Don Jones: Wet Plate Collodion Photography Show

Join us for Don Jones Wet Plate Collodion show opening! Don will also be demoing his wet plate collodion process earlier in the day on March 10 from 2:00-3:00 p.m.!

Cowboys & Indians writer Wendy Wilkinson, also of Colorado Springs, said the Jones wet plate story was a perfect fit for the magazine. “Our readers are not only interested in the Old West history of wet plate photography, but also in the artistic aspects of Don’s work,” Wilkinson said.

Jones shoots his wet plate portraits using an authentic 8×10-inch Deardorff wooden view camera, with an 1890 brass lens, which produces beautiful, one-of-a-kind, 8 X 10-inch positive glass and metal plate images. The prep, shooting and developing of the images is an interesting, technical, somewhat dangerous and magical thing to watch. (for TV people)

The Jones show will feature images gathered for the Cowboys & Indians story, including a portrait of Ernie LaPointe, the newly confirmed Great Grandson of Chief Sitting Bull. As well as images from the COS 19th Century Project, including portraits of Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. Both LaPointe and Suthers are scheduled to attend the opening of the show on March 10.

The wet-collodion process was invented by Englishman Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The process involved adding a soluble iodide to a solution of collodion (cellulose nitrate) and coating a glass plate with the mixture. In the darkroom the plate is immersed in a solution of silver nitrate to form silver iodide. The plate, still wet, is then exposed in the camera. It is then developed by pouring a solution of Ferrous Sulfate and acid over it and then fixed with a solution of potassium cyanide. Immediate developing and fixing were necessary because, after the collodion film had dried, its rendered useless. The process was valued for the level of detail and clarity it allowed and for the beautiful, one-of-a-kind positive photographic plates it produced.