Robert Szabo

Here we are at the mid season finale. Tin Questions will be taking a few weeks off after this, so I hope you enjoy this episode where we get to sit down with a wetplate photographer that really enjoys the artifact itself. Coming from an extensive background in handcrafted artwork like drawing, painting and cabinet making, Greg Shea has been putting those talents to good work in his 30+ year role as the Senior Museum Preparator at the Yale University Center for British Art. Having been around historical objects for many years, he decided to try his hand at making them himself, by capturing his subjects in silver using the wetplate process.

This week on Tin Questions we head to the Bluegrass State, specifically the home of the Louisville slugger to chat with a creative artist that’s had his hands in printmaking, collodion and history. Hands in history, you might ask? I should have said History in Hand. As a representative of trying to make the humble tintype more mainstream, Rudy Salgado of River City Tintype has quite the following on social media displaying unique vintage tintypes from his extensive collection and creates their modern day equivalents in his own Louisville, Kentucky studio. 

With October coming up, this is as close as Tin Questions gets to a ghost story. Today we take a look at the life of a Senior Photographer for the Chief Medical Examiner's Office, who happens to have a pretty extensive background in tintype photography. Aside from her previous work of managing New York's Penumbra Foundation Tintype Studio, Jolene Lupo sits down to chat about what it's like to photograph both the living and the deceased, some history around the charlatans involved with spirit photography and how she ended up where she is.Note 1: Views expressed by our guests are theirs alone and do not represent their employers or any government official or agency.Note 2: I had some audio issues during this recording, but luckily it was mostly on my side, not Jolene's - Sorry in advance!

The Romans promised "Bread and Circuses" to keep the populous appeased and entertained. For the Tin Questions audience, we have no bread but plan to keep your interest by visiting the circus. Our next guest lives across the pond in Bristol, England and has led quite the life leading up to being a unique collodion artist. Starting with juggling and also an accomplished ukulele and saw blade musician, Guy Bellingham continues to draw on his life as a performer while creating captivating wetplate collodion portraits. And now, on with the show!

Well, it’s been a hot minute (or over a year) since we last heard from our guests. But Tin Questions is back and kicking off a new season with a great new wetplate artist episode. Our next guest grew up in the hills and hollers of Appalachia and now resides in Tennessee. Having been a photographer of most of her life and getting her BFA in Photography, Kelsey Dillow had heard about the wetplate process during her formal schooling, but put it on the back burner until a chance meeting with a traveling tintype evangelist rekindled her creative side to learn more. Listen in as Kelsey shares what makes this process so special to her. 

In this season's summer bonus episode, you may be surprised to hear that the lowly vintage ferrotype plate still receives some academic and scientific research, 150+ years after its introduction. My guest, Dr. Corina Rogge, is the Director of Conservation at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas and has went where few have dared to go in the research of the tintype. Cory has written multiple articles on the constituents of vintage varnish and the recipes and manufacturing methods of japan plates. Listen in and discover that sometimes, what we read in the historic texts doesn't always line up with reality when in comes to tintype recipes.

You may have heard the historical announcement "One if by land, two if by sea". Before Paul Revere made his midnight ride through the country side, he crafted with silver. My next photographic duo, based in Revere, Massachusetts, are also artists of silver, but use it to capture light. Maureen Feeley and Dave Caramello were looking for something to keep them occupied during the pandemic and by chance saw examples of wetplate collodion online. Learning the process over FaceTime, they opened up Evoke Tintype to create portraits and viral TikTok posts using the wetplate process.

We're heading to the home town of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in this episode to talk about mixing collodion and vinyl records. Experimental collodion artist Greg Martin has been shooting for years and constantly pushing the boundaries of the art with new mediums and trying out the funkiest lens you've probably never thought of. Listen in as we chat about all things collodion, taking or making images and get an insider's view of the annual Tintype Jamboree.

In this episode, we get to check in with another tintypist who, along with her trusty travel companion Rosemary, decided to spend more time on the open road capturing not only the beauty of nature but portraits of those she meets along the way. Developing a love for analog photography in high school, Megan Karson added the wetplate collodion process to her film photography work and continues to use this process as she travels the country.

After having his photo taken by John Coffer during a Civil War reenactment event, my next guest decided that being a vintage photographer may be more exciting, or at least less strenuous, than being a participant. Having some background in wedding photography in the 1980s, Bob Szabo decided a change in his photographic practices was due. While his Civil War styled images are easily mistaken for originals, he's also had the chance to photograph landscapes in a manner inspired by another historical photographer, Carleton Watkins.