Traveling Presentations & Demonstrations

We love demonstrating photographic techniques and processes!

Being in the heart of the Civil War our favorite process to demonstrate is Wet Plate Collodion at local battlefields, but do you know that we also demonstrate for  other events, classes and clubs? We also demonstrate other processes as well! Contact us for rates, we offer discounted rates for schools, clubs and non-profit organizations as our schedule allows.

Thanks to the invention of electricity and Lithium Collodion (1868 recipe) we can make indoor portraits only a few seconds longer than outside exposures! As a bonus, because we've already got the lights set up, it's easy to add digital portraits with on-site prints too! We take every possible precaution on preserving our environment. Indoor darkbox with plastic liner, modern tripods to prevent scratching floors, etc..

Have a seat in one of our recent indoor studio setups..

Unique Wet Plate Collodion demonstrations for your event, club or class.

We have two Wet Plate Collodion demonstrations, a living history camp with authentic and replica equipment and an indoor demonstration with more modern equipment. No matter what demonstration style you choose, we're creating tintypes and ambrotypes with a 100% authentic technique, chemistry and recipes from the 1850's!

Our demonstration can be modified to fit nearly any time constraints, we gladly talk photographic history from the late 1700's to modern photography with an extensive history on Wet Plate Collodion. Followed by a discussion of chemicals, equipment and multiple demonstrations.

Requirements:

We've narrowed down our requirements for nearly all of our process demonstrations. Water, Light and Dark. We typically need access to water and either a drain or earth to dispose of wash water only as all exhausted chemicals are packed out and properly disposed of. We also need light, be it the sun or artificial light. If a demonstration is indoors we will bring artificial light but will need easy access to electricity. Lastly, we need dark. If you can provide us with a dark room that we can light with safelights we'll be able to demonstrate the bulk of processes to attendees. If not, some steps may need to be handled inside our darkbox.

If we're bringing our living history camp we request a 20x20' section of land so that we can set up our 10x10' Civil War wall Tent with proper guy lines and also have room in front for the darkbox, camera, table and chairs. For larger needs or in times of bad weather, we have an 18x18' Parlor tent with skylight. This tent needs a minimum of 28x28' including ropes.

Additional Images

Here are a few 360° Virtual Images from a few of our past setups. Once you click the banner to load the image, you can click and drag to move around each scene.

Have you seen one of our demonstrations?

We are honored to have showcased Wet Plate Collodion among other historical processes at the following venues:​

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (and workshops)
Antietam National Battlefield
Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation
Steppingstone Farm Museum
Kernstown National Battlefield
George Spangler Farm
Capon Springs and Farms
Appomattox 150th Anniversary (American Civil War Museum)
Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office
The Town of Middletown (150th Ransom of Middletown Event)
National Museum of Civil War Medicine (and workshops)
Pry House Field Hospital Museum​
Newcomer House, Sharpstown Maryland
Gettysburg Heritage Center
South Mountain Creamery (Festival)
Gettysburg Baseball Festival
Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area
Carroll County Farm Museum
Springfield Armory National Historic Site

And many more...!

Contact us if you think your visitors or members would enjoy a demonstration of a photographic process, but be warned that we book up quickly!