Tintypes of celebs

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Enjoy!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...no-name:homepage/story&utm_term=.58e9edd93f27

 

[removed account4]

thank you !
she's a heck of a photographer
and it is always fun to see how people roll
when they get their hands dirty ..

 

[removedacct1]

Victoria Will does some interesting work, to be sure. But I wish she wasn't embracing the whole "collodion artifact" aesthetic so thoroughly. What it really is is just sloppy technique. (No insult intended) If you want to make "clean" plates, its easily accomplished. Her silver bath must be a nightmare to keep in reasonable balance.

 

[gr82bart]

Nice link. Love these.

 

[faberryman]

Victoria Will does some interesting work, to be sure. But I wish she wasn't embracing the whole "collodion artifact" aesthetic so thoroughly. What it really is is just sloppy technique. (No insult intended) If you want to make "clean" plates, its easily accomplished.

That was my take-away as well. The whole poor technique as art thing is rampant in all areas of photography. Faux authenticity.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That was my take-away as well. The whole poor technique as art thing is rampant in all areas of photography. Faux authenticity.

+1

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I like that she appreciates the uniqueness of the physical image.

 

[removedacct1]

The whole poor technique as art thing is rampant in all areas of photography. Faux authenticity.

I don't think her heavy reliance on collodion artifact is an indicator of "faux authenticity", because those kinds of artifacts are VERY authentic ("faux authenticity" would be an iPhone app that emulates those effects). But I do think passing off shoddy technique like that feeds into the false notion that "all tintypes are inherently flawed and messed up - prone to heavy process artifact", which is absolutely untrue. Sloppy, intentionally careless technique can induce a lot of heavy artifacts - the kind seen in some of Will's work - but its not something a collodion practitioner is obligated to endure. I'm not saying I don't like some of those portraits - some of them are great - but the ones marred by blatant process artifacts are far less attractive to me because of what they tell me about her practices.

I like that she appreciates the uniqueness of the physical image.

So do I. I'm not questioning that aspect of the work. I just wish some of those images weren't so heavy-handed in their embrace of technical flaws.

Its not that difficult to make very clean, detail rich plates.

 

[bvy]

I guess the book is new. These photos made the rounds a year or more ago.

 

[removed account4]

That was my take-away as well. The whole poor technique as art thing is rampant in all areas of photography. Faux authenticity.

fake authenticity ?
she made unique items by hand
no clue how they aren't authentic and she is "faking it "
but what to i know .. im probably practicing fake authenticity as well
seeing i don't really care ...

 

[faberryman]

fake authenticity ?
she made unique items by hand
no clue how they aren't authentic and she is "faking it "
but what to i know .. im probably practicing fake authenticity as well
seeing i don't really care ...

The faux part is the poor processing. When you see authentic tintypes, you rarely see this level of artifacts.

 

[gr82bart]

Hmmm.....her clients love her work. She's promoting a historic process to a very wide audience. She's passionate about her craft. She's getting paid for her work, her equipment, her process. Some cranky people on an obscure forum don't like her "artifacts" in the plate. Yeah, whatever.

 

[removedacct1]

Hmmm..... Some cranky people on an obscure forum don't like her "artifacts" in the plate. Yeah, whatever.

Wow. Since when was it not permitted to be critical of a photographers technique, and why does a critical examination of the work merit such a dismissive response in your eyes??
Yes, she's promoting an historic process, but she's also promoting the unfortunate notion that the process is deeply flawed and inescapably marred by technique artifacts. That's not what wet plate collodion work is all about. It can be, but it doesn't have to be.

The faux part is the poor processing. When you see authentic tintypes, you rarely see this level of artifacts.

The word "faux" literally translates to "fake". The photographer embraces a more casual aesthetic in how she approaches the technical aspects of wet plate collodion process, but there is nothing "fake" or inauthentic about her tintypes: they are actual collodion images, made using traditional chemistry and technique. Its inaccurate to say her images are "fake" tintypes, because they're real - no less real than tintypes made with great care and clean technique. But she doesn't seem to care so much about clean technique, preferring to rely on artifacts to make her style stamp on the work. That's her prerogative, of course, but not everyone appreciates that approach to the process.

It is my impression that you are conflating the word Faux with Trendy, or something of that ilk.

 

[Helios 1984]

That last photograph

 

[removed account4]

The faux part is the poor processing. When you see authentic tintypes, you rarely see this level of artifacts.

i have some real tintypes, and daguerreotypes and have had sg tintypes from the time they were made
and some of them have artifacts just like hers i don't know if i would call it faux authenticity because nothing she is doing is fake or inauthentic
except they are not on japanned iron plate, but black aluminum ...maybe she likes freestyle pours .. ?
seems her sitters were happy with the work .. can't argue with that !

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I try to never say much negative about someone's images since everyone has their thing, and who am I?

In this case I will make an exception. Those are awful. It looks like she got the idea to make tintypes the night before and googled how to do it. I don't think tintypes have to be perfect, but c'mon!

 

[hoffy]

Victoria Will does some interesting work, to be sure. But I wish she wasn't embracing the whole "collodion artifact" aesthetic so thoroughly. What it really is is just sloppy technique. (No insult intended) If you want to make "clean" plates, its easily accomplished. Her silver bath must be a nightmare to keep in reasonable balance.

I don't mind the artifacts - its part of the fun and I don't begrudge anyone who uses it as part of their art (kind of like distressing negatives, really....)

But contrast it to this one:
https://www.theguardian.com/technol...-collodion-photography-video?CMP=share_btn_fb

Nice simple video, which ends up with a nice clean plate, that still looks like a collodian.