Porkpie Photography

If you're planning to visit the studio, we're glad you decided to give this 160+ year old photographic process a shot. If the only pictures you've ever been around are those you look at on a screen, you're in for a big treat. Not only will you get to see the process first hand from behind the camera, but you'll also see your picture come to life when the final chemicals are added.

Individual and couples portraits are our speciality.  Your unique tintype portrait will be an image that generations of your family will be able to view.

Here are a few things to expect once you're in the studio:

1. No smoking allowed. As the primary ingredients of collodion are alcohol, ether and guncotton (BOOM!), no uncontrolled flames in the studio.
2. Let there be light! A lot of light, in fact. We use close to 5000 watts of high power strobes to get a proper exposure. 
3. Speaking of light - the collodion film is only sensitive to blue light. Colors that are bright blue show up as near white or gray. So blue eyes have a really neat look on collodion. Freckles on the other hand have no blue light, so they show up even darker.
4. Time to keep still. Although the collodion film is not very light sensitive compared to modern films, we can typically expose a plate in a split second with strobes. Blinking is ok but any head movements may cause the final picture to look blurry. We often use a head brace to give you something to steady yourself.
5. You will be captured in ɘƨɿɘvɘЯ. Your final image will be flipped left to right, so any writing on clothes or hats will show up backwards. This also applies to birthmarks, piercings and tattoos that will appear on the other side of your body.
6. Bring your phone to capture the magic. The fixing process where the photo turns from a negative to a positive image is a pretty unique memory to record. This is a great way to show others about this pure chemical photographic process.
7. ​FOR YOUR SAFETY: Please do not touch, consume, sample or otherwise mess with any of the chemicals used in this process.

Your photograph will be ready for you within a week.  It has to be dried, cleaned, scanned and varnished to fully protect the silver image from tarnishing.  After this protective process is complete, your image will last for generations. You will receive your photograph as well as a touched up digital scan for online use.