[petesalty]

Honestly, this seems a tad self-aggrandizing. I've done wet plate before, you can learn it in an afternoon, it's really not that hard. If you can't find someone to teach you there are books like The Keepers of Light that have the formulations and processes all laid out, so learning by yourself isn't that hard either. The tricky part is getting hold of some of the chemistry, but that's not as hard as it used to be either. The issue with wet plate processes is that it's kind of finicky and there's a lot of experimentation that has to happen before you get it down, but getting from 0 to your first one shouldn't take 45 days if you really want to do it. Not hard, it just takes time, and money.

As for there only being 1000 people who practice this, well, that's just not true. I personally know at least 3 photographers in the SF Bay Area who do it, and I know of at least another 6 in the same area (just don't know them personally). It's actually become a quite popular thing to do.

Good for him building a studio and all, and for doing something he really enjoys, but some of these claims are just not right.

[gt_]

‘Self-aggrandizing’ could describe numerous accomplishments contemporary wet plate photographers have made, and documented on the internet. Maybe the particular practice just seems to attract a certain crowd. Preserving the process and such is interesting and educational, but how much? Aside from technical and practical considerations, I’ve never really understood the intrigue, and I shoot photos on emulsion on a regular basis in 2018. I have reasons and vulnerability about that, though, which would crumble if I were trying to justify these wet-plate feats.

[petesalty]

Honestly, if you're doing it in an 1800sqft studio custom built for exactly that process, it's not that hard. I spent a weekend doing it in what was essentially a 50sqft bathroom and it was pretty straight forward, once you get the hang of it. They used to do it in tents in the middle of the desert on giant, heavy plates of glass (16in X 20 in), so this is a piece of cake in comparison.

There are photographic artists doing much more complex work, in much more difficult conditions. Check out the work of Chris McCaw and John Chiara, or the recent daguerreotype work of Binh Danh. Not criticizing anyone, just saying that the way they choose to do things is absolutely crucial to their art, and an essential part of it, not just a process that is currently cool.