When the pandemic hit and the world shut down, everyone had to hunker down and find hobbies to keep themselves busy for the foreseeable future. Prepandemic, Maureen worked as an esthetician, so immediately her job went away. Dave was able to work for a while into the shutdown, but both knew they needed something interesting to fill the time. Like most people, digital photography seemed like a fascinating pastime, so they bought a Canon DSLR and played around with it until Maureen found something that captured her attention even more. There it was - the tintype - in all her glory, she was immediately fixated and needed to know how she could make her own plates. The couple did their research and scoured eBay in search of the proper equipment and chemicals. They also reached out to the “king and queen” of Wet Collodion, Mark Osterman, and France Scully Osterman, formerly of the George Eastman House, to help them learn the tintype process.

After lengthy Zoom sessions going over the correct chemistry ratios, pouring techniques, and exposure timing, the pair took off running and started making as many plates as they possibly could. The trial and error process took some time until they felt they had consistent exposures and were confident in the chemistry. About a year and a half into their journey, the natural next step was finding people who wanted tintypes of their own. In the last year, they have grown their business tenfold, gathering local influencers to get their name out and even being featured on WBZ.

As the duo mastered the process, they both naturally fell into different roles of the process. Maureen is the chemistry master. She prepares all the plates with the Wet Collodion solution, which is essentially liquid cotton, giving something sticky for the silver to attach to. The plate then goes into the silver bath, which is a 9% silver solution in distilled water.

While Maureen handles the chemicals, Dave is busy setting up the camera and the lighting. In their studio, they have equipped their setup with strobes that give off enough light that the exposure only needs to be a fraction of a second. Normally, tintype cameras have an ISO of about 1 or 0, which means they are not super light-sensitive. They need a lot of UV light and a long exposure to get the image on the plate, but with these powerful strobes, subjects only have to sit for a matter of seconds to get the shot. Dave spent countless hours getting their lighting setup up to par, trying different kinds of lights, amount of light, and exposure time before finding the perfect medium. Photographing color is also different on tintypes, blues go lighter, while reds tend to turn black. Mastering the lighting to get the colors to do what he wanted was also a challenge, but it was so rewarding when it finally clicked. They each know how to do each step, and can and do make tintypes by themselves, but they know and appreciate that they work better as a team.

The most special part of the tintype process is when the plate goes into the fix. It’s called “the magic moment” - when the negative becomes positive. Watching the shadow of white slowly turn into a murky gray splotchy pattern to reveal the sharp contrast image, there really isn’t anything like it.

As the business has grown, they have had opportunities to do pop-up events around the Boston Area. This one in particular was hosted by Nocturne Salem, a store that caters to the eclectic, Victorian, mythological vibes of Salem. Over the 4 hours, they had all 8 spots filled with couples and individuals looking for a special heirloom they could pass down to generations. Some wanted Christmas cards and wedding announcements photos, and others were celebrating milestones in their life they wanted to remember with a tintype.

Here, they used the employee bathroom off the top floor as their super makeshift darkroom, pinning a red light to the shelves and using the toilet lid as counter space. The space was transformed into a sitting area where the two could set up their camera travel lights. Many who came either had tintypes taken in the past or were interested in the medium and asked to watch the full process. They all agreed, however, that this was a special experience they would cherish along with their new portraits.

What does the future hold for these two? Well, a scanner for one, but they both just want what’s best for the business. Dave laughed as he mentioned he wouldn’t mind being the “starving artist” type if it meant the two of them could make tintypes and experiment all day. Maureen, who does all of their social media (@evoketintype), hopes to grow their online presence as it will bring in more clients and interest in this medium. I, for one, hope that more people understand the world and effort it takes to create these magnificent plates and value the memory of a photo. The tintype is a very special medium that can capture a memory, frozen in time forever on a sheet of metal covered in silver.