I’ve been really interested in alternative processes in photography recently. A few weekends ago I took a workshop on carbon printing at the Penumbra Foundation in midtown Manhattan. I have to say, if you are at all interested in learning about old photography processes such a tintypes, glass plate negatives, platinum printing and a whole history of photography more then this place is incredible. (PS- the lab on street level is where I take all my film for processing! Tell them I sent you. I’ve been going there since college!)

So you can imagine my excitement when I was down in Texas with Squarespace and learned they had commissioned Portland-based photographer Giles Clement to make tintypes of all the performing musicians. These small one of a kind artifacts are a labor of love and it’s true magic to behold in the development process. What starts out as a ghostly blue fog on a sheet of black metal slowly develops into a beautiful and quite striking portrait. I’m so in love with how this process seems to capture the soul of its sitter and admire Giles for creating this exquisite collection… Giles, sorry if I was a creepy fan girl stalking you all day!

See all the musicians’ tintype portraits from the Heartbreaker Banquet here.

Want to have your own tintype portrait made? You can stop by the tintype portrait studio in Manhattan!

Love photography? Here is a sweet poem on it, a post on shooting and printing, and seeing the IMPOSSIBLE.