Porkpie Photography

The first question I normally get asked is "What's a Porkpie?". Well, early photographers probably had the same problem I face - I tend to set something down and forget where I put it. For these early practitioners, having your lens cap readily available was a necessity. So, the hat was not just a fashion statement but a piece of photographic equipment used as the camera's shutter. I like the look of the porkpie hat, so we named the business after it.

My interest in wetplate collodion photography started with browsing through the many Civil War books in my father's collection. I couldn't believe the level of detail captured by photographers living 150 years ago with the technology they had access to. As I quickly learned, this chemical process of capturing light creates one of the highest quality photographs that can be taken and they can last for hundreds of years.

I typically shoot wetplates using a few different cameras. In the collection I have an Eastman View No. 2 wooden camera that is approximately 100 years old, a 4x5 Speed Graphic press camera from the 1940s and most recently obtained a late 1970s Cambo SCX 8x10 camera. Along with cameras I'm a bit of a lens collector, always on the lookout for mid 1850's brass lenses.

When visiting the studio or at local popups, my wonderful wife is my number 1 assistant who helps me out with creating beautiful images of our sitters. We look forward to having you in the studio and the darkroom to see what this process is all about.