The tintype is a photograph of unimpeachable physicality. Its process is tangibly demanding, unforgiving, and reverential. It cannot be rushed or it rebels, as the silver salts that form the tintype are "alive," like all Alchemical metals. Excellent Specimens is a speculation on the tintype's chemical and optical carnality.
The tintype process is demanding, belaboring, unforgiving, and reverential. It cannot be rushed or it rebels. Hand-made photographs in the 21st century are more than simply atavistic- to even attempt this process in the context of contemporary art seems like a lost cause. And I am a total sucker for lost causes.
The rigor of this process tends it towards the indexical- so I cataloged what was around me, the detritus of common life, of my studio, of recently obsolete technology. I try to relate to this flotsam, to give it some small kind of reverence through this process.
