Joni Sternbach is documenting surf communities throughout the world
using a process as old as photography itself. Wet plate tintypes. Like
Matthew Brady's portraits of Lincoln.
Her work can be seen
here. Surf culture photography
here.
-- Steiny
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This is from Joni's site...
Joni Sternbach is a native New Yorker. She holds a BFA in
Photography from the School of Visual Arts and an MA from New York
University/International Center of Photography.
Sternbach uses both large format film and early photographic
processes to create contemporary landscapes and portraits. Her work
centers on our relationship with water, contrasting some of the most
desolate deserts in the American West to iconic surf beaches around the
world.
"Photographer Joni Sternbach gets a lot of attention when she takes her wet-plate collodion
equipment, used for the intricate photo process made famous during the
U.S. Civil War, to beaches around the world. Besides the large cameras,
pre-mixed chemicals and jugs of water, a dark box is required to create
her tintype photos. “Once you go to a small beach with a big outfit you
are very noticeable,” the native New Yorker says. Sunbathers, surfers
and swimmers all wonder what’s inside, often asking her whether it’s a
puppet show or cappuccino maker. “The size of the camera and the
immediacy of the wet-plate collodion is what really draws people into
this project,” Joni says. 'That is why the process is so important to
me.' "
More from Joni:
"Many years ago I bought a handmade book with an antique tintype of a
woman embedded into the cover. I intended to turn the book into a photo
album of my pictures or maybe even my father’s. However, as I assessed
the pictures in my archive and my fathers, I found none that I deemed
worthy of this book with a beautiful cover. It remains blank to this
day. The tintype on the cover beguiled me with the importance and
meaning of a portrait. I did not know when I discovered this book, that I
would one day be making tintypes myself.
The art and craft of making wet-plate collodion, tintypes
is elaborate and dirty work. The silver nitrate used to sensitize the
plates can oxidize on your skin and form a dark brown stain. The process
is a finicky one that necessitates patience, experience and a touch of
luck to make a good plate. It requires a portable darkbox or tent to
sensitize and develop your plates in while on location. Your plates are
the same size as the back of your camera, so if you want large plates,
you must have a large camera.
The tin is coated with collodion (a mixture of gun cotton,
alcohol and ether) and poured by hand on to your plate. It’s then
sensitized in a bath of silver nitrate for several minutes. Once that’s
done it’s placed into the back of the camera and it’s ready for
exposure. Exposure times are guesstimated, and because the process is a
wet one, the speed of the medium is very slow. My exposures range from ½
second to minutes, depending on subject matter, lens and light.
The next step is development, which is done in the dark
box. Once developed and rinsed, the plate is taken out of the dark box
and into the daylight where it’s fixed. This is the moment of excitement
and discovery. As the plate is submerged into the fixer bath it
transforms right in front of your eyes. It goes from looking like a
bluish negative to becoming a positive image on blackened metal…in
essence, a tintype.
This dark art, the craft of collodion is like
old-fashioned magic. There are potions and elixirs that stain your
fingers and have a strong smell. There is a dark box with a cloth of
mystery and enchantment. There is a feeling of anticipation and
exhilaration as each plate emerges from the fixer. The sense of
collaboration is palpable, as my subjects and I both wait for the image
to clear, to see if we each held up our end and made a good picture."
Abraham Lincoln. Photo: Mathew Brady
Jonathan Steinberg. Photo: Joni Sternbach
