Kyle McMillin

Kyle McMillin, “Los Primeros Cuatros”, 2020, Four Wet-Collodion Tintypes, Each 10 x 12.7 cm

These four portrait tintypes by Kyle McMillin were taken in Tacoma, Washington on July 27, 2020. They depict, in image order, Aloysious, Jesse, Kreg, and Kyle.

The wet-collodion process is an early photographic technique invented in 1851 by English sculptor and inventor Frederick Scott Archer. The process involved adding a soluble iodide to a solution of cellulose nitrate, known as collodion, and coating a glass plate with the mixture. In the darkroom, the plate was immersed in a solution of silver nitrate to form silver iodide.

This glass plate, still wet, was exposed in the camera and then developed by pouring a solution of pyrogallic acid over it. The image was fixed, originally, with a strong solution of sodium thiosulfate, for which potassium cyanide was later substituted. Immediate developing and fixing were  required in this process because, after the collodion film had dried, it became waterproof, preventing the reagent solutions from penetrating the film. This wet-collodion process was valued for the clarity and  level of detail it allowed.

A later modification of the process introduced in the 1850s, the ambrotype was a developed and fixed negative on a glass plate, which when viewed by reflected light against a black background, appears as to be a positive image. The clear areas look black, and the exposed, opaque areas appear relatively light. The glass plates were either backed with black velvet, or were coated on one side of the plate with black varnish.

During the 1860s, the ambrotype was superseded by the tintype or ferrotype, a photograph made by by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel and used as the support for the for the photographic emulsion. Because the lacquered iron support was resilient and did not need drying, a tintype could be developed, fixed, and handed to the customer only a few minutes after the picture had been taken. The tintype became very popular in the 1860s and 1870s, being less fragile than the ambrotype and “instantly” available.

The artist’s site is located at: https://mcmillin.tumblr.com

Kyle McMillan’s studio, The Red Room Tintype Studio, is located at:  https://www.redroomtintype.me