This is a two-day, hands-on tintype workshop taught by artist, educator, and parent Maurene Cooper. The format and materials used in this workshop mirror Cooper’s work on tin and glass with natural light in Philadelphia's historic park system.

Syllabus:
Day 1 begins at The Halide Project with an introduction to the chemistry, practice, and process of wet plate collodion, as well as an orientation in large format camera use. Students will have the opportunity to practice pouring and processing plates in the large darkroom before moving on location and using travel darkrooms. Shooting will be done indoors with mixed ambient lightning scenarios. On Day 1, students will learn to shoot on tin and have the opportunity to try glass. Varnishing will be taught at Halide with 21st century adaptations.  

Day 2 will take place Orkney Park in Northern Liberties. Students will receive hands-on training by exploring a range of subjects from architecture to plant life and learning how color translates in the wet plate process. Students will prepare and develop plates in table-top darkrooms suited for tintype making. Varying temperature and humidity will create an ideal learning environment to build best practice systems to solve for issues like heat-based fog. The day will focus on “how to see and photograph natural light” in a range of outdoor locations. Students will learn to varnish their tintypes in the field using 19th century methods. 

Workshop Withdrawal Policy

We recommend choosing workshops with care after reading our withdrawal policy. If you have questions about any of our workshops, please contact dale@thehalideproject.org

This workshop has been generously sponsored The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.