the wet plate collodion process belongs to the earliest photographic processes from the formative beginnings of photography in the nineteenth century. it still carries something of that original moment when photography was not yet taken for granted, but emerged as a direct conjunction of light, chemistry and matter. my works are made as unique 8 × 10 inch pieces on glass, aluminium and coloured translucent acrylic glass.
at the same time, the collodion works become the starting point for further analogue image processes. from these unique plates, platinum-palladium prints are made in formats considerably larger than the original image object. the individual structure of the collodion is not simply reproduced, but translated and intensified through further photographic and hand-crafted stages. the singularity of the collodion plate is joined by the character of the platinum-palladium process. from these two analogue processes emerges a work whose final form exists only once.
wet plate collodion is one of the earliest photographic processes in which the act of exposure and the physical image object are directly connected.
developed in the mid-nineteenth century, the process begins with a glass or metal plate coated with collodion, sensitised in silver nitrate and exposed and developed while still wet. this leaves only a very short window between coating, exposure and development. the photograph does not emerge as a file that can later be reproduced, but through a direct chemical and material process.
my works are made in 8 × 10 inch format on glass and aluminium. each plate is unique. subtle irregularities in the coating, the response of the chemistry and the distinctive rendering of tonal values are not treated as flaws, but as part of the image. it is precisely this combination of precision, time pressure and controlled chance that gives the process its particular quality for me.