Wet-Plate Wonders
Vita
Photography is an art that I have only in recent years come to appreciate. That doesn’t mean that I was previously incapable of acknowledging a great photo when I saw it, but rather it seemed a simple process to me that required little skill (I know, I’m just horrible, aren’t I?). One day, a quick history lesson in photography would disabuse me of my erroneous assumption and I began to look at photography in a whole other light (no pun intended). The daguerreotype was my introduction to the semi-ancient art form in 2014, two years later I would learn about the collodion process -invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer- through an article I had written about another photographer.
This particular method of photography , of course, gives images the look and feel of vintage photographs, though I am not completely convinced that that is the reason artists choose to shoot in this manner. There are modern elements in these images where one realises that the photographs aren’t vintage at all. Regardless, I feel that modern wet-plate photographs possess a unique quality, occupying a world that is neither in the past nor the present.
Mike Brown is a photographer from Cork County, Ireland, and one of the few masters of the collodion process. With a desire to portray strong, independent women in his work, he found digital photography wholly unsuited to his craft. He (as well as his models) finds the slow, deliberate pace required of the collodion process to be a fulfilling one in which both photographer and model can work together to create something more than a mere collection of light and shadow. Instead, they build and fill canvases full of honest beauty and life.
Mike’s work can be seen on his website and his Plates can be purchased as originals and some can be available as limited edition prints.
Having been selected for the highly prestigious FEPN Arles festival for 2020 [Festival Europeen de la Photo de Nu 2020] which is Europe’s biggest nude photography festival, it was subsequently postponed until 2021 due to the Covid 19 pandemic. However, Mike has produced the first of 5 highly Limited Edition Portfolio books to coincide with the festival. This book, “Portfolio 1” is limited to just 100 copies and is available on his website here.
