Portrait of Bill Schwab

This is a full-plate black glass ambrotype portrait of Bill Schwab taken at his recent Platinum Landscape workshop in northern lower Michigan. Taking a break from printing, I managed to shoot a few wetplates on Bill's homestead on saturday and he graciously agreed to be the subject of a plate or two.

The lens was a Darlot Petzval on my homemade box camera. Note the curvature of field of the lens. Bill's face and the upper and lower portions of the tree trunks are in focus while the center is out. Focusing on the center makes the focus fall away sharply and spherically.