WORKSHOP: New Orleans Photo Alliance and New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts

A Wet Plate Collodion Workshop will be hosted over the weekend of March 22-23, 2008 by Ellen Susan, photography instructor and wet plate collodion specialist. Her most recent series, "Soldier Portraits," uses this traditional process to deptict soldiers of the Iraq War in the same sharp detail as in the Civil War photographs taken using the same process more than a century ago. The fruits of this labor-intensive, messy process should be greatly appreciated by fine art photographers and enthusiasts of archival photography preserving American History. Equipment or prior experience with this medium is not required, only an old set of clothes since this medium is a messy one.

Workshop fee is $325 plus a lab fee of $95. Deadline for registration is March 1, 2008. Enrollment is limited to 9 students.

From the New Orleans Photo Alliance website:

"In this workshop, you will learn how to create wet plate collodion positives, making both tintypes and ambrotypes (glass plate positives). Through a combination of discussions, and hands-on group shooting and processing sessions, each participant will have the chance to create several unique plates and will leave the class with sufficient knowledge to start their own wet plate collodion practice if desired."

Ellen Susan's Soldier Portraits exhibition ends February 5, 2008, but you can view a superb gallery of this medium in action here. Read more about the workshop here.