicated, owing to the analog rules and changing environment involved in the process. The resulting images possess an ethereal and surreal quality that modern technology cannot replicate.

Leocadi is fascinated by the authenticity of these photographs, which capture people and their surroundings in an unchangeable way. For him, the wet plate collodion process serves as a reminder of the value of human ingenuity and perseverance, not just in photography, but in all aspects of life.

He is concerned that our current obsession with instant gratification, fast alternatives, perfection, and artificial intelligence may lead us to overlook the significance of true artisanship and, consequently, our own humanity.