Holiday Shop: Tintype Portrait Session With Geoffrey Wallang
Vancouver artist Geoffrey Wallang will be constructing a temporary tintype portrait studio at The Polygon Gallery on Saturday, December 14.
Portrait sessions last 30 minutes
A tintype is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with photographic emulsion. Tintypes enjoyed their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s, but lesser use of the medium persisted into the early 20th century and it has been revived as a fine art form in the 21st century. Each tintype is a camera original, a unique one of a kind image.
About Geoffrey Wallang
Geoffrey Wallang graduated from Kwantlen University with a Diploma of Visual Arts in 1999 and from Emily Carr University (known as ECIAD then) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts: Major in Photography in 2002.
His work is done by using an antiquarian method called Wetplate Collodion photography, invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The chemicals, formulas and techniques used today are the same as 170 years ago.
“For me, using this medium gives me a sense of purpose as it is very involved, slow, and methodical. And at times, unpredictable. “
The versatility of this process gives him a real sense of creation as it is based strongly in the craft and chemical reactions of the materiality. The hands-on aspect of it also “gives me an artistic touch over the final outcome”; this process translates reality into something new to the viewer.
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Image: Geoffrey Wallang, Jenn Brisson, tintype photograph, 2024