Six hours. One student. Your own plates to take home.

Wet plate collodion is how photographs were made in the 1850s. Every plate is poured, sensitized, exposed, and developed by hand while the chemistry is still wet. There’s no film, no negative, and no second copy. It’s slow, exacting, and unlike any other way of making a picture.

This workshop puts you at the camera and in the darkroom for a full day of one-on-one instruction at the Unseen Silver studio in Live Oak, Texas. You won’t be watching a demonstration. You’ll do every step yourself, with your instructor working beside you.

Over the day, you’ll learn to:

• Compose, focus, and expose on a 5x7 large-format camera under and day studio light

• Use a light meter and calculate equivalent exposure, as well as exposure compensation

• Clean and prepare plates

• Pour collodion and sensitize plates in the silver bath

• Develop, fix, and wash your plates by hand in the darkroom

• Varnish and finish your plates so they last for generations

• Use and maintain a myriad of equipment required to work in the process

Most students finish the day with five to six plates of their own. Those who take to the process quickly make up to ten. Every plate you make is yours to keep.

No experience is needed. If you’ve never used a film camera, that’s fine. Bring curiosity and patience.

Included: six hours of private instruction; all chemistry, plates, and equipment; your finished plates; and lunch, coffee, and soft drinks.

Your instructor: Andrew W. Nunn is a wet plate photographer, photography instructor, and former conflict photojournalist with a BFA in Photography. He runs Unseen Silver, a wet plate studio making 5x7 tintypes and glass plates by hand.

Wear clothes you don’t mind ruining. Silver nitrate stains are part of the craft.