The Picture Desk: Had my portrait taken by a real artist

I went to Photostock 2011 in Northern Michigan and spent a bit of time with organizer Bill Schwab. Bill had a studio set up and was creating wonderful portraits using the collodion process.... a process we might know as Tin-types.

His travel trailer held his darkroom and coating equipment. He coats the plate and shoots the portrait next door at the open air studio. It was great to see such an artist at work, and I was glad to be a subject.

Bill is a photographic artist doing modern portraiture in a 19th century process. It involves coating a plate of metal with collodion, sensitizing it to light, exposing it in a large camera and then developing it all before the plate dries.